and niece of Mr. Greenwood, of the firm of Cox & Greenwood, army agents. By this lady, who died in 1806, he had two sons and three daughters. About the time of his marriage, Calvert was advanced to the post of adjutant-general of the forces, in succession to Sir W. Fawcett. He was made colonel of the (old) 5th West India regiment in 1800, and became a major-general in 1803. In 1806 he was transferred to the colonelcy of the 14th foot, which during the latter part of the French war had the unusual number of three battalions, and was thence dubbed ‘Calvert's Entire.’ Its country title was altered from Bedfordshire to Buckinghamshire at his request (Cannon, Hist. Record 14th Foot). In 1818 Calvert, who had attained the rank of lieutenant-general in 1810, and had been made a G.C.B. 1815 and a G.C.H. later, received on vacating the post of adjutant-general, a baronetcy in further recognition of his services. He was appointed lieutenant-governor of Chelsea Hospital in 1820, and attained the rank of general in 1821.
Rumour alleged that Calvert's advancement to the post of adjutant-general about the time of his marriage was partly due to heavy obligations which the Duke of York was under to the firm of Cox & Co. However this may have been, the appointment was amply justified by the results, as during his long tenure of the office Calvert proved himself a true soldier's friend, and an able instrument in giving effect to many valuable improvements in the administration and discipline of the army. Among these were the better organisation of the medical department and army hospitals, and of the chaplains' department; the introduction of regimental schools; the development of the military colleges at High Wycombe and Marlow, since united at Sandhurst; the founding of the Royal Military Asylum for Soldiers' Orphans, better known as the Duke of York's School, and various other measures for the benefit of the service. One of his immediate subordinates wrote of him, long afterwards: ‘Such was the kindness of his look and demeanour, and courtesy of his manner, that it was impossible to offer him any disrespect, and with whatever sentiments a gentleman might have approached him, he could only retire with those of regard and esteem.’
Calvert died suddenly of apoplexy on Sunday, 3 Sept. 1826, at Claydon Hall, Middle Claydon, Buckinghamshire, where he was on a visit with his family. He was buried at West or Steeple Claydon, where the church spire was erected as a memorial of him. His son, the second baronet, took the name of Verney instead of Calvert on succeeding to the Verney estates.
Calvert's journals and letters during the Flanders campaigns, together with memoranda relating to his Berlin mission and to the defensive arrangements against invasion at the beginning of the present century, have been published by his son under the title, ‘Journals and Correspondence of Sir H. Calvert, Bart.,’ London, 1853.
[Berry's County Genealogies, Herts; Army Lists; Cannon's Hist. Record 23rd R. W. Fus.; Graham's Life of Gen. S. Graham, 1862; Cannon's Hist. Record 14th (Buckinghamshire) Foot; Sir H. Verney's Journals and Correspondence of Sir H. Calvert, Bart.; Gent. Mag. vol. xcvi. pt. ii. p. 371.]
CALVERT, JAMES SNOWDEN (1825–1884), Australian explorer, was born on 13 July 1825, and received his schooling in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London, where his family successively resided after leaving the border. Having friends in New South Wales, Calvert and a brother decided to go out thither in 1840, and on the voyage, in the ship Sir Edward Paget, contracted a lasting friendship with Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt, the well-known explorer, afterwards lost in the bush, who was their fellow-passenger. The result was that Calvert agreed to accompany Dr. Leichhardt on his first expedition, providing his own horses and outfit. The party left Moreton Bay settlement (Brisbane) in 1844 for Port Essington, on the north coast, and after many hardships and difficulties, including numerous conflicts with the blacks, accomplished their mission and returned to Sydney late in 1845. Full particulars of the expedition will be found in Dr. Leichhardt's subsequently published narrative of the journey. Calvert was an exhibitor at the earlier exhibitions in London and Paris, and at the London Exhibition of 1862 was awarded a silver medal for his collection of Australian paper-making materials. Soon after the arrival of Sir Wm. Denison as governor he was placed on the commission of the peace at Sydney. He married the well-known Australian authoress, Miss Laura Atkinson [see Calvert, Caroline Louisa Waring, née Atkinson], and after that lady's sudden death in 1872 he led a retired life. He died in New South Wales 22 July 1884.
[Heaton's Dict. Australian Biog.; Exhibition Reports; Leichhardt's Journal of an Overland Journey (London, 1847).]
CALVERT, LEONARD (d. 1647), governor of Maryland, America, was the second son of George Calvert, first lord Baltimore
