Henry Harford

Henry Harford , 5th Proprietor of Maryland, was the last proprietary owner of the British colony of Maryland. He was born in 1758 the eldest but illegitimate son of Frederick Calvert 6th Baron Baltimore and his mistress Hester Whelan. Harford inherited his fathers estates in 1771, at the age of thirteen, but by 1776 events in America had overtaken his proprietary authority and he would soon lose all his wealth and power in the New World, though remaining wealthy thanks to his estates in England.

Henry Harford was born in Bond Street, London, on April 5, 1758, the fruit of an extramarital union between Lord Baltimore and his mistress Hester Whelan. He was educated at Eton College and later Exeter College, Oxford. When the last Lord Baltimore died in Naples in 1771 at the age of 39, the thirteenyearold Henry became heir to all of Fredericks estates, including those in Britain, as the eldest son of the deceased peer. However, Harford was not entitled to ascend to the peerage or inherit his fathers title as, like his sister Frances, he was born out of wedlock and was therefore illegitimate.

Source: Wikipedia