The Earl of Huntingdon | |
|---|---|
 Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon | |
| Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire | |
| In office 11 August 1687 – 6 April 1689 | |
| Preceded by | Earl of Rutland |
| Succeeded by | Earl of Rutland |
| Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire | |
| In office 23 December 1687 – 16 May 1689 | |
| Preceded by | Earl of Scarsdale |
| Succeeded by | Duke of Devonshire |
| Privy Councillor | |
| In office 1683–1690 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 December 1650 |
| Died | 30 May 1701 (aged 50) |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Lewis (1654–1688, her death) Mary Fowler (1664–1701, his death) |
| Children | 15 |
| Parent(s) | Ferdinando Hastings, 6th Earl of Huntingdon Lucy Davies |
Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon (10 December 1650 – 30 May 1701) was a 17th-century English politician and Jacobite. One of the few non-Catholics to remain loyal to James II of England after November 1688, on the rare occasions he is mentioned by historians, he is described as a 'facile instrument of the Stuarts,' a 'turncoat' or 'outright renegade.'[1]
Once the leading political power in Leicestershire, his family had declined in influence; regaining that position became his primary ambition and drove his political choices. During the 1679 to 1681 Exclusion Crisis, he supported the removal from the succession of the Catholic heir, James, Duke of York, before switching allegiance in 1681. James succeeded as king in 1685 with widespread support but this collapsed when his religious measures and the methods used to enforce them seemed to undermine the legal system and the Church of England. By the end of 1687, Huntingdon was one of the few non-Catholics who continued to actively implement his policies.
Even among those who considered James the legitimate king after 1688, the vast majority viewed the primacy of the Church of England as non-negotiable; Hastings was considered to have actively persecuted his own church, a distinction that damaged his reputation among his contemporaries. One of 30 individuals excluded from the 1690 Act of Grace, he lost his offices but continued to attend the House of Lords and remained a committed Jacobite. He was arrested and charged with treason in 1692, although charges were later dropped; shortly before his death in May 1701, he was one of five peers who voted against the 1701 Act of Settlement barring Catholics from the throne.
His daughter Lady Elizabeth Hastings (1682-1739) became a noted philanthropist and supporter of women's education who established the 'Lady Elizabeth Hastings Charities'.
- ^ Western 1972, pp. 120, 215.