Edward Villiers

Who was Edward Villiers?

Sir Edward Villiers, the fourth son of Sir Edward Villiers and Barbara St. John, half-nephew to George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, considered him to be a man of "dilligence and dexterity" and referred to him as "honest Ned".

He became a colonel, having served against the Scots in 1640 and he was wounded at the First Battle of Newbury in 1643. He was also employed to carry confidential dispatches and served under Sir Richard Willys as governor of Newark before Lord John Belasyse was appointed in his place.

After the end of the First English Civil War, he was implicated in a plot to assist the escape of the Duke of York but was not convicted and took no part in the Second English Civil War and lived abroad, 1649 to 1652.