Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour, PC (bef. 23 February 1607/8 – 28 December 1694) was a Peer of England during the 17th century, and the most famous of the Lords Arundell of Wardour. He served as Lord Privy Seal and Lord High Steward, and was appointed to the Privy Council. During the Popish Plot he suffered a long period of imprisonment.
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He was baptised on 23 February 1607/8 at St Andrew, Holborn, London. On the death of his father on 19 May 1643 he succeeded to his estates and to his titles, which included that of Count of the Holy Roman Empire. Throughout his life a devoted Catholic, he fought on the side of Charles I in the First English Civil War. In May 1643 the parliamentarians wrested Wardour Castle, in Wiltshire, from his mother Lady Blanche Arundell who was defending it. In the following September Arundell laid siege to the castle and its new occupiers and fought in the re-taking from the rebels. By springing a mine and ruining the building, he finally dislodged the enemy under General Edmund Ludlow in March 1644,[1] eventually destroying it to prevent it being used as a fortress.
On 13 May 1652 he acted as one of the seconds of his brother-in-law Colonel Henry Compton, in a duel with George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos. Compton was killed, and a warrant was issued by the council of state to arrest Arundell with others who had taken part. On 17 May 1653 he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to be burned in the hand. In that year Arundell appears to have petitioned Oliver Cromwell for pardon, and in 1656 to have received permission to take refuge in France. At the restoration of Charles II, Arundell, on paying £35,000, was confirmed in all his family estates, many of which had been sold by the Commonwealth to Humphrey Weld. On 7 March 1663 he was nominated and held the office of Master of the Horse to the Queen-Mother, Henrietta Maria.[1]
In January 1669 he was summoned by Charles II, with other Roman catholic peers, to a secret council, and was commissioned to proceed to France to inform Louis XIV of the English king's desire to be reconciled to Roman Catholicism, and of his want of ready money. In June 1669 Arundell returned with Louis's assent to the secret Treaty of Dover with Charles, which was signed in the following year. In 1678 Titus Oates and his associates announced that Arundell was a chief mover in the Popish Plot against Charles II, which they professed to have discovered; it was a complete fabrication. According to the evidence of these informers, attempts had been made by the catholics of England, in league with Louis XIV, to raise an army of 50,000, which was to be placed under the command of Lords Arundell, Powis, and Belasyse. Some of the witnesses asserted that the pope had issued a commission to Arundell to be lord chancellor as soon as the present ministers had been removed, and that Arundell had for many years been actively employed in arranging the details of the plot. For details of the proceedings by Parliament, see trial of the five Catholic lords. Between October 1678 and February 1684 he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, along with other 'Popish' peers, on the accusation of Titus Oates. During his imprisonment in 1679 Arundell wrote five short religious poems, published in a single folio sheet in 1679, and reissued in A Collection of Eighty-six Loyal Poems in 1685.[1]
After the death of Charles II, his successor, James II, admitted Arundell, although a Catholic, to the Privy Council (PC), to which he was invedted on 17 July/August 1686, and appointed him Keeper of the Privy Seal or Lord Privy Seal in place of Lord Clarendon on 11 March 1686/87, office he held. By royal dispensation he was relieved of the necessity of taking the customary oaths on accepting office. In the following June Arundell presented an address to the King on behalf of the Roman catholics, thanking him for the Declaration of Indulgence; uncharacteristicly, he strongly opposed the admission of the Jesuit Edward Petre to the privy council. He received, on 24 June 1687, a bounty of £250 from the king for secret service.[1] In 1688 he was one of the five Lords to whom King James II committed the administration of his affairs.
On the abdication of James, Arundell retired to his house at Breamore, Hampshire, and took no further part in public life. He died there Breamore on 28 December 1694, at the age of eighty-eight. He was buried with his ancestors at Tisbury, Wiltshire. He was a noted gambler and sportsman, and kept at Breamore a celebrated pack of hounds, which became the property of the Earl of Castlehaven, and subsequently of Hugo Meynell. From them the Quorn Hunt's pack is descended.[1]
He was the only son of Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, by his wife, Lady Blanche.
He married Cicely Compton (c. 1610 - 24 March 1675/76), daughter of the Hon. Sir Henry Compton, Knt., of Brambletye, Sussex, invested as a Knight of the Order of the Bath (KB) on 25 July 1603, and first wife Lady Cicely Sackville, and widow of Sir John Fermor. She was a granddaughter of Sir Henry Compton, 1st Baron Compton and of Robert Sackville, 2nd Earl of Dorset by her mother (herself a half-sister of Richard Sackville, 3rd Earl of Dorset and Edward Sackville, 4th Earl of Dorset). Her stepmother was Mary Browne, daughter of Sir George Browne, also a widow, of Thomas Paston, of Thorpe, Surrey.
Their children were:
The elder son, Thomas, became the fourth Lord Arundell of Wardour, and was in the retinue of Lord Castlemaine on his visit to Pope Innocent XI as James II's ambassador. Lord Arundell's only daughter, Cecily, entered the order of Poor Clares of Rouen in 1662, and died at Rouen 13 June 1717, at the age of eighty-two.
| Henry Arundell, 3rd Baron Arundell of Wardour | Father: Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour |
Paternal Grandfather: Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Sir Matthew Arundell, of Wardour Castle |
| Paternal Great-grandmother: Margaret Willoughby |
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| Paternal Grandmother: Mary Wriothesley, Baroness Arundell of Wardour |
Paternal Great-grandfather: Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton |
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| Paternal Great-grandmother: Mary Browne |
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| Mother: Blanche Somerset, Baroness Arundell of Wardour |
Maternal Grandfather: Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester |
Maternal Great-grandfather: William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Christian North |
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| Maternal Grandmother: Elizabeth Hastings |
Maternal Great-grandfather: Francis Hastings, 2nd Earl of Huntingdon |
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| Maternal Great-grandmother: Catherine Pole |
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Arundell, Henry". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Earl of Clarendon |
Lord Privy Seal 1687 – 1688 |
Succeeded by The Marquess of Halifax |
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by Thomas Arundell |
Baron Arundell of Wardour 1643–1694 |
Succeeded by Thomas Arundell |