In the Hearth Tax Roll for 1673 Col. Thos. Howard is shown as occupying the house. He was succeeded by “Lord Obryant” (Hearth Tax Roll for 1675). This is undoubtedly Lord O’Brien, afterwards the second Earl of Inchiquin.
O’Brien.
William O’Brien, son of Murrough O’Brien, sixth Baron and first Earl of Inchiquin, was born about 1638. He was brought up in London at the house of Sir Philip Perceval, and afterwards saw much military service with his father in France and Spain. In 1660 they were both captured by an Algerian corsair, and carried into Algiers, but were subsequently ransomed by the English Government. His residence in the house in Great Queen Street seems to have begun about November, 1673. Writing to Williamson on the 28th of that month,[[318]] he says: “I rejoice at nothing more in my remove to Queen Street than to be able to assure you that besides a hearty welcome, there is a couple of good rooms at your command.” Again, on 20th February, 1673–4,[[319]] he writes to Williamson with reference to the latter’s German voyage, adding that “your poor friends in Queen Street wish you really as well as any of those that contrive this voyage for you.” A few weeks afterwards he was appointed captain general of the forces in Africa and governor and vice-admiral of Tangier, a position which he held for six years. He succeeded his father in the title on 9th September, 1674. On the Revolution he supported William III. and in 1690 was appointed captain general and governor of Jamaica, where his troubles with the French and negroes, increased by his want of tact, undoubtedly shortened his life. He died in January, 1691–2.
The ratebook for 1683 shows the house again in the occupation of Earl Rivers. He died in 1694 at the house in Great Queen Street.[[320]]
The Jury Presentment Roll for 1698 shows “Lady Rivers” at the house, but whether this refers to the widow of the third Earl[[321]] or the second wife of the fourth Earl[[322]] is not known.
In the ratebook for 1700 no name appears against the house, but in those for 1703 and 1709 Earl Rivers is shown in occupation. Richard, the fourth Earl (“Tyburn Dick”) was handsome, brave, and a most notorious rake. As Lord Colchester (a title he obtained after his elder brother’s death), he had been the first nobleman to welcome the Prince of Orange on his landing. During William’s reign he saw a great deal of military service in Ireland and on the Continent. Being strongly recommended by Marlborough, he was in 1706 appointed to the command of a force originally intended for a descent on France, but afterwards diverted to Portugal. Rivers was, however, superseded within a few weeks after his landing and returned home. He owed much to Marlborough’s influence, but being unable, in 1709, to induce him to support his candidature for the position of constable of the Tower, he paid court to the other side, and the grant to him of the appointment on the recommendation of Harley was the first sign of the coming fall of the Whigs. High in favour, he was in 1710 sent on a delicate political mission to Hanover, and in 1711 was created master of the ordnance. He died in August, 1712, at his house at Ealing Grove.
In his will[[323]] he left to Mrs. Elizabeth Colleton alias Johnson,[[324]] “all my mansion house called Rivers House, scituate in Great Queen Street,” and in the ratebook for 1715 the occupant of the house is given as “Mrs. Eliz. Collington,” with a note “an ambassador’s house and gone away.”
The next occupant of the house was apparently William, sixth Baron North.[[325]] He was son of Charles, fifth Baron North, who had on his marriage with Catherine, only daughter of William, Lord Grey of Wark, taken the title of Lord Grey. He succeeded to the titles in 1691. He served with Marlborough throughout the war of the Spanish Succession, at the end of which he held the rank of lieutenant-general. During the latter part of Anne’s reign his Jacobite sympathies became more and more pronounced. On the accession of the Hanoverian dynasty he therefore became an object of suspicion, and on 28th September, 1722, was committed to the Tower for complicity in Atterbury’s plot.[[326]] He escaped and was re-arrested, but subsequently was admitted to heavy bail. Shortly afterwards he left the country and never returned, dying at Madrid in October, 1734. His residence at Rivers House must have been short, commencing some time between 1715 and 1720, and terminating either at or before his committal to the Tower in 1722.
In the will of Richard, fourth Earl Rivers, there is mention of “Miss Bessy Savage,” to whom the Earl left £10,000 on condition that she married with the consent of Mrs. Colleton. “Bessy” was the Earl’s illegitimate daughter by the latter, and in August, 1714, when she was fifteen years old, she married “with consent of her mother”[[327]] the third Earl of Rochford. As Rivers House is found in her possession, she evidently obtained it, either by gift or bequest, from her mother, to whom Lord Rivers had left it.