The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2020 | Page 91

and Scroll
2
arrest, and she returned home; what
they wanted was to find her husband,
Theophilus, who remained hidden for
over a year, and probably hid part of
the time at Westbrook Place in the secret
passage. 16 The secret passage had
a tunnel running from the house to a
building in the nearby village called
the “King’s Arm.” 17 Jacobites used the
tunnel to pass along messages or hide
from government men. Following the
arrest of both Eleanor and Theophilus,
the Oglethorpes used the tunnel to escape
to France. There, they spent a few
years in service to James II at his court
in St. Germain. In 1696, the Oglethorpes
returned to England, but they left
two of their daughters, Anne and Eleanor,
in France with James’s wife, Queen
Mary of Modena. These two girls would
become known as the “Barker Sisters.”
They continued the efforts to restore the
Stuart throne their entire lives. 18
Under the pretext of visiting her
daughters, Lady Elenore continued her
Jacobite activities. Before James II died
in 1701, he trusted her to carry one final
letter to his daughter, Princess Anne, in
England. James II believed that Anne’s
half-brother, James III, was the legitimate
heir to the throne, and he requested
that she use her influence to help
him. 19 Although Princess Anne was
sympathetic to her brother’s plight, she
was unwilling to hand over the throne
to a Catholic monarch; she became
Queen upon the death of her brotherin-law
William III in 1702. 20 During her
reign, she declared the Act of Union in
1707, uniting Scotland and England as
one country—Great Britain. 21 Upon her
death in 1714, the Whig Party hastily