The daring Jacobite wife who saved her husband from death at the Tower of London

Her daring knew no bounds - as did her love for her husband and her family loyalty to the Jacobite cause.

William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale and his wife, Countess Winifred, who aided his escape from the Tower of London on the eve of his planned execution. PIC: Creative Commons.

It was this month in 1716 that Countess Winifred Maxwell, wife of William, 5th Earl of Nithsdale of Traquair House, engineered her husband's escape from the Tower of London on the eve of his planned execution.

The couple met at the French court at the end of the 17th Century, where he had gone to pledge loyalty to exiled James VII and she was visiting her father, the Earl of Powis, a staunch supporter of the Jacobite cause who was also in exile after being falsely named in the Popish Plot conspiracy and accused of planning to kill Charles II.

As a result, Winifred's father was also held in the Tower of London with her mother then embroiled in a plot to secure his release.

First she tried to lobby King William of Orange directly - without success - with a more rudimentary approach then found. A black cloak and some pots of make up were then deployed to help hustle her bearded husband out the tower disguised as a woman.

William Maxwell was captured and imprisoned following the 1715 Battle of Preston with his titles and land forfeited.

But his wife and brother were of a different view.

In December 1715 and with the financial support of her brother-in-law, Winifred headed to London via Newcastle and York with her servant, Cecilia Evans, in a bid to lobby for her husband's release.

In deep snow the pair ventured south, with Winifred getting the last place on the Stagecoach at York and Evans riding behind. The journey was halted after 60 miles given the weather but the pair battled on to the capital with the aid of two new horses.

In the capital, there was important business to do.

"Winifred lobbied hard for her husband's release, even meeting King George I in person to plead William's case. Despite winning popular sympathy, Winifred's diplomacy failed - so she turned to more daring, dramatic measures," an account by Historic Environment Scotland said.

Then, two days before the date set for William’s execution, she returned to the Tower and pretended her petition for his release had been approved by the King. She even gave his guards a few coins so they could drink to the King and William's health.

The next day, she returned to the Tower for her last visit before his planned execution. Winifred's friend wore an extra petticoat and cloak, left them behind, and exited the lodgings, pretending to cry with a hankie held over her face.

After several comings and goings of Winifred's friends, who acted desperate to see their friend his final hours, and the wards duly confused, William was dressed in the woman's clothes, patted with make up and ushered away from his cell holding arms with one of the women.

Winifred remained in the cell, pretending to talk to her husband as if he was still there and mimicking his voice for the benefit of the guards.

In time, she left the cell and told the servant lighting the candles that her husband was saying his prayers and did not want to be disturbed. She hurried away from the Tower with the waiting Lord Nithsdale fleeing to France as his wife headed to Scotland to collect their young daughter and family papers.

The King was furious.

In a letter to her sister following the escape, Winifred declared "I had done George I more mischief than any woman in Christendom."

Only one other escape, in 1722, was ever attempted from the Tower after this episode, and the prisoner was recaptured and executed.

The two lived in relative peace in France, with Winifred dying in Rome in 1749, five years after the death of her husband.