Nathaniel Wade

Nathaniel Wade (c. 1666? – 1718) was an English lawyer and conspirator implicated in the Rye House Plot and participant in the Monmouth Rebellion.

Nathaniel Wade, born around 1666, was the third son of John Wade of the Wick-house, Arlingham, Gloucestershire. John Wade was a major in Oliver Cromwell's army and governor of the Isle of Man for a short period under the Protector. The maiden name of his mother, who was buried in St. Stephen's, Bristol, on 22 March 1678–9, was Lane. The John Wade who is claimed as the founder of the family was mayor of Bristol in 1576, and is described in the corporation records as a lollard. The family resided at Filton, near Bristol since 1560.

Nathaniel entered the New Inn on 11 June 1678, and the Middle Temple on 16 June 1681. As a young lawyer of the country party and a frequenter, it would appear, of the Green Ribbon Club, he had some dealings with Richard Rumbold and other insurgent "republicans" in the spring of 1683.

He was suspected of complicity in the Rye House plot, and on 23 June a reward of £100 was offered for his apprehension, together with Rumbold, John Rumsey, Richard Goodenough, and other plotters. Three witnesses were found to give evidence against him, but he escaped to Holland, where he spent two years in an atmosphere of whig intrigue, and, according to his own account, acted as an emissary between the Duke of Monmouth and Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll.

Wade took part in the Monmouth Rebellion, sailing with Monmouth at the end of May 1685, and landing at Lyme Regis on 11 June. Three days later he marched with Forde Grey, earl of Tankerville, in the direction of Bridport, at the head of about three hundred infantry, and took part in an indecisive and shambling encounter with the Dorset militia.

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