NASSAU VAN ZUYLESTEIN, Frederick (1683-1738)

Frederick Nassau van Zuylestein was the second of the four sons of William of Orange’s friend and military companion Willem Nassau van Zuylestein, who had been rewarded with an English peerage as earl of Rochford. In April 1696 the earl’s seven eldest children, including Frederick, were naturalized by act of Parliament. Huguenot Soc. Quarto Ser. xviii, 241. The 1st earl of Rochford maintained interests in both England and the United Provinces. In England William III granted him, on 26 Apr. 1696, the estates in Middlesex, Northamptonshire, and Montgomeryshire of the attainted Catholic exile William Herbert, marquess of Powis. Suits with Powis’ heir, William Herbert, styled Viscount Montgomery (later 2nd marquess of Powis), were to embroil Rochford and his heirs for many years. Montgomery was occasionally granted the right to raise money on portions of his family’s estate and to exploit its mineral wealth, but he did not formally regain possession of the centerpiece of the estate, the imposing residence of Powis Castle in Montgomeryshire, until 1722, when his father’s outlawry was reversed and he was restored to his title and lands. Luttrell, Brief Relation, v. 6.

The first earl of Rochford died at Zuylestein in the Netherlands on 2 July 1708, and his English and Dutch titles and properties were passed on to his heir, William Henry Nassau van Zuylestein, with a father’s injunction to divide the remainder of the estate equally among his six younger siblings. TNA, PROB 11/511. Frederick, the second son, inherited his father’s estate and title as lord of Waayestein in Utrecht and remained there until his elder brother was killed leading his troops at the battle of Almenara in Spain on 16 July 1710. He then settled in England and Wales, where he still formally owned Powis Castle, although Montgomery continued to exert influence there. Ditzhuysen, Oranje-Nassau, 100–1.

Rochford inherited his title at a significant moment. The Whig ministry which had prosecuted the war in which his father and his brothers had fought was in disgrace, and a new Tory ministry which would repudiate this policy and actively seek a separate peace was being formed under Robert Harley, shortly to become earl of Oxford. Throughout 1710–11 Harley was uncertain whether the new earl of Rochford would support his ministry; he had no opportunity to discover Rochford’s intentions as the earl never sat in the 1710 Parliament.

Rochford first took his seat in the House on 23 June 1714, almost four years after he had inherited his peerage, and sat a further 11 times before the prorogation on 9 July. On 8 July 1714, the penultimate day of the session, he signed the protest against the rejection of the motion to represent to the queen the House’s opinion that the national benefit of the asiento had been mitigated by the private interest of certain individuals involved in the negotiations (notably Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke). He was present in the House again for 8 of the 15 sittings at the time of the queen’s death in August 1714, but there is no record of any activity on his part in the House during this time; he was not even named to select committees established on the days when he was present.

As momentous as the early days of August 1714 were to the nation at large, to Rochford they had a personal significance, for on 3 Aug. 1714 he married the 15-year-old ‘Bessy’ Savage, the illegitimate daughter and principal heiress of the 4th Earl Rivers, with Elizabeth Colleton. At his death in 1712, Rivers’ estate had been in disarray, charged with debts of approximately £23,000. The will which he had drawn up in June 1711 led to confusion and acrimony. Rivers had tired to ensure that his heir male, his distant cousin the Catholic priest John Savage, later 5th Earl Rivers, would inherit the Rivers estates only if he renounced Catholicism. If he failed to do so the estate was to be placed in trust for Bessy Savage until she reached her majority or married with her mother’s written consent (which Rochford received). From the time of his marriage Rochford was engaged in long negotiations with the many parties who disputed the terms of the will, particularly the 5th Earl Rivers and James Barry^‡, 4th earl of Barrymore [I] and widower of the late Lady Elizabeth Savage, Rivers’ only legitimate daughter. Add. 70346, Barrymore to Oxford, 25 July 1717. Oxford (as Harley had become) was an executor and trustee of the Rivers estate, which may explain why Rochford voted for his acquittal when the former lord treasurer was impeached in May 1717. Up to that point even Oxford himself was not sure how Rochford would vote. The remainder of his somewhat lacklustre parliamentary career will be considered in the next phase of this work.