Charles Wyatt

For musician and writer see Charles Wyatt (musician/writer).

Charles Wyatt (1758 – 13 March 1819) was an English architect and Member of Parliament for Sudbury, Suffolk.

He was the son of William Wyatt (died 1780, steward to Lord Uxbridge in Staffordshire), nephew to the architects James Wyatt and Samuel Wyatt, and cousin to Sir Jeffry Wyattville. He joined the East India Company in 1780 as a cadet, sailing for India aboard the ship Mount Stewart on 27 June of the same year, but the ship was captured by the French and Spanish fleets and returned to England. His second attempt to reach India was successful, arriving in 1782. He joined the Bengal Engineers, eventually being promoted in 1800 to Captain and Commissioner of Police.

His opportunity to design buildings came in 1798 when The Marquess of Wellesley arrived in Calcutta as Governor-General and selected Wyatt to design the new Government House, Calcutta^[1], which opened in 1803. The design was based on Kedleston Hall^[2]. Wyatt also designed alteration's to Wellesley's country residence at Barrackpore. In June 1803 he was made Superintendant of Public Works.

Having made a fortune in India, Wyatt retired in October 1806, buying a country villa just outside London called Ealing Grove, not far from Sir John Soane's villa at Pitzhanger Manor. He was elected as Tory MP for Sudbury, Suffolk^[3] in two successive parliaments, serving from 1812 to 1818.

He died in 1819 at Foley House, his London home in Portland Place. He had married Charlotte (née Greentree) Drake, widow of George Drake of the Bombay Marines, in 1787.

Gallery of architectural work

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  Government House (now Rajbahavan), Calcutta

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  East view of Government House (now Rajbahavan), Calcutta

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  Gate, Government House (now Rajbahavan), Calcutta

References

1. ^ page 23, Stones of Empire: The Buildings of the Raj, Jan Morris, 1983 Oxford University Press
2. ^ page 281, The History of Architecture in India From the Dawn of Civilization to the End of the Raj, Christopher Tadgell, 1990 Architecture Design and Technology Press, London
3. ^ page 939, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, Howard Colvin, 2nd edition 1978, John Murray

• The Wyatts An Architectural Dynasty by John Martin Robinson 1979, Oxford University Press
• History of Parliament WYATT, Charles (c.1759-1819) of Foley House, Portland Place, London

See also

• Wyatts, an architectural dynasty

Persondata
Name	Wyatt, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1758
Place of birth
Date of death	1819
Place of death	London