wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Arundel, of Lanhern, in Cornwall, he left an only son and successor, Sir GILES CAPEL, who received the honour of knighthood for the valour he displayed at the siege of Terouenne, and Tournay, and at the action of Guinegate, commonly called the "Battle of the Spurs." The lineal decendant of this Sir Giles was the celebrated ARTHUR CAPEL, son of Sir Henry Capel, Knight, by Theodosia, sister of Edward Lord Montagu. Early in life, this gentleman was remarkable for his piety, hospitality, and charity to the poor. In 1640, he was elected member of Parliament for Hertfordshire, and at first opposed the Court, but, alarmed at the violent measures of the Commons, he soon after became a staunch Royalist. For this change of opinion, he was, in 1641, advanced to the peerage by the title of Baron CAPEL, of Hadham. Upon the breaking out of the civil war, Lord Capel raised at his own cost some troops of horse in defence of the King, and, at their head, behaved most gallantly in the many skirmishes and battles which ensued; nor did he retire from the field, until the armies of the unhappy Charles were totally dispersed, his garrisons lost, and his person imprisoned. In 1647 Lord Capel returned to his manor of Hadham, in Hertfordshire, but, the following year, having resolved to make one effort more in favour of the Crown, he shut himself up with the Earl of Norwich, and Sir Charles Lucas, and a body of 4,000 men, in the city of Colchester, where he sustained a memorable siege. Having held out against the Parliamentary army from the 12th of June to the 28th of August, he was at last compelled to surrender at discretion, and was himself committed to the Tower, whence he contrived to escape. But a strict search being made after him, and a hundred pounds offered for his re-capture, he was, through the treachery of a waterman, discovered and apprehended at Lambeth, and re-committed. On the 6th March, 1649, he was arraigned before the High Court of Justice in Westminster Hall, was condemned, and three days afterwards suffered decapitation in Old Palace Yard. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir Charles Morrison, Knight, of Cashiobury in Watford, Hertfordshire, Lord Capel left, with other issue, a son and successor, ARTHUR, Second Lord Capel, who at the Restoration was created Viscount Malden, and EARL OF ESSEX. In 1672, this nobleman was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, which high office he filled to the general satisfaction of all parties in that kingdom. In 1679 he was constituted Chief Commissioner of the Treasury. Owing, however, to his subsequent connection with the Duke of Monmouth, Lord Russell, and Algernon Sidney, he became so obnoxious to the Court, that he was struck off the list of Privy Councillors. In 1682, he was accused by Lord Howard, of Escrick, of being concerned in the Rye House, or Fanatic Plot, and committed to the Tower, where soon after he was discovered in his chamber with his throat cut. The coroner's jury gave their verdict that he had committed felo de se, but it was then, and has since been thought, that he was murdered by his valet de chambre, Paul Bameny, a Frenchman. The Earl had espoused Elizabeth, daughter of Algernon Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and was succeeded by his eldest son, ALGERNON, second Earl. This nobleman was an officer in the army, and served in Flanders under King William. In the reign of Queen Anne he was constable of the Tower, a lieutenant-general, and colonel of the fourth regiment of dragoons. His lordship died in 1710, leaving by his wife, Mary, eldest daughter of William, Earl of Portland, a son and successor, WILLIAM, third Earl, who was in 1731 appointed ambassador at the court of Turin, and installed a Knight of the Garter. He married twice, first Jane, daughter of Henry Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon, and secondly, Mary, daughter of Wriothesly, second Duke of Bedford. By the latter he had a son and successor, WILLIAM ANNE, fourth Earl, born 7th October, 1732. This nobleman (who died 5th March, 1799) married, first, Frances, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, K.B., and grand-daughter maternally of Thomas, Earl of Coningsby, by whom (who died in 1759) he had, with other issue, GEORGE CAPEL CONINGSBY, fifth and present Earl of Essex, who, on inheriting the estates of his grandmother, assumed the surname of Coningsby. The late Earl espoused, secondly, Harriett, daughter of Colonel Thomas Bladen, by whom (who died in 1821) he had, with other issue, an eldest son, JOHN THOMAS, born 2nd March, 1769, who married the Lady Caroline Paget, daughter of Henry, first Earl of Uxbridge, and died 5th March, 1819, leaving issue, Arthur Algernon, of whom presently. Algernon Henry Champagne, captain R. N., born 23rd October, 1807, married 10th December, 1832, Caroline, second daughter of Admiral Sir Charles Paget, K.C.B. Horatio, born 1st November, 1808. Adolphus, born in June, 1813. Harriet Jane, married to David Parry Okeden, of More Crichell, county of Dorset, Esq., and died 24th June, 1819. |