102 The Wiltshire Compounders. 
“The humble petition of Mary, Countess of Marlborough—sheweth, that her 
son, the Earl of Marlborough that now is, hath been out of the kingdom these 
four years past, leaving behind his only sister, the Lady Elizabeth Ley, pos- 
sessed of all that small estate he had, known as Teffont Ewyas, of the yearly 
value of £200 and odd. It pleased God to take away by death the said Lady 
Elizabeth three years ago; since which time the estate has been sequestered, the 
dwelling-house defaced, and the trees cut down. Your petitioner being the 
distressed mother of the said Earl, thinks herself bound to appear in his behalf, 
and to endeavour to preserve (if by your honour and humanity she may) the 
small remainder of the estate, by compounding for it. Your petitioner prays 
that order may be given to stop the cutting down of the trees; there being an 
evident intention to sell all that is left.” [1648 P] 
What amount, if any, Lady Marlborough had to pay in her son’s 
name, I have not ascertained. Eventually, as stated above, she 
married Colonel William Wancklyn, M.P. for Westbury, and seems 
to have resided in Heywood House. Among the communion plate 
at Westbury (Sir Richard Colt Hoare informs us) is a silver chalice 
engraved thus :— The gift of Colonel Wanklyn and Mary Countess 
of Marlborough. 1671.” Sir Richard adds that he had seen an 
old lease dated 1666, by which Thomas Wancklyn, of Heywood, 
conveys an estate on lives in the manor of Bratton. We may now 
pass on to the closing scenes in the life of her son, the third Earl of 
Marlborough. 
When the restoration of royalty occurred, the manifold adventures 
through which he passed at sea had already won for him the repu- 
tation of an able navigator and a mathematician. Everything 
marked him out as a public servant whom the restored monarch 
would be delighted to honour; and accordingly he was at once 
constituted Lord Admiral of all His Majesty’s ships at Dartmouth 
and parts adjacent. On the breaking out of the Dutch War he 
hoisted his flag on board the Old James, and he fell in the first 
action in which he was engaged, 3rd June, 1665. This is soon told; 
but it is connected with another fact of deathless interest, an event 
which, while it sheds a serene radiance over his closing days, requires 
no further comment or explanation than is conveyed in the following 
outspoken letter, written to an old associate in arms shortly before 
his own death :— 
“ James, Earl of Marlborough, to Sir Hugh Pollard, from on board 
the Old James, near the coast of Holland, 24th April, 1655. 
