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A House Divided: The Fall of the Herberts of Powis, 1688–1775

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2015

Martin Murphy
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Extract

In addition to his major work on the English Jesuit province as a whole during the 18th century, Geoffrey Holt has made many valuable contributions to more local studies. One such is his article on ‘Jesuits in Montgomeryshire, 1670–1873’, published in 1993. In it he noted the Jesuit practice of depositing funds with a wealthy family of the district, as with a bank. Thus the funds of the Residence of St. Winefrid (North Wales) were deposited with the Marquess of Powis. Sebastian Redford, the Jesuit chaplain at Powis Castle in the 1740’s, had reason to complain of the Marquess’ dilatoriness in paying the interest due, and feared that the Society might come to regret having entrusted large sums to a family ‘whose circumstances are more and more on the decline’. His fears were justified.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Catholic History , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , May 2002 , pp. 88 - 101
Copyright
Copyright © Catholic Record Society 2003

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References

Notes

1 Journal of Welsh Religious History, no. 1 (1993), pp. 66–80. See also Trappes-Lomax, T. B., ‘Roman Catholicism in Montgomeryshire since 1559’, MC, vol. 55 (1957-58), pp. 10–36 Google Scholar; Hilton, J. A., ‘The Catholic Ascendancy in Wales and the Marches, 1685–88’, Worcestershire Recusant, no. 30 (1977), pp. 3–8 Google Scholar.

2 H. B. Wheatley, London, Past and Present, vol. 3 (1891), p. 118.

3 ‘Herbertiana’, MC, vol. 19 (1886), pp. 83–84.

4 Henrietta Tayler, Lady Nithsdale and her Family (1939), 13. See also Stuart, Flora Maxwell, Lady Nithsdale and the Jacobites (Innerleithen, 1995)Google Scholar.

5 Williams, R. A., The Old Mines of the Llangynog District (Sheffield, 1985), pp. 17–18 Google Scholar, 27–30; MC, vol. 11 (1878), pp. 366–69.

6 For a fuller treatment, see Martin Murphy, ‘Maria’s Dreams: Lady Mary Herbert, 1685–1775’, MC, vol. 85 (1997), pp. 87–100: ‘Maria’s Dreams: The Reckoning’, MC, vol. 86 (1998), pp. 65–80. On the Marquess of Worcester, see the old DNB (1901), s.v. Somerset, Edward (1601–1667).

7 HMC Stuart Papers, vol. 7 (1923), p. 669.

8 Marwood, ’s Diaries, in Bedingfield Papers, ed. Pollen, J. H. (CRS 6, 1909), pp. 92–160 Google Scholar. The editor did not identify the two Gages, alias Donne, as Joseph and his elder brother Thomas Gage of Shirbum Castle, Oxon. Their father, Joseph Edward Gage, 3rd son of Sir Thomas Gage of Firle, Sussex, and his wife Mary Chamberlain, inherited Shirburn, the seat of the Chamberlains, in the 1690’s. It was sold to the Earl of Macclesfield in 1716.

9 Antoin Murphy, John Law: Economic Theorist and Policy Maker (1997).

10 PRO SP 78/165/567 (27 October 1719).

11 Murphy, Antoin, Richard Cantillon: Entrepreneur and Economist (Oxford, 1986), pp. 105–124 Google Scholar.

12 NLW PC 996.

13 Antoin Murphy, Richard Cantillon (1986), pp. 282–97.

14 BL Add MS 28236, f. 60 (7 February 1725).

15 BL Add MS 28228, f. 135 (25 March 1724).

16 ‘The Mine of Guadalcanal in the Province of Extremadura’, undated MS in the uncatalogued file relating to the Spanish mines, NLW PC, On the history of these mines, see David Avery, Not on Queen Victoria’s Birthday: The Story of the Rio Tinto Mines (1974), though the section on Mary Herbert (pages 31–49) contains some inaccuracies.

17 Henrietta Tayler, Lady Nithsdale (1939), pp. 247–48. In Spain Lady Mary styled herself ‘Duquesa de Powis’, in France as ‘Duchesse d’Herbert de Powis’. Joseph Gage assumed the title of Conde (Count), which accounts for his later confusion with the more famous Conde de Gages, Bonaventure Thierry du Mont, a Walloon general in the Spanish service. See Notes and Queries, vol. 237 (1992), p. 471.

18 NLW PC 2133–2133a (19 August 1731). On John Pritchard, see Williams, M. E. in RH, vol. 18 (1987), pp. 267–69 Google Scholar.

19 NLW PC 2138 (2 June 1733).

20 Alexander Pope, Epistle to Bathurst, lines 129–34, in Epistles to Several Persons ed. Bateson, F. W. (Oxford, 1961), p p. 103–04 Google Scholar. See Murphy, Martin, ‘Pope’s “Congenial Souls”,’ Notes and Queries, vol. 237 (1992), pp. 470–73 Google Scholar.

21 See Howard Erskine-Hill, The Social Milieu of Alexander Pope (1975), pp. 42–102.

22 Lewis, W. J., ‘James Baker and the Pool Quay Warehouse’, MC, vol. 88 (2000), pp. 25–35 Google Scholar; PC 9211 (Baker to Hill, 17 April 1739); PC 2205 (Hill to Kimber, 31 January 1744).

23 Letter of 11 July 1735, printed in MC, vol. 9 (1876), pp. 393–94. Richard, 5th Viscount Molyneux of Maryborough (d.1738) had two daughters: Mary, who married firstly Thomas Clifton, and secondly William Anderton; and Dorothy, who married John Baptist Caryll. See The Complete Peerage, vol. 9 (1936), pp. 47–48.

24 NLW PC 15887 (calculation); 15842 (will and codicil of April 1742); 15848, 15852 (fund for poor Catholic families).

25 NLW PC 2368.

26 NLW PC 2363 (n.d.). ‘Miss Gage’ may be identified as Theresa, the daughter of Joseph Gage’s elder brother Thomas, 1st Viscount Gage, and his wife Benedicta Hall, of Highmeadow, Glos.

27 T. G. Holt, art.cit. (n.l, supra), p. 69.

28 Halsband, Robert, ‘The Noble Lady and the Player’, History Today, vol. 18 (1968), pp. 464–72 Google Scholar.

29 J. O. Payne, Records of the English Catholics of 1715 (1889), p. 16. Earl Waldegrave had been a fellow-pupil of Thomas and Joseph Gage, and of the two Herberts (Lady Mary’s brothers) at La Flèche in 1701 (see no. 8).

30 For Lady Mary’s later suit against the Earl for breach of promise, 14 April 1766, see The English Reports, vol. 1 (1900), pp. 618–25.

31 [James Shirley], ‘Extracts from letters . . . directing my conduct at Paris regarding Miss Herbert, 1749’, NLW PC 9016.

32 For Lady Mary’s ‘Narrative’, sent to her sisters Lady Arundell and Lady Charlotte Williames, in June 1749, warning them that a marriage with Mr. Browne was ‘on the tapis’, see NLW PC 1134.

33 ‘Memorial’ to the ambassador, Joseph Yorke, BL Add MS 35355, f. 64 et seq, and in PRO SP 78/233/265–266; order for the return of Barbara to Port Royal: Archives de la Bastille, Paris, 11677, f. 224.

34 ‘Detail of Lord Montacute’s conduct, by Corbyn Morris’, NLW PC 20001.

35 NLW PC 1550–51. For Lady Harriet’s later letter (October 1748), entrusting her husband to her daughter’s care, see NLW PC 22238.

36 The Complete Peerage, vol. 9 (1936), p. 101.

37 Diary of John Baker, ed. Philip C. Yorke (1931), p. 177.

38 NLW PC 1508 (French will of 29 September 1767); PC 15598 (codicil of 6 August 1775).

39 Report of John Probert, June 1776; NLW PC 1558.

40 Account by Barbara, Lady Powis, NLW PC 1774. The heirloom was later presented by Lady Powis to Lady Winifred Maxwell Constable.