Charles Marsham, 2nd Earl of Romney (22 November 1777 – 29 March 1845), styled Viscount Marsham between 1801 and 1811, was a British peer and politician.
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Biography
Romney was the son of Charles Marsham, 1st Earl of Romney, and Lady Frances, daughter of Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont.
Romney was Member of Parliament for Hythe from 1798 to 1802 and from 1806 to 1807 and for Downton from 1803 to 1806. In 1809 he was commissioned as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Bearsted and Malling Regiment of Local Militia. In 1811 he succeeded his father in the earldom and entered the House of Lords.
According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at University College London, Romney was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.54 billion in 2025) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore, which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Romney was associated with three different claims, two of which were successful; he owned 432 slaves in Saint Kitts and Nevis and received a £7,268 payment at the time (worth £747,979 in 2025).
Marriages and children
Lord Romney was twice married. On 9 September 1806 he married Sophia Pitt, daughter of William Morton Pitt. They had one son and four daughters: