Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/336

 second child of Sir William Fenwick or Fenwicke of Wallington Castle, and Grace, daughter of the Hon. Mr. Stapleton of Wighill, Yorkshire. In Burke's ‘Extinct Baronetage’ it is mentioned among the ‘splendid traits’ of Fenwick's character, that after the great fire in London he built the hall in Christ's Hospital; but, according to the ‘Brief History of Christ's Hospital’ (5th ed. p. 35), the person who built it was Sir John Frederick, who was governor in 1662. Fenwick at an early period entered the army; in 1675 he became colonel of foot, in 1687 colonel of the 3rd guards, and in 1688 major-general. He was returned member of parliament for Northumberland in room of his father deceased, 15 March 1676–7 (Return of Members of Parliament, i. 526), and the last occasion on which he was returned was 2 April 1685 (ib. p. 584). As he was at this time one of the most devoted supporters of the policy of James II, his candidature attracted special attention, and his triumph was celebrated in Newcastle with manifestations of rejoicing ‘which excited interest in London, and which were thought not unworthy of being mentioned in dispatches of foreign ministers’ (, Hist. of England). It was Fenwick who, in 1685, brought up the bill of attainder against the Duke of Monmouth. It is said that Fenwick, while serving in Holland, had been severely reprimanded by William of Orange, and that this was the cause of his subsequent animosity against the prince. After William's accession he remained in England and became one of the most persistent of the plotters against his throne, but his curious combination of imprudent boldness in showing illwill with fatal want of resolution made him less dangerous than many persons of much less influence. In March 1688–9 he was in the north of England fomenting disturbances (, Diary, i. 509). Shortly afterwards he was arrested, and on 13 May 1689 committed to the Tower (ib. p. 532), but on 28 Oct. he received his discharge. In 1691, during the reverses of the arms of William on the continent, the hopes of Fenwick and his associates became so elated that they began to assume swaggering airs in Hyde Park. One avenue which they frequented became known as the Jacobite walk. Fenwick was rude to Queen Mary, according to one version venturing to cock his hat in her face, while other versions add details implying even more marked impertinence (see the authorities quoted in, Hist. of England). Orders were given to shut the gates against him and his associates. On 9 July 1692 he was declared to have been guilty of misdemeanor for his share in a Jacobite riot in Drury Lane (, iii. 495). According to a statement made to Burnet by Lady Fenwick at Sir John's request, Fenwick frustrated a plot for William's assassination in 1695 by threatening to divulge it (, Own Time, ed. 1838, p. 612), but in all probability the reason why the plot miscarried was that the king left unexpectedly for Flanders. As he was privy to that plot, there is the more reason to suspect that he was fully cognisant of all the details of the assassination plot of the following spring, in which Sir George Barclay [q. v.] and Robert Charnock [q. v.] had the principal practical share. In the commission sent from France Fenwick was named major-general of the troops to be raised for King James on his arrival from France (, Memorials of the Duke of Berwick, i. 134). He remained in hiding until after the trials of the other conspirators, and, knowing from these trials that there were only two witnesses, Porter and Goodman, whose evidence against him was to be feared, he determined to bribe them to leave the country. This was the first of a series of false steps. Porter affected to listen until he had secured the bribe of three hundred guineas offered him, but took care to arrange with the authorities for the apprehension of the agent employed to bribe him. Thus Fenwick's attempt actually led the witness to volunteer information to the authorities, and a bill of indictment was found against him at the next sessions of the city of London. Fenwick therefore resolved to flee the country, but on his way to the south coast of Kent he was accidentally encountered by a messenger in charge of some smugglers. He was on horseback, and on being recognised dashed past, pistol in hand, and was soon out of sight, but on 13 June he was arrested in bed. According to Luttrell (iv. 72) and a contemporary letter published in ‘Notes and Queries,’ 2nd ser. i. 68, he was captured at New Romney, but according to a note by William Bray to Evelyn's ‘Diary,’ the arrest took place in a house by the side of the road from Great Bookham to Stoke D'Abernon, near Slyfield Mill. Shortly after his arrest he wrote a note to his wife in which he practically admitted that the evidence against him was overwhelming, and that nothing could save him except a free pardon (printed in Proceedings at his trial). The note was intercepted, and when, on being brought before the lords justices, he boldly asserted his innocence, it was shown to him. He immediately offered, on condition of pardon, to make a complete revelation of all that he knew of the Jacobite conspiracies. King William instructed Devonshire to obtain Fenwick's