The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2020 | Page 102

The Saber
James III was quite concerned
with the number of his supporters marrying
into non-Jacobite families. He became
active in political marriages well
before the 1715 uprising. One match
he encouraged was Winifred Herbert
and William Maxwell, 5 th Earl of Nithsdale.
Lady Nithsdale was the daughter
of William Herbert, the 1st Marquess of
Powis, who was responsible for securing
the safe arrival of the infant James
III and his mother to France during the
1689 rebellion. The Herberts lived at
James II’s French court in exile. Winifred,
raised as a devout Roman Catholic
and in service to the Stuarts, would
never have questioned or refused her
King and family’s wishes of a husband.
With strong Jacobite matches, James
was more secure in holding his supporters
together. Lady Winifred was a
good wife and mother, supporting her
husband when he openly declared for
James III in 1715.
Lord Nithsdale knew the price
if they failed; his family would be exiled,
his lands forfeited, and his name
extinct. 53 Fail they did; Nithsdale and
several other Jacobites were captured at
Preston by government troops, found
guilty of treason, and sentenced to
death. 54 Lady Nithsdale, the dutiful wife
and submissive supporter, fought for
the one thing she could not lose—her
husband. Winifred did not actively participate
in the uprising for the Stuarts,
but helped her husband escape from
the Tower of London the night before
the scheduled execution. They fled to
Rome, where James III held his court
and raised their children to be firm
supporters of the House of Stuart. Lat-
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