Derwentwater

Derwentwater, JAMES RADCLYFFE, EARL OF, one of the leaders in the rebellion of 1715, was born in 1689, and educated in France. He succeeded as third earl in 1705, on the death of his father, who had married Lady Mary Tudor, Charles II.'s daughter by Moll Davis. On the eve of the insurrection, at the close of 1714, warrants were issued on suspicion against several gentlemen in the north of England, and one, among others, against the young Catholic earl; but having been previously warned, he fled from Dilston, his seat in Northumberland, and found refuge in the cottage of one of his dependents. He soon afterwards placed himself at the head of a few retainers, under the impression that the whole body of the Jacobites either had risen, or were about to rise. From this point the history of the Earl of Derwentwater becomes the history of the Rebellion of 1715 (see JACOBITES), which ended in the disastrous encounter at Preston, where Derwentwater bore himself with the utmost heroism, but, with most of the rebel leaders, was taken prisoner, and conveyed to the Tower of London. Impeached of high treason at the opening of parliament, he was brought to trial in Westminster Hall, when he pleaded guilty, and threw himself upon the mercy of the king. His appeal was unavailing, and he was condemned to die. Every possible effort was made by his kinsfolk and friends to obtain a pardon, but their exertions were fruitless, and he was beheaded on Tower Hill, 24th February 1716. His youth and amiability, his rank and valour, combined to excite great sympathy for the hapless earl. He is the hero of a touching ballad of the day, and of Dorothy Forster, Sir Walter Besant's charming romance.