William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh

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In 1631 Feilding travelled with the East India Company to India. On his return, Van Dyck painted him in oriental dress[1]

William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh (c. 1587 – 8 April 1643) was an English courtier. As brother-in-law of the royal favourite, the Duke of Buckingham, he became involved in major political, military and diplomatic events during the latter part of the reign of James I and under Charles I.[2][3]

Biography[edit]

See also: Earl of Denbigh
1631 portrait of Feilding

William Feilding was the son of Basil Feilding, of Newnham Paddox, Warwickshire (High Sheriff of Warwickshire in 1612), and Elizabeth Aston, daughter of Sir Walter Aston.[3][4] He matriculated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1603[5] and was knighted on 4 March 1607.[2]

Ally of the Duke of Buckingham[edit]

In 1606, Feilding married Susan Villiers, daughter of Sir George Villiers. From around 1615, Susan's brother, George Villiers, became the favourite and self-described lover of King James I; George rose rapidly in status and influence and was made Duke of Buckingham in 1623. With the rise of Villiers, both Feilding and his wife received various offices and dignities.[3] The historian S.R. Gardiner, in the 19th century, described Feilding as "the plain country gentleman who had the good luck to marry Buckingham's sister in the days of her poverty."[6]

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.[2]

Denbigh played a leading role in a number of failed political and military interventions in Europe that had been initiated by Buckingham. In 1623, Denbigh attended the Prince of Wales (the future Charles I) and Buckingham on the Spanish adventure, a failed attempt to persuade the Infanta of Spain to marry the Prince. In 1625, Denbigh served as admiral in the unsuccessful Cadiz Expedition. In 1628, Denbigh commanded the second naval attempt to relieve the Siege of Rochelle but returned to Portsmouth without engagement, as Denbigh said that he had no commission to hazard the king's ships in a fight.[7]

In 1628, Denbigh became a member of the Council of war.[6]

Journey to the East[edit]

In 1631, Lord Denbigh travelled to the East with the intention of visiting the Moghul court in India and the Safavid court in Persia,.[6] His desire was "to see those countries" – a highly unusual endeavour for a man of his status and age (Denbigh was at that time over 50 years old).[8]

I have obtained leave from the King to make a voyage in the East India ship (as a volunteer) to the King of Persia and the Great Mogul; in which voyage I hope to better my understanding and not impeach my estate. These doings, I have thought better to undertake than to live at home, get nothing, and spend all...

— A letter from Lord Denbigh to his eldest son[9][8]

Though he had elaborately decorated letters of recommendation from the King, Denbigh did not travel as an official ambassador and journeyed with only six servants: the East India Company were unenthusiastic about their aristocratic passenger.[8] With his unimpressive retinue, Denbigh was treated with disdain by the Moghul Governor of Surat who refused to meet him or to provide a horse: Feilding presumably travelled on to meet the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan in a bullock cart of an ordinary merchant caravan.[8] It seems Denbigh did meet Shah Jahan but he was unable to meet the Shah of Persia: Feilding's boat docked for only 5 weeks in the south of Persia which would have not allowed time for a journey to the royal court at Isfahan and, anyway, the Shah was on military campaign.[8] Academic Jean McIntyre reports different accounts of the gains Denbigh might have made on his travels: she reports James Howells as stating that “The Lo; Denbigh is returned from ye great Mogor full of jewells" though Denbigh himself stated he brought back only a small piece of cloth and an old coat.[8][10][11][1]

Later life and the Civil War[edit]

In 1633, Denbigh was made a member of the Council of Wales and the Marches.

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.[12]

On the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642, Denbigh served as a Cavalier 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 8 April 1643, being buried at Monks Kirby in Warwickshire. His brother, Edward Feilding, who also served in the Royalist army, was killed at the second battle of Newbury the following year.[6] Lord Denbigh's courage, unselfishness and devotion to duty are much praised by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.[3]

Family[edit]

Feilding arms

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

In 1632, Feilding's daughters Mary and Anne, and his niece Goditha Arden, a maid of honour, joined Henrietta Maria to perform in the court masque The Shepherd's Paradise.[16]

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 and famously fought against his father during the Civil War.[3] 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. The Earldom of Desmond was a lesser title than the Earldom of Denbigh, being a title in the Irish, rather than English, peerage.

Ancestry[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Feilding, William.
  1. ^ a b Jones, Jonathan (16 February 2009). "The 17th-century couple who straddled the east and west". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c 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.)
  3. ^ a b c d e f Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Denbigh, William Feilding, 1st Earl of" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 17.
  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. ^ a b c d Firth, Charles Harding (1889). "Feilding, William" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 18. p. 290.
  7. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning, p. 119
  8. ^ a b c d e f MacIntyre, Jean (2001). "The Eastern Journey of William Feilding, earl of Denbigh". Quidditas. 22 (3).
  9. ^ Cecilia, Countess of Denbigh (1915). Royalist Father and Roundhead Son. p. 76.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ HMC 12th Report, Part II: Coke MSS, vol. 2 (London, 1888), p. 288.
  13. ^ a b c Colburn, Henry (1880), A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, vol. 42:1, p. 354
  14. ^ a b c d e Debrett, John (1836). Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. p. 70.
  15. ^ Debrett 1836, p. 70.
  16. ^ Sarah Poynting, 'Henrietta Maria's Notorious Whores', Clare McManus, Women and Culture at the Courts of the Stuart Queens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), pp. 163–166.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Burke, John (1914). General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Burke's Peerage Limited. pp. 593-594.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g Burke, Sir Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant: Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire. Harrison. p. 14.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William Feilding, 1st Earl of Denbigh.
Honorary titles
Preceded by Custos Rotulorum of Warwickshire
1628–1643 		Succeeded by
Peerage of England
New creation Earl of Denbigh
1622–1643 		Succeeded by
Viscount Feilding
1620–1643

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