James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater
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James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater (26 June 1689-24 February 1716) was the son of Edward Radclyffe. 2nd Earl of Derwentwater and Mary Tudor, the natural daughter of Charles II by singer and actress Moll Davis. He succeeded to the family titles and estates in Northumberland on the death of his father in 1705.
The ancestral home from 1521 was at Dilston Hall, Northumberland. The estates were sequestrated after the Civil War due to the recusancy of his grandfather the first Earl. He regained them and began the construction of a grand mansion to replace the old Hall, a task that was never completed.
He was a strong supporter of the Royal claims of his cousin James Francis Edward Stuart the 'Old Pretender', and in 1715 led the Northumbrian faction in the Jacobite rebellion. His brother Charles was a active supporter and another cousin Thomas Forster led the Jacobite army.
The Jacobite army was soundly defeated at the Battle of Preston (1715) and Derwentwater was captured and tried for and convicted of High Treason. He was executed by beheading at Tower Hill on 24th February 1716. His brother Charles escaped to France but was captured in 1745 on his return to support the 1745 uprising and was executed in 1746.
Derwentwater was stripped of his honours and titles ( although his successors continued to use the titles) and his estates were confiscated. In 1748 Dilston Hall was granted by Act of Parliament (Public Act 22 George II chapter 56) to the Royal Hospital, Greenwich.
He married Anna Maria Webb in 1712. Their only son John succeeded.
