Caulfeild, Sir Toby or Tobias, first Baron Charlemont 1565-1627, was descended from a family which had been settled in Oxfordshire for many generations, his father being Alexander Caulfeild of Great Milton in that county. He was born 2 Dec. 1565. When a youth he served under Frobisher, and next under Lord Howard. He was also with the Earl of Essex at the capture of Cadiz, 21 June 1596. In 1598 he accompanied Essex to Ireland, in command of a troop of horse, and was for a time stationed at Newry. In 1601, under Lord Mountjoy, he took part in the capture of Kinsale from the Spaniards. By Lord Mountjoy he was left in charge of a bridge built by him over the Blackwater, with command of a hundred and fifty men, the fort erected for its protection being named Charlemont. After the accession of King James he received the honour of knighthood. On the flight of the Earl of Tyrone in 1607 he was appointed receiver of his rents until the estate was given out to undertakers in 1610, an allowance of 100l. a year being made to him for discharging this duty. The account of his collection of the earl's rents (State Papers, Irish Series, 1608-1610, pp. 532-46) is a document of great interest, for the light which it casts on the land system of Ireland at this particular period. On the division of the estates, Caulfeild received a grant of a thousand acres. Previous to this he had, in 1608, been appointed to the command of the upper part of Tyrone and of Armagh. On 17 April 1613 he was named a privy councillor, and the same year he was chosen knight of the shire for Armagh. On 19 Feb. 1615 he was made master of the ordnance, and on 10 May of the same year one of the council for the province of Munster. Subsequently he was appointed a member of the commission for the parcelling out of escheated lands. In consideration of his long and valuable services to the crown, recorded in detail in the patent (State Papers, Irish Series, 1615-25, p. 309), he was created Baron Charlemont, and as he had not been married, the succession of the honour was granted to his nephew, Sir William Caulfeild, and son of his brother James. He died 17 Aug. 1627, and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

Sources:
     Burke's Peerage and Baronetage
     Lodge's Peerage of Ireland, iii. 127-34
     State Papers, Irish Series, from 1603 to 1625.

Contributor: T. F. H. [Thomas Finlayson Henderson]

Published: 1886