William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh

Admiral William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh (c. 1587 – 8 April 1643, Cannock)[1] was an English naval officer and courtier.[lower-alpha 1]

The Earl of Denbigh by Anthony van Dyck

Biography
See also: Earl of Denbigh
1631 portrait of Feilding

William Feilding was the son of Basil Fielding of Newnham Paddox in Warwickshire (High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1612) and of Elizabeth Aston, daughter of Sir Walter Aston (1530–1599).[2][3][4]

Feilding matriculated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1603.[5] In 1606 Feilding married Susan, daughter of Sir George Villiers and sister of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, who was ennobled as the favourite of King James I. With the rise of Villiers, both Feilding and his wife received various offices and dignities.[2]

Knighted on 4 March 1607,[1] William Feilding was created Baron and Viscount Feilding in 1620. Two years later he was appointed Master of the Great Wardrobe and Custos Rotulorum of Warwickshire and Earl of Denbigh on 14 September 1622.[1] He attended Prince Charles on the Spanish adventure, served as admiral in the unsuccessful Cadiz Expedition in 1625, and commanded the disastrous attempt upon Rochelle in 1628, becoming the same year a member of the Council of war, and in 1633 a Member of the Council of Wales and the Marches.

In January 1631, Lord Denbigh ventured to the East[2] as erstwhile ambassador to the court of Safi of Persia. He visited the East India Company's fledgling Indian possessions, where in 1632, he met with the Mogul emperor. Lord Denbigh returned to England in late 1633.[6][7][8]

On 6 July 1641 a barge carrying Feilding, his daughter Elizabeth, Lady Kinalmeaky, Lady Cornwallis, and Anne Kirke capsized while shooting the rapids at London Bridge. Kirke was drowned but the other passengers were rescued.[9]

On the outbreak of the English Civil War he served under Prince Rupert of the Rhine and was present at the Battle of Edgehill. On 3 April 1643 during Rupert's attack on Birmingham he was wounded and died from the effects on the 8th, being buried at Monks Kirby in Warwickshire. His courage, unselfishness and devotion to duty are much praised by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.[2]

Family

Sir William and his wife, Susan Villiers, had six children:

His daughter, Lady Mary Feilding (1613–1638), also known as Margaret, was married to James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, one of the heirs to the throne of Scotland after the descendants of James VI (James I of England). Her portrait was painted by Anthony van Dyck and Henry Pierce Bone. His eldest son, Basil, inherited the title of Earl of Denbigh. His second son, George Feilding, was awarded the right to the title of Earl of Desmond at the same time as his father was made Earl of Denbigh in 1622. George Feilding was around eight years old at the time. Earl of Desmond was a lesser title than Earl of Denbigh, being a title in the Irish, rather than English, peerage.

Ancestry

Notes
  1. Attribution: This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Denbigh, William Feilding, 1st Earl of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 17.

References
Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Feilding, William.
  1. Thrush, Andrew (January 2008) [2004], "Feilding, William, first earl of Denbigh (c. 1587–1643)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9251 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Denbigh, William Feilding, 1st Earl of" . Encyclopædia Britannica (Eleventh ed.). Cambridge University Press – via Wikisource.
  3. Lundy, Darryl (4 March 2011). William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh. Peerage.com. p. 10941 § 109408. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
  4. Cokayne, G.E.; et al. (2000). The Complete Peerage. Vol. IV (new reprint in 6 volumes ed.). Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton Publishing. p. 178.
  5. "Feilding, William (FLDN603W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  6. Hedges, William (1889). Yule, Henry (ed.). The diary of William Hedges, esq. (afterwards Sir William Hedges), during his agency in Bengal : as well as on his voyage out and return overland (1681–1697). Vol. 2. London: Hakuyt Society. pp. cccxliv–cccxlvi.
  7. MacIntyre, Jean. "The Eastern Journey of William Feilding, earl of Denbigh". Quidditas. 22 (3).
  8. Hall, Margaret (1 January 1998). "The Visit of William Feilding, First Earl of Denbigh, to India, 1631 to 1633 A.D." South Asian Studies. 14 (1): 25–40. doi:10.1080/02666030.1998.9628549. ISSN 0266-6030.
  9. HMC 12th Report, Part II: Coke MSS, vol. 2 (London, 1888), p. 288.
  10. Colburn, Henry (1880), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, vol. 42:1, p. 354
  11. Debrett, John (1836). Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. p. 70.
  12. Debrett 1836, p. 70.
  13. Burke, John (1914). General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Burke's Peerage Limited. pp. 593-594.
  14. Burke, Sir Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. Harrison. p. 14.
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