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18TH CENTURY LIVING HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA.

Sunday 27 February 2011

The Escape Of Lord Nithsdale, 1716.

Lord Nithsdale was a Jacobite, and he was sent to the Tower pending his execution in 1716. But his wife visited with her maid, and Lord Nithsdale changed clothes with the maid and escaped.
I often wonder what happened to the maid?!
Painting By Emily Mary Osborn.


My thanks to Nelly for the following links to this story:

6 comments:

Nelly said...

Maybe someone will pick up on that side of the story and go with it.You may like the Cross Stitch series by Dianna Gabaldon lots of Jacobites in it.Great read.

Nelly said...

And since it peaked my interest I went googling and http://www.yourphotocard.com/Ascanius/documents/The%20Escape%20of%20Lord%20Nithsdale%20from%20the%20Tower%20of%20London.pdf and http://www.burkespeerage.com/articles/scotland/esnews/es1202b1.aspx
that has more info.

Gorges Smythe said...

Inquiring minds want to know! :-)

Keith said...

Thanks for the links Nelly, much appreciated! I have added them to the post.
Regards, Keith.

murphyfish said...

It also beggars some questions, was the maid a particular large women or was Lord Nithsdale small in statue? was the lighting poor or just the guards eyesight? (or was there some gold averting their eyes perhaps). Slightly tongue in cheek I know Keith, although perhaps pertinent.
Regards,
John

Keith said...

I think John that if you go to the links you will find that another lady was involved attracting the guard's attention. Also having stood guard duty quite a bit myself I can attest to it getting rather boring. Perhaps the guard's lack of interest lead to him seeing what he expected to see.
Regards, Keith.