William Prideaux Courtney

“ PETERBOROUGH AND MONMOUTH, CHARLES MORDAUNT, Earl of (c. 1658-1735) , English soldier and statesman, was born about 1658. His father, John Mordaunt, was created Viscount Mordaunt of Avalon and Baron Mordaunt of Reigate, Surrey, in 1659, [1] his mother was Elizabeth, the daughter and sole heiress of Thomas Carey, the second son of Robert Carey, 1st earl of Monmouth. [2] He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on the 11th of April 1674. ”

“ When about sixteen years of age he joined Sir John Narborough's fleet in the Mediterranean, and won his first distinction in arms in the destruction of the dey's fleet under the very guns of Tripoli. His father died on the 5th of June 1675, and Charles Mordaunt succeeded to the peerage as Viscount Mordaunt. On his return from the second expedition to Tangier he plunged into active political life as a zealous Whig and an unswerving opponent of the duke of York. ”

“ He was one of the eighteen peers who signed the protest against the rejection, on the 7th of December 1692, of the motion for the appointment of a committee to inquire into the conduct of the war, and although William had refused his consent to a bill for triennial parliaments in the previous session, Lord Monmouth did not shrink from reintroducing it in December 1693. ”