Henry Mordaunt 1623-1697

Henry MORDAUNT, 2nd Earl of Peterborough 1623-97

Biographical Note

Son of John Mordaunt, 1st Earl of Peterborough (d.1643). Courtier, politician. He fought in the Civil War initially for parliament but defected to the royalist side. After the Restoration he was made governor of Tangier but was recalled in 1662. He served in the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665 and the following year became lord lieutenant of Northamptonshire. He grew increasingly close to James, Duke of York but this association that led to accusations that he was involved in the Popish Plot and eventually led to his capture following the 1688 revolution. He was imprisoned in the Tower 1688-1690 and remained a Jacobite after his release.

Books

Bought books at the Richard Smith sale of 1682. Listed in Edward Bernard's Catalogi manuscriptorum, 1697, as owning 42 manuscripts.

Sources

• Stater, Victor. "Mordaunt, Henry, second earl of Peterborough (bap. 1623, d. 1697), nobleman." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.