Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet

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Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet
Bornc1645
Died28 January 1697
London
NationalityKingdom of England
Occupation(s)MP and Jacobite conspirator
Known forexecuted for treason
SpouseMary Fenwick born
ParentSir William Fenwick

Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet (c. 1645 – 28 January 1697) was an English Army officer and politician. He succeeded to the Fenwick baronetcy after the death of his father, Sir William Fenwick. A supporter of the Jacobite cause, Fenwick was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate William III of England, and was executed by beheading in 1697 as a result.

Life

Fenwick was the eldest son of

act of attainder against the Duke of Monmouth; but he remained in England when William III ascended the throne in the Revolution of 1688
.

He had financial problems and in 1688 he sold the rump of the family estates and

Sir William Blackett for £4,000 and an annuity of £2,000 a year. The annuity was to be paid for his lifetime and that of his wife, Mary. Blackett was happy with the deal as he discovered lead on the land and he became rich.[1]

Fenwick's arrest (as later imagined in 1865)

Fenwick began to plot against the new King William, for which he underwent a short imprisonment in 1689 from May to October.

schemes for assassinating William which came to light in 1695 and 1696. After the seizure of his fellow conspirators, Robert Charnock
and others, he remained in hiding until the imprudent conduct of his friends in attempting to induce one of the witnesses against him to leave the country led to his arrest in June 1696.

Attainder of Sir John Fenwick Act 1696
Act of Parliament
8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 4
Text of statute as originally enacted

To save himself he offered to reveal all he knew about the

8 & 9 Will. 3. c. 4), finding Fenwick guilty of high treason, punishable by death. His wife, Mary, persevered in her attempts to save his life,[4] but her efforts were fruitless, and Fenwick was beheaded in London on 28 January 1697, with the same formalities as were usually observed at the execution of a peer.[2]
He was the last person ever executed under an Act of Attainder.

Lady Mary Fenwick (relict) engraving dated 1737

By his wife, Mary (d. 1708), daughter of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, and his wife Anne Howard, he had three sons and one daughter, all of whom died young, and are buried with Fenwick at St Martin-in-the-Fields.[2]

Macaulay says that of all the Jacobites, the most desperate characters not excepted, he (Fenwick) was the only one for whom William felt an intense personal aversion.[5] Fenwick's hatred of the king is said to date from the time when he was serving in Holland, and was reprimanded by William, then Prince of Orange. A horse, White Sorrel, owned by Fenwick was among items of his estate confiscated by the Crown on his attainder and a fall from that horse was partly responsible for William's death. The horse purportedly stumbled when it stepped on a molehill. In recognition of this, the Jacobites' secret toast was to 'The little Gentleman in Black Velvet.'
He is also commemorated in the folk tune Sir John Fenwick's The Flower Among Them All.

His wife had a memorial created for him in York Cathedral and she was buried there after she died on 27 October 1708.[2]

Notes

  1. ^ "BLACKETT, Sir William, 1st Bt. (1657-1705), of Greyfriars House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Wallington Hall, Northumb. | History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Fenwick, John (1645?-1697)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  3. ^ "William III, 1696-7: An Act to attaint Sir John Fenwick Baronett of High Treason. [Chapter IV. Rot. Parl. 8&9 Gul.III.p.1.nu.4.] | British History Online". www.british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  4. ^ "House of Lords Journal Volume 16: 15 January 1697 Pages 59-73 Journal of the House of Lords: Volume 16, 1696-1701. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1767-1830". British History Online. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  5. ^ 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica - Fenwick, Sir John

References

  • "Northumbrian Jacobites". Archived from the original on 15 April 2004.
  • "Proceedings in Parliament against Sir John Fenwick, bart. upon a bill of attainder for High Treason". A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors. 13 (394, column 537). 1812.
Attribution
Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Northumberland
1677–1687
With: Sir Ralph Delaval 1677–1685
William Ogle 1685–1687 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by Colonel of Fenwick's Regiment of Horse
1687–1688 		Succeeded by
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Baronet
(of Fenwick)
1676–1697 		Attainted
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