In later life he worked in a similar capacity for Sir William Savile who, like Wortley, was a staunch Royalist supporter in the English Civil War.
[13] Nathaniel was born in 1642 just weeks after King Charles raised his Royal Standard at Nottingham to signal the start of the Civil War.
[15] Orphaned as an infant, he was raised by his grandmother Elizabeth (Lacy) and then an Aunt Clarke (sister of his father John Bladen) and a guardian, Robert Wrightson (1629-1708) of Hemsworth.
Nathaniel’s mother-in-law Dame Frances Fairfax (née Challoner) brought a Chancery Bill[18] over the advowson of Hemsworth Church and his other inherited property which had been acquired by Wrightson.
During this time Danby rose from being Treasurer to Privy Councillor and Chief Minister until his enemies found a way to topple him from power.
In Nathaniel’s last role as Steward in a noble household, he was engaged by the Duchess of Buckingham who was his wife’s relation, being the daughter of 3rd Lord Fairfax.
[21] Nathaniel’s daughters brought action against Lady Ash of Twickenham, the prospective purchaser of the Duchess’s Nunappleton estate, for non-payment of the annuity.