In 1743 he was charged with mismanagement and called back to England. Oglethorpe was laterexonerated (cleared from accusation or blame), but he never saw his colony again.
Joins Army at Age Fourteen
James Edward Oglethorpe was born in London, England, on December 22, 1696, the third and youngest surviving son of Theophilus and Eleanor (Wall) Oglethorpe. In 1710, when he was only fourteen, he joined the British army. Two years later he volunteered for service in the army of Prince Eugène in Eastern Europe. In 1714 Oglethorpe was admitted to Corpus Christi College at Oxford, and by 1722 he had become a member of the House of Commons (the lower branch of Parliament). Then Oglethorpe's life took a dramatic turn when a friend named Castell died. Castell had been declared a pauper (one who cannot pay debts) and sentenced to Fleet, a debtor's prison. When he was unable to afford the fees required at Fleet, he was placed in a house where the inmates were infected with smallpox (a highly infectious, often fatal, viral disease). Castell soon died of the disease, an event that deeply affected Oglethorpe and inspired him to investigate conditions in debtor's prisons.
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