[f. prec. + -SHIP.] The office of conservator (e.g., in senses 2 c, e).
1645. Treaty w. Spain, in C. King, Brit. Merch. (1721), III. 140. Who for Matters and Law Suits … in the said Cities of Cadiz, Malaga and San Lucar, may substitute his Conservatorship in the Person that shall be proposed by the said Nation.
1650. H. More, in Enthus. Triumph. (1656). Competitors with our Moon for the Conservatour-ship of the Universe.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., p. lviii. The Conservatorship of the River of Thames.
1829. Liverpool Munic. Rec., 1 April, XVI. 115. The necessity of the Conservatorship of the River being vested in some fixed Body or Persons.
