Charles Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden

Lord Arden's funeral hatchment in St Luke's Church, Charlton. Above the shield is a baron's coronet. The fact that the hatchment is black on the left only indicates that his wife survived him. Charles George Perceval, 2nd Baron Arden PC FRS (1 October 1756 – 5 July 1840) was a British politician.

Background and education

Charles George Perceval was born at Charlton, Kent, the son of John Perceval, 2nd Earl of Egmont, by his second wife Catherine, 1st Baroness Arden, daughter of Charles Compton. Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was his younger brother. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Political career Arden sat as Member of Parliament for Launceston from 1780 to 1790, for Warwick from 1790 to 1796 and for Totnes from 1796 to 1802. He had succeeded his mother as second Baron Arden in 1784. However, as this was an Irish peerage it did not prevent him sitting in the House of Commons.

He served as Master of the Mint between 1801 and 1802 and as a Commissioner of the India Board between 1801 and 1803. In 1802 he was created Baron Arden, of Arden in the County of Warwick, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, and was then obliged to enter the upper chamber of parliament. He was also a Lord of the Bedchamber between 1804 and 1812, Registrar of the Court of Admiralty between 1790 and 1840 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Surrey between 1830 and 1840. As Registrar of the Court of Admiralty, he was a sinecurist, having waited 26 years for the office through reversion; the actual work was performed by a deputy registrar.

Family Lord Arden married Margaretta Elizabeth, daughter of General Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson, 6th Baronet, in 1787. They had six sons and two daughters. He died at St James's Place, London, in July 1840, aged 83, and was succeeded by his third but eldest surviving son, George, who also succeeded in the earldom of Egmont the following year. Lady Arden died in May 1851, aged 83.