Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche
| Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 6 June 1556 |
| Died | 18 August 1625 |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor Zouche Sarah Harrington |
| Parent(s) | George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche |
Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth, Northamptonshire, 12th Baron St Maur (6 June 1556 – 18 August 1625) was an English diplomat. He is remembered chiefly for his lone vote against the condemnation of Mary, Queen of Scots, and for organising the ill-fated stag-hunt where his guest, the Archbishop of Canterbury, accidentally killed a man.
Zouche was the son of George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche and his wife Margaret, née Welby. He was a royal ward from 1570, under the care of William Cecil. In a letter to Cecil written in 1596, Zouche confessed that he spent his patrimony as a youth, having indulged in "little searching for knowledge".
In or around 1578, Zouche married his cousin Eleanor Zouche, daughter of Sir John Zouche and Eleanor, née Whalley. They had two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, but, shortly after Mary's birth in 1582, Zouche abandoned his wife and they lived apart until her death in 1611. Eleanor's father wrote to Lord Burghley complaining of her treatment:
'My Lord Souche (sic) put away this his lady twenty-nine years ago and refusing her all allowance was by law sentenced there-unto, which he not performing was excomunicate; from which he went beyond sea and returning was ordered to pay her 50s the week, from which poor allowance with a small addition from her friends hath this Baron's wife...ever since lived. She was oft dangerously sick that physic was chargeable. He never disbursed a penny, and now dead she might have rotted in her chamber ere he would have buried her'.
Within a year of his first wife's death, Zouche married again, to Sarah, daughter of Sir James Harington. Sarah Harrington had been twice widowed, having been the former wife of Francis Hastings, and of Sir George Kingsmill. There were no children of this marriage.
Zouche matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge in Easter 1570, M.A. 1571; and was admitted to Gray's Inn, 1575, though he was not admitted to the bar.
Zouche was appointed a Commissioner for the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringhay. Here he demonstrated courage and independence, in that he was the only Commissioner to offer any dissent against the judgement and subsequent sentence of death.
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