He never married; his will divided his estate between his sister Elizabeth and his close friend, Colonel Henry Disney, with whom he shared a house in Greenwich and who arranged his burial in Westminster Abbey.

[2] [a] He appears to have started his career as part of the British Brigade raised for French service during the 1672 to 1678 Franco-Dutch War, whose senior officers included Percy Kirke and John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough.

The war ended in September 1678 before any of these saw service, and as military posts were scarce, he accepted a demotion to ensign and transferred to the Tangier Garrison in a regiment commanded by Percy Kirke.

[5] When Tangier was abandoned in 1684, they became part of the expanded army raised by James II, and fought at Sedgemoor in June 1685; ironically named Kirke's Lambs, the regiment became notorious for the brutality with which it treated captured rebels.

He was on good terms with Henry St. John, Secretary of State in the new Harley government; in January 1712, Marlborough was replaced as Captain-General by the Tory Duke of Ormonde, and Withers returned to Flanders as commander of the infantry.

[5] When Anne died in August 1714, there were hopes he would support the Jacobite candidate, James Francis Edward Stuart, but he was strongly committed to the Hanoverian Succession.