Edward Villiers (1620–1689)

Edward Villiers was born in April 1620, fourth son of Sir Edward Villiers and Barbara St. John, half-nephew to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, considered him to be a man of "diligence and dexterity" and referred to him as "honest Ned".

He fought for Charles I during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, serving in the Bishops Wars against the Scots and being wounded at the First Battle of Newbury in 1643. He was also employed to carry confidential dispatches and served under Sir Richard Willys as governor of Newark before Lord John Belasyse was appointed in Willys's place.

After the end of the First English Civil War, he was implicated in a plot to assist the escape of the Duke of York, later James II, but was not convicted. He took no part in the Second English Civil War and lived abroad from 1649 to 1652.

When Charles II regained his throne at Restoration in 1660, Villiers held a series of positions in North-East England, including Governor of Tynemouth Castle and Newcastle. He also held a number of largely honorary military posts; in 1670, he was made Captain of the King's Own Troop of Horse Guards, the Colonel being Charles' illegitimate son the Duke of Monmouth. The most significant sign of his perceived loyalty was that his first wife Frances Howard was governess to James' daughters Mary and Anne. She died of smallpox in 1677 and Villiers served briefly in Flanders in 1678 in the Duke of York's Regiment of Horse but without seeing action.[1] In 1681, he was made Knight Marshal of the Royal Household.

During Monmouth's rebellion against James in June 1685, Villiers and Monmouth's former unit from the Horse Guards accompanied Feversham and Churchill to the Battle of Sedgemoor.[2] However, like the vast majority Villiers supported William III when he landed at Torbay on 5 November 1688 in the invasion known as the Glorious Revolution. Those few who remained loyal to James like the Catholic Earl of Peterborough were removed from their positions and on 31 December 1688 Villiers was appointed Colonel of the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse.[lower-alpha 1][3]

The date of his death is not certain, but he was buried in Westminster Abbey on 2 July 1689.[4]

Around 1650, he married Frances Howard, youngest daughter of Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk and Elizabeth Hume, later governess to James' daughters Mary and Anne. They had numerous children before Frances died of smallpox in 1677.

• Anne Villiers (circa 1651 - 1688) married William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (1649–1709) on 1 February 1678;
• Barbara Villiers (1654 - 1708) married John Berkeley, 4th Viscount Fitzhardinge (1650- 19 December 1712);
• Edward Villiers, 1st Earl of Jersey (1656 – 1711) married Barbara Chiffinch (1663 - 1735) on 17 December 1681.
• Elizabeth Villiers (1657 - 1733) married George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney (1666-1736/37) on 25 November 1695. She was also the mistress of William III of England.
• Katherine Villiers married first the Marquis de Puissar (d. 1701) on 20 July 1685, second William Villiers (d. 7 September 1723) in 1702.
• Henry Villiers (d. 18 August 1707). Father of Henry Villiers (d. 1753) and Catherine Villiers (d. 1764), who married John Craster, Esq. on 17 January 1727.
• Mary Villiers (d. 17 Apr 1753) married William O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Inchiquin, son of William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin and Lady Margaret Boyle, in April 1691. They had three sons and a daughter.
• Henrietta Villiers (d. 1 Feb 1720) married John Campbell, 2nd Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, son of John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, and Lady Mary Rich, on 23 May 1695. They had one son and two daughters.

Anne, Elizabeth, Edward and (possibly) Katherine accompanied Queen Mary to the Hague after her marriage in 1677 to William of Orange.[5])

In February 1685, Villiers married Martha Love in Westminster Abbey but they had no children.[6]

• Royalist Conspiracy in England 1649-1660, David Underdown, Yale University Press, 1960, pages 81 to 82.