The Earl of Derwentwater was one of the noblemen who joined James III during the Jacobite Rising of 1715. He was captured after the Battle of Preston, tried, and condemned to death. His wife visited George I in person and pleaded for her husband, but to no avail. Lord Derwentwater was executed on February 24, 1716.
"'Lord Derwentwater,' says his associate, the Rev. Robert Patten, 'was formed by nature to be universally beloved; for his benevolence was so unbounded, that he seemed only to live for others. He resided among his own people, spent his estate among them, and continually did them kindnesses. His hospitality was princely, and none in that country came up to it. He was very charitable to the poor, whether known to him or not, and whether Papists or Protestants. His fate was a misfortune to many who had no kindness for the cause in which he died.' Smollett also has awarded a passing encomium to the memory of Lord Derwentwater, which deserves to be his epitaph. 'He was an amiable youth,' he says; 'brave, open, generous, hospitable, and humane: his fate drew tears from the spectators, and was a great misfortune to the country in which he lived; he gave bread to multitudes of people whom he employed on his estate; the poor, the widow, and the orphan rejoiced in his bounty.'"--pgs. 61-62, Memoirs of the Pretenders and their Adherents by John Heneage Jesse
The Earl of Derwentwater was one of the noblemen who joined James III during the Jacobite Rising of 1715. He was captured after the Battle of Preston, tried, and condemned to death. His wife visited George I in person and pleaded for her husband, but to no avail. Lord Derwentwater was executed on February 24, 1716.
"'Lord Derwentwater,' says his associate, the Rev. Robert Patten, 'was formed by nature to be universally beloved; for his benevolence was so unbounded, that he seemed only to live for others. He resided among his own people, spent his estate among them, and continually did them kindnesses. His hospitality was princely, and none in that country came up to it. He was very charitable to the poor, whether known to him or not, and whether Papists or Protestants. His fate was a misfortune to many who had no kindness for the cause in which he died.' Smollett also has awarded a passing encomium to the memory of Lord Derwentwater, which deserves to be his epitaph. 'He was an amiable youth,' he says; 'brave, open, generous, hospitable, and humane: his fate drew tears from the spectators, and was a great misfortune to the country in which he lived; he gave bread to multitudes of people whom he employed on his estate; the poor, the widow, and the orphan rejoiced in his bounty.'"--pgs. 61-62, Memoirs of the Pretenders and their Adherents by John Heneage Jesse