James Craggs the Younger

James Craggs the Younger (9 April 1686 – 16 February 1721), was an English Whig politician. He was briefly the British envoy to Spain in 1711. Craggs received influential appointments in government following the Hanoverian succession, serving as both Secretary at War and Secretary of State for the Southern Department before his premature death in 1721. Craggs had a colourful private life and was involved in several extramarital affairs, scandals and duels.

Early life Craggs was born at Westminster, the second but eldest surviving son of James Craggs the Elder. He was educated at Monsieur le Fevre’s school in Chelsea, London. In 1703 he was sent to Turin with his father's friend, Richard Hill of Hawkstone, where he "degenerated into waywardness and extravagance". By September 1704, Craggs had been sent home in disgrace. In government, Craggs was generally well regarded, with Arthur Onslow commenting that he acted "with a sufficinecy that amazed those who knew him". and she was married firstly in 1726 to Richard Eliot, having nine children including Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot and secondly in 1749 to John Hamilton by whom she had a son.

James Craggs also left two illegitimate sons, each named James, by different mothers; reference to these may be found in the will of his uncle, Michael Richards, who left bequests to Harriot and to each of the sons. One of the sons died at sea in 1740 as a lieutenant in the Royal Navy under the name James Smith, but noted as being the natural son of the late Secretary Craggs.

In 1719 he was one of the original backers of the Royal Academy of Music, establishing a London opera company which commissioned numerous works from Handel, Bononcini and others. Among Craggs's friends were Alexander Pope (who wrote the epitaph on his monument in Westminster Abbey), Joseph Addison and John Gay.