Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore

The Right Honourable The Lord Baltimore
Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore
Governor of Maryland
In office 1732–1733
Preceded by	Samuel Ogle
Succeeded by	Samuel Ogle
Personal details
Born	29 September 1699 England
Died	24 April 1751(1751-04-24) (aged 51) England
Spouse(s)	Mary Janson
Relations	Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore (father) Frederick Calvert, 6th Baron Baltimore(son) Benedict Swingate Calvert (son)
Occupation	politician
Religion	Anglican

Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, FRS (29 September 1699 – 24 April 1751) was a British nobleman and Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland. He inherited the title to Maryland aged just fifteen, on the death of his father and grandfather, when the colony was restored by the British Monarchy to the Calvert family's control, following its seizure in 1688. In 1721 Charles came of age and assumed personal control of Maryland, travelling there briefly in 1732. For most of his life he remained in England, where he pursued an active career in politics, rising to become Lord of the Admiralty from 1742 to 1744. He died in 1751 in England, aged 52.

Charles Calvert was born in England on 29 September 1699, the eldest son of Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, and Charlotte Lee, Lady Baltimore. His grandmother Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield, was the illegitimate daughter of Charles II, by his mistress, Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland.

Like the rest of his Calvert family, Charles had been raised a Catholic but was withdrawn from his Jesuit school when his father Benedict converted to Anglicanism, largely for political reasons. Henceforth father and son would worship within the Church of England, much to the disgust of Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, who upheld his Catholic faith, despite the political drawbacks, until his death in 1715.

In 1688, eleven years before Charles Calvert, (1699-1751), was born, the Calvert family had lost their title to the Province of Maryland, following the events of the Glorious Revolution in England. In 1689 the Royal Charter to the colony was withdrawn, leading to direct rule by the British Crown. In 1715, when Charles was fifteen, his grandfather Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore died, passing his title, and his claim to Maryland, to his son Benedict Leonard Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, (1679–1715). Benedict Calvert immediately petitioned George I for the restoration of the family's proprietarial title to Maryland but, before the king could rule on the petition, Benedict Calvert himself died, just two months after his father, passing on his title in turn to his son Charles. Charles Calvert soon found himself, aged just fifteen, in the fortunate position of having had his family's proprietarial title to Maryland restored by the king.