Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun was an English statesman.
Background
Charles Mohun was born around 1675, the place birth is unknown, the second child of Charles, 3rd Baron Mohun and his wife Philippa, daughter of Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey. His father died shortly after his birth, following a duel, and left him the family estate. The estate, however, was heavily in debt.
Education
Due to this Mohun received no education, and was forced to resort to gambling in order to support his lavish lifestyle.
Career
Before he was seventeen he had earned an unpleasant notoriety in London for rowdyism and brawling, had fought a duel and had been tried on a charge of murder. His friend, Captain Richard Hill, a roystering young officer, was in love with the actress Mrs Bracegirdle, and thought William Mountfort, the actor, to be his successful rival. On the night of December 9, 1692, Mohun assisted Hill to attempt the actress's abduction. The attempt failed, and Mohun and Hill then escorted Mrs Bracegirdle to her house, and subsequently remained together outside drinking till the appearance of Mountfort, who lived close at hand. Greetings were exchanged between Mohun and Mountfort, and the latter made a disparaging remark about Hill, who either without warning (according to Mountfort's deathbed statement) or in fair fight (according to other evidence) ran Mountfort through the body, and then absconded. Mohun was arrested and put on trial in Westminster Hall before his peers for murder as an accessory before the fact (1693), but by an overwhelming majority the peers found him not guilty and this verdict has been severely criticized. But a careful examination of the evidence (in the State Trials) justifies the decision, and establishes the presumption that the fight was a fair one. In 1699 Mohun was put on his trial for another alleged murder, but was unanimously and quite justly acquitted. His boon companion, Edward Rich, earl of Warwick, who was tried on a separate indictment for the same crime, was found guilty of manslaughter. On this occasion Mohun expressed regret for his past life, and he seems subsequently to have made a genuine attempt to alter his ways and to have taken a practical interest in public affairs. But in 1712 his violent temper again got the better of him, and he forced the 4th duke of Hamilton, with whom he had been at law for some years, into a desperate duel in Hyde Park in the early hours on November 15, 1712, in which both combatants were killed.
Achievements
Connections
In 1691, Charles Mohun married Charlotte Orby, granddaughter of Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield. Later the couple shortly separated.