Berwick, JAMES FITZ-JAMES, DUKE OF

Berwick, JAMES FITZ-JAMES, DUKE OF, was the natural son of James II., by Arabella Churchill, sister of the Duke of Marlborough. Born at Moulins in 1670, he was educated in France as a Catholic, and after serving in Hungary under Duke Charles of Lorraine (1687), returned to England shortly before the Revolution of 1688, which he exerted himself to prevent. The title Duke of Berwick was conferred on him in 1687. In 1689 he accompanied his father on his Irish expedition, and, after the death of St Ruth, had the nominal chief command. He next served in Flanders, under Marshal Luxembourg, and afterwards under the Duke of Burgundy and Marshal Villeroi. In 1706 he was created a marshal of France, and sent at the head of an army to Spain, where he established the throne of Philip V. by the decisive victory of Almansa. For this important service he was made a grandee of Spain, under the title of Duke of Liria and Xerica. After several years of comparative inactivity, he received the command in 1733 of an army intended to cross the Rhine. While besieging Philippsburg, he was killed by a cannon-ball, 12th June 1734. Contemporary testimony, confirmed by his military conduct, shows Berwick to have possessed some of the best qualities of a great commander. His defensive campaign in 1709, in Provence and Dauphiné, against the superior force of the Duke of Savoy, has always been regarded as a triumph of strategic skill. He was twice married. His son by the first marriage succeeded to the dukedom of Liria; whilst the dukedom of Fitz-James and the estates in France passed to his children by the second marriage. See his Mémoires (Paris, 1778); C. P. Wilson, James II. and the Duke of Berwick (1876); and his Duke of Berwick, Marshal of France (1883).