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Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt

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Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt
Born1568 (1568)
Died1610 (aged 41–42)
SpouseMargaret Compton
Children2+, including John
FatherLewis Mordaunt

Henry Mordaunt, 4th Baron Mordaunt (1568-1610)[1] was an English landowner involved in the Gunpowder Plot.

Biography

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Drayton House and stables

He was the son of Lewis Mordaunt, 3rd Baron Mordaunt and Elizabeth Darcy. The family house was Drayton House.

Mordaunt was at Apethorpe with a welcoming party for James VI and I in April 1603. While he was there he discussed plans to cut timber in Brigstock park. There were riots at Brigstock in May and Mordaunt went to read a royal proclamation to restore order.[2] Francis Tresham, later a Gunpowder Plot conspirator, was involved in the controversy at Brigstock.[3]

Henry Mordaunt entertained King James and Anne of Denmark at his house at Drayton, Northamptonshire, with musicians and singers in August 1605.[4] The queen's secretary, William Fowler, was also present.[5] Later there were rumours that there had been a plot to kill King James at Drayton during this visit during a masque entertainment. Two Gunpowder Plot conspirators Ambrose Rookwood and Thomas Winter had been at Drayton on the day before King James arrived.[6]

Mordaunt was imprisoned in the Tower of London on suspicion of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot, for his correspondence with Everard Digby. He was released on 3 June 1606.[7]

He died in 1610.[1]

Marriage and family

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He married Margaret Compton, a daughter of Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton. Their children included:

References

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  1. ^ a b Heward, John; Taylor, Robert (1996). The Country Houses of Northamptonshire. Swindon: Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. pp. 175–189. ISBN 978-1873592212.
  2. ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 15 (London, 1930), pp. 60, 71.
  3. ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 23 (London, 1974), pp. 106-8: Philip Petit, 'Royal Forests of Northamptonshire', Northants Record Society, 23, pp. 172-4.
  4. ^ Andrew Ashbee, Records of English Court Music, 1603-1625, vol. 4 (1991), p. 197: John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1828), p. 523.
  5. ^ William Shaw, HMC Lord De L'Isle & Dudley, vol. 3 (London, 1936), p. 188.
  6. ^ Godfrey Anstruther, Vaux of Harrowden: A Recusant family (Newport, 1953), p. 289
  7. ^ John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1828), p. 523.
Peerage of England
Preceded by Baron Mordaunt
1601–1608
Succeeded by