Antoine de Guiscard, Marquis of Guiscard ( 1658 - 1711 )

Birth: Puy l'Eveque, France (27 December 1658) Death: Newgate Prison, London (28 March 1711) Profession: Clergyman, Roman Catholic Career: He took orders, having received the Abbey of La Bourlie in commendam at the age of 14; he acquired a reputation for violence and debauchery and, for reasons unknown, fled first to Geneva and then to Holland; returned to France to assist the Protestant uprising in the Cevennes with arms and money (1702); on the defeat of the uprising, left France with a young lady from the household of Madame de Maintenon (1703); attempted an unsuccessful naval expedition at Nice and Villefranche (1705); was condemned to be broken on the wheel by the Parlement of Toulouse (1706); fled to England, where he became Lieutenant-General in the army (1706-1711); wishing to return to France, he betrayed British military secrets to the French and was arrested on a charge of treason (1711); during his interrogation he stabbed Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (FRS 1712), whereupon the Duke of Buckingham struck him three times with his sword; died of gangrene from his wounds, although he also swallowed poison; his body was displayed to the public, preserved in salt water Membership: Fellow Election Date: 5/06/1706 Proposers: Isaac Newton.