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Monmouth (JAMES FITZROY DUKE)

JAMES FITZROY, DUKE OF, a natural son of Charles II. of England; born in Rotterdam, April 9, 1649. At the age of 14 he was created Duke of Monmouth, and two years later was made Master of the Horse. He was concerned in various plots which had for their object the exclusion of the Duke of York from the crown; and he was, in consequence, ordered by Charles to quit the kingdom. kingdom. On the accession of James II., being urged to the act by some of his partisans, he left Holland and landed at Lyme, with scarcely 100 followers (June, 1685), but their numbers were soon increased, and he assumed at Taunton the title of king and asserted the weekly legitimacy of his birth. The royal forces were sent against him, and an engagement took place at Sedgmoor, near Bridgewater, July 6. The rebels were defeated, and the duke himself was made prisoner. He nobly refused to betray his accomplices, and conducted himself with much firmness on the scaffold, where his head was severed from his body, after four unsuccessful blows, July 15, 1685. the Burlington Route railroads; 179 miles S. W. of Chicago. It contains Monmouth College (Unit. Presb.), the Warren County Library, a business college, high school, waterworks, gas and electric lights, street railroads, daily and weekly and several National banks. railroads, daily and weekly newspapers, and It has manufactories of sewer pipe, cigars, soap, agricultural implements, and one of the most extensive crockeryware plants in the United States. Pop. (1910) 9,128; (1920) 8,116.