John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Carbery


John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Carbery KB, PRS, styled Lord Vaughan from 1643 to 1686, was Governor of Jamaica between 1675–1678.

Life

He was the second son of Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery, and his second wife Frances, daughter of Sir John Altham of Oxhey, Watford, Hertfordshire. He inherited his title and the Carmarthenshire estate in 1686 on the death of his father. His elder brother Francis had already died.
He was invested as a Knight, Order of the Bath in April 1661. He was Member of Parliament for Carmarthen between 1661 and 1679 and again for Carmarthenshire between 1679 and 1689. He was one of the Governors of Jamaica from 1674 to 1678. His deputy was the celebrated privateer Sir Henry Morgan. He tried in vain to defeat the Jamaican Maroons, who were led by Juan de Serras.
He had a reputation for debauchery: Samuel Pepys called him "the lewdest fellow of the age". Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, whose impeachment Vaughan strongly supported, called him a man who was "as ugly in face as in fame". As Governor of Jamaica he became notorious for corruption, and was even accused of selling his servants as slaves.
He was President of the Royal Society between 1686–1689, having been elected a Fellow in 1685. He was Colonel of the Regiment of Foot from 1673 to 1674 and Lord of the Admiralty from 1689 to 1690.
On his death his titles became extinct. His estates passed to a cousin, another John Vaughan, who rebuilt the Golden Grove mansion.

Family

Vaughan married twice, first to Mary Brown, daughter of George Brown of Green Castle; they had no children. He remarried on 10 October 1682 to Anne Savile, daughter of George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax and his first wife, Lady Dorothy Spencer. They had two children;