He was convicted of high treason and condemned to death,[1] but was reprieved after an intervention [clarification needed] by his wife, Catherine Graham.

Widdrington married Jane Tempest in 1700[citation needed] and resided at the property she brought, Stella Hall, Blaydon-on-Tyne, near Newcastle.

In 1739, Catherine and her sister Mary inherited the estate at Nunnington Hall, Yorkshire, from their nephew Charles, third and last Viscount Preston, who died without issue.

[3] A memorial tablet was erected, commemorating his life and virtues; it refers to his part in the Jacobite rising by speaking obliquely of 'the affair at Preston'.

[3] When his son Henry Francis Widdrington, who claimed the barony, died in September 1774, this branch of the family appears to have become extinct.