Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough

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The Earl of Peterborough.
The Earl of Peterborough.

Henry Mordaunt, 2nd Earl of Peterborough, KG, PC, FRS (15 November 162119 June 1697) was an English soldier, peer and courtier.

Styled Lord Mordaunt from 1628, he was the eldest son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough and during the English Civil War, he commanded his ailing father's troop of horse on the side of the Roundheads from 1642. When his father died a year later, Mordaunt (now Earl of Peterborough) joined the Cavaliers and fought at the battles of Bristol, Gloucester and Newbury in 1643 and Cropredy Bridge and Lostwithiel in 1644. In about December 1644, he married Lady Penelope O'Brien (the only daughter of the 5th Earl of Thomond) and they had two daughters.

When Charles married Catherine of Braganza in 1661, he acquired Tangier as part of her dowry and Peterborough was sent there as its Governor. After fortifying the town's harbour, he returned home a few years later and captained the Unicorn at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665 and later the Prince at the Battle of Solebay in 1672.

On James II's accession in 1685, Peterborough was made Groom of the Stole and a Knight of the Garter that year. When the King fled England three years later, Peterborough was caught trying to escape with him and was stripped of all his former offices and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was unsuccessfully impeached for high treason and conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1689 and was released the next year. On his death in 1697, his earldom passed to his nephew, the Earl of Monmouth, and his barony (which was able to pass through the female line) passed to his daughter, the Duchess of Norfolk. Since she died childless, the barony returned to the earls of Peterborough until that title died out in 1814.

Military offices
Preceded by
Luís de Almeida
Governor of Tangier
1661–1663
Succeeded by
The Earl of Teviot
Preceded by
New regiment
Colonel of the Tangier Regiment
1661–1663
Preceded by
New regiment
Colonel of The Earl of Peterborough's
Regiment of Horse

1685–1688
Succeeded by
Hon. Edward Villiers
Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Bath
Groom of the Stole
1685–1688
Succeeded by
Baron Hans Bentinck
Honorary titles
Preceded by
The Earl of Exeter
The Earl of Westmorland
Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire
with The Earl of Exeter 1666–1673
East Northamptonshire only 1673–1678

1666–1689
Succeeded by
The Earl of Monmouth
Preceded by
The Earl of Gainsborough
Viscount Campden
Lord Lieutenant of Rutland
1688–1690
Succeeded by
The Lord Sherard
Peerage of England
Preceded by
John Mordaunt
Earl of Peterborough
1643–1697
Succeeded by
Charles Mordaunt
Baron Mordaunt
1643–1697
Succeeded by
Mary Howard