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Back to article: 1ST VISCOUNT ROBERT MOLESWORTH MOLESWORTH (1656-1725)

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MOLESWORTH, ROBERT MOLESWORTH, 1ST VISCOUNT (1656-1725), came of an old Northamptonshire family. His father Robert (d. 1656) was a Cromwellian who made a fortune in Dublin, and he himself supported William of Orange and in 1695 became a prominent member of the Irish privy council. In 1716 he was created a viscount. He was succeeded by his two sons, John, 2nd viscount (1699-1726), and Richard 3rd viscount (1680-1758), the latter of whom saved Marlborough's life at the battle of Ramillies and rose to be a field-marshal. The 3rd viscount's son Richard Nassau (1748-1793) succeeded to the title, which has descended accordingly.
A great-grandson of the 1st viscount, JOHN EDWARD NASSAU MOLESWORTH(179o-1877), vicar of Rochdale, was a well-known High Churchman and controversialist; and two of his sons became prominent men—WILLIAM NASSAU MOLESWORTH (1816-189o), author of History of England 183o-2871 (1871-1873), History of the Reform Bill (1865), and History of the Church of
2 J. H. Jeans, Dynamical Theory of Gases, ch. ix.
England (1882); and SIR GUILFORD MOLESWORTH (b. 1828), an eminent engineer and economist.