William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale

William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale (* 1676 - March 20, 1744 in Rome ), was a Scottish nobleman .

Life

His father was Robert Maxwell, 4th Earl of Nithsdale ; his mother was Lucy Douglas, a daughter of William Douglas, 1st Marquess of Douglas . He took over the title of his father de jure with his death in 1683, his title of nobility as 5th Earl of Nithsdale , 13th Lord Maxwell and 9th Lord Herries of Terregles ; these were de facto only confirmed to him on May 26, 1696 and May 19, 1698.

During the First Jacobite Rising he was on the side of James Stuart , the "Old Pretender". In November 1715 he was captured at Preston and taken to the Tower of London . There he was found guilty of high treason on January 19, 1716; on February 9, the death penalty was the maximum sentence. With this judgment all titles and honors were revoked at the same time, all lands fell to the crown. With the help of his wife he managed to escape on February 23, 1716; as servants of the Venetian ambassador, both were able to leave for France. Although he was given the Jacobite form of the Order of the Thistle on December 31, 1716 , he spent the rest of his life in poverty.

Through his marriage, on March 2, 1699 in Paris, to Winifred Herbert, a daughter of William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis , he had a daughter; Anne and a son; William. He illegally continued his father's title from 1716 until he was forbidden to do so by a royal order on February 12, 1741 under threat of punishment.

literature

• David C. Harries: Maxwell, Earl of Nithsdale . In: James Balfour Paul (Ed.): The Scots Peerage . tape 6 : Marchmont-Oxfuird . David Douglas, Edinburgh 1909, p. 469–492 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive - here pp. 488–490, XIV. William, fifth Earl of Nithsdale and fourteenth Lord Maxwell).
• George Way, Romilly Squire et al. (Eds.): Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia . Barnes & Noble Books, New York 1998, ISBN 0-7607-1120-8 .
• Thomas Finlayson Henderson: Maxwell, William (1676-1744) . In: Leslie Stephen , Sidney Lee : Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 37, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1894, p. 136.

Web links

• William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale, on thepeerage.com , accessed September 15, 2016.
• Nithsdale, Earl of (S, 1620-forfeited 1716). www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk(English). 

predecessor	Office	successor
Robert Maxwell	Earl of Nithsdale Lord Maxwell 1683-1715	Title forfeited
Robert Maxwell	Lord Herries of Terregles 1683-1715	Title forfeited (restored in 1858 for William Constable-Maxwell )