The Marquess of Winchester's Regiment

Englsih Civil War Re-enacting

ECW Reenacting resources

Preface
Contents

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31

Appendix 1
Appendix 2

Index of persons
Index of Places - Subjects

THE Civil War in Hampshire (1642-45) AND THE STORY OF BASING HOUSE BY REV. G. N. GODWIN, B.D.

Chapter I - Eve of the Civil War — Taking Sides — Parties in Hampshire

(use "control F" to search text)

It comes not within our province to discuss the causes of quarrel between Charles I. and his Parliament. But before we speak of actual warfare we must briefly refer to a few events in the history of our county.

At Winchester there are frequent mentions in the Coffer Book of the walls and gates between the years 1632 and 1637, evidences of the coming struggle, and a notice of "xxs layd out by the Mair for the billeting of soldyers," — "a picturesque lot of fellows no doubt these were, and destined to see service," as saith that genial antiquary, Alderman Jacob. Amongst the writs for ship-money in 1635 and 1636 we find Southampton charged £195 towards the sum of £6000 laid upon the whole shire for providing a ship of 600 tons with 240 men. The quota for Winchester, which caused much bickering between the Dean and Chapter and the Corporation, was fixed at £I90, which fell to £ 170 in 1637. Basingstoke and Portsmouth each paid £60, and Romsey £30.

The Rev. J. S. Davies, M.A., F.S.A., in his admirable " History of Southampton,'' says of that famous seaport :

" King Charles, who had ascended the throne March 27, was proclaimed in the town on Thursday, March 31, 1625. A few months later he was in Southampton. The plague was raging in the metropolis in the early summer, and the Parliament had been adjourned to Oxford, where it sat a few days at the beginning of August. From that city the King and his council came to Southampton, several orders in council in August being dated from this town ; they were here also some portions of September. No. 17, in the High Street, which contains a good specimen of wood carving (a very beautiful fireplace), is said to have been the King's abode. During this interval an alliance, defensive and offensive, the ' Treaty of Southampton,' dated September 7, 1625, was concluded with the ambassadors of the United Provinces. The King was not only resident some little time in the town, but was indebted to the Corporation, as also to that of Salisbury, for the loan between them of £3000 for the wants of his household.

"At this time, as so often, the town was grievously oppressed by the billeting of soldiers. In January 1626 the Mayor asks Secretary Conway what to do with the soldiers — a part of Colonel Brace's regiment, now in town and fit for service — he had built them a court of guard near the Market Place for practice. This detachment eventually, at the Mayor's request on September 5, occupied the town. In June he had written to Sir Benjamin Tichborne, Sir Richard Norton, and Sir Thomas Jervoise, commissioners for soldiers billeted in the town, begging a pecuniary supply to avoid mutiny, otherwise he must himself fly the town, as he could not endure the strain. In July he had reported to the Council that they had done what they could to repair the ordnance, but were unable to fortify the town without help, recommending also that the castles in the neighbourhood should be put in repair. In the following April, 1627, the captains of the town were reduced in pay, and the troops were ready to break out. In May Colonel Conway's regiment was stationed in the town and at Romsey."

"The King came again to Southampton on June 18, 1627. He was received at the Bargate by the Mayor, Mr. Francis Knowles, and the Aldermen, who presented him with a covered cup — what was in it the observer could not say — and also with the keys of the town, which latter he returned. His Majesty then passed down the street through a file of soldiers to Sir John Mill's house, where he dined, after which he reviewed the troops in the Saltmarsh, and then took ' koch '-coach for Titchfield where he remained the night."

" In April 1628 two companies lately from Ireland, and part of Lord Morton's regiment, were billeted in the town ; and in May the Mayor begged for their removal to Lymington, as the town had been oppressed beyond bearing, and the inhabitants were ready to leave their homes ; added to which the companies which had been with them since November had only received ten weeks' pay. By November 1630 a long bill had been run up for billeting soldiers, and the town sent Nathaniel Mill to treat on the matter. Five years later (December 1635) the heavy amount of £905 was owing to the Corporation on this account."

In 1634 an order was given for Southampton to furnish a ship of 700 tons, armed and victualled, to aid in the suppression of the Turks and other sea-rovers.

"In 1640, on November 28, WiUiam Prynne, barrister of Lincoln's Inn, the learned Puritan, and most voluminous writer, together with Henry Burton, clerk in holy orders, a lecturer in London, and formerly a closet-keeper of the King, when Prince of Wales, who had both some time previously been censured by the Star Chamber for libellous productions, and then banished — the former to Jersey, the latter to Guernsey — were brought back to England and landed at Southampton. Here they were well received by an enthusiastic crowd, their expenses were paid, and liberal presents made them. The like fortune attended their journey to the capital, numbers meeting them in every town. At Charing Cross they were greeted with a multitude of 10,000 persons, flowers being thrown on their way to the city.

John Bastwick, a doctor of medicine, who had been banished to Scilly, returned through Dover a few days after, meeting with the like reception in his progress through Kent, and in London."

In 1641 Charles I. granted to Southampton its last charter, which is still in force. In 1642 the Marquis of Winchester declared for the King, but his kinsmen, Sir Henry Wallop and Robert Wallop, who were members for the county, and for Andover, were Parliamentarians. Two other kinsmen of the Marquis, Sir Richard Jervoise, Kt., of Herriard Park, and Sir Thomas Jervoise, probably a son of Sir Richard, represented the borough of Whitchurch in Parliament. Sir William Waller, the general of the Parliament, was also a relative of the Marquis of Winchester, and was in 1642 returned as member for Andover. Sir Henry Wallop and Richard Whitehead, Esqrs., who were both Parliamentarians, represented the county at Westminster. Richard Whitehead lived at Norman Court, and was the son-in-law of Colonel Norton of Southwick. Sir Henry Rainsford and Henry Vernon, Esqrs., were the original members for Andover, in the Long Parliament, but by a petition, which bears date May 3, 1642, Mr. Vernon was unseated, and Sir William Waller was declared duly elected, the return being amended on May 12, 1642. Robert Wallop, Esq., a staunch friend to the Puritan cause, also represented Andover in the Long Parliament.

Henry Percy, Esq., was one of the members for Portsmouth, but on his electing to sit for Northumberland a new writ was issued, and in the Borough Records we find : " March 15, 1641, Edward Dowse, Esq., in lieu of H. Percy, who sits for Northumberland." The other member was the notorious Colonel Goring, who, deserting the Puritan cause, openly declared for the King on August 2, 1642, and was, in consequence, expelled from the House of Commons on the eighth of that month.

The members for Southampton were Alderman George GoUopp, Esq., the fifth son of Thomas Gollopp, of Strode, Dorset, Esq., and Alderman Edward Exton, Esq., who were adherents of the Parliament. The representatives of Stockbridge were William Heveningham and William Jephson, Esqs., son of Sir John Jephson, of Froyle, an active commander and Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth in 1644, who supported the same cause. Clarendon speaks of Norton, Onslow, Jarvis, Whitehead, and Morley, all colonels of regiments, and of two captains, Jervoise and Jephson, ** the two eldest sons of the greatest rebels of that country, both heirs to good fortunes." One of the members for Winchester was the celebrated John Lisle, Esq., of Moyle's Court, near Ringwood. He played a very active part in the proceedings of the Parliament, and was at last killed by some Royalists at the church door in Lausanne. His wife was Dame Alicia Lisle, the aged victim of the brutal Judge Jeffreys. His colleague, Sir William, afterwards Lord Ogle, the brother-in-law of Sir William Waller, was a devoted Royalist, which caused him to be unseated on June 24, 1643. Henry Hulse, Esq., of Hinton, in Christchurch, and John Kemp, Esq., of Haywood, were the members for Christchurch. Sir Benjamin Tichborne, who had married one of the Comptons, of Prior's Dean, and who represented Petersfield, was obliged to retire after the Battle of Cheriton to the old family mansion at West Tisted. This is now a farmhouse ; and near it an old hollow oak is still shown, in which the knight contrived to secrete himself from the pursuit of the troopers who were sent to apprehend him. Sir Richard Tichborne was probably in the Battle of Cheriton, and is said to have been concealed in a cottage chimney, as were also his brother, Sir Benjamin, and his son, Sir Henry. These members of the Tichborne family were unhappily arrayed against a kinsman in the army of the Parliament. This was Robert Tichborne, a zealous adherent of Cromwell, afterwards Lord Mayor of London, and called by the Protector to his Upper House in 1657. He sat as one of the King's Judges, and signed the fatal warrant, " Alderman Tichborn, then Sir Robert, knight of the new stamp, now Lord Tichborn." At the Restoration he was arraigned, but was never brought to trial. Sir Henry Tichborne, the son of Sir Richard, is represented in Tillbourg's picture of the Tichborne Dole. For his attachment to the Royal cause his estate was sequestered, but it was given back at the Restoration.

Colonel Norton, the friend of Cromwell, lived at the Manor House of Old Alresford and at Southwick Park. Dr. Peter Heylyn, the rector of Old Alresford, who wrote a history of the Reformation, was hated by the Puritans for having arranged his church according to the injunctions issued by Archbishop Laud. The principal inhabitants of Alresford favoured the cause of the Parliament.

Winstanley (" Worthies of England ") says that Heylyn spent large sums upon his parsonage at Alresford, and that he kept great hospitality for the poor, and a bountiful house among his rich neighbours. Nor was his care less for the service of God to be constantly performed, by reading the Common Prayers in the church every morning, which gave great satisfaction to the parish, being a populous market town. In spite of all this his house was plundered by Colonel Norton ; and he himself was declared a delinquent by a Parliamentary Committee sitting at Portsmouth, to which town his library and household goods were brought by order, and sold for a very small fraction of their value. Heylyn himself took refuge during the war at Winchester, where he met with his full share of troubles. Winchester Castle was a place of considerable strength. James I. had granted it in fee farm to the Tichborne family for ever. Sir William Waller claimed the office of governor, but his sister. Lady Ogle, also asserted her rights as owner. In 1644 Sir Richard Tichborne aided in bringing it under the authority of the King. Bishop Curie, of Winchester, and the Rev. W. Lewis, Master of St. Cross, were staunch loyalists and churchmen; and when, on December 21, 1645, King Charles was brought as a prisoner to Winchester under a guard of horse en route from Hurst Castle to Windsor, " at his entrance therein the Mayor and Alderman of the city did, notwithstanding the times, receive the King with dutiful respect, and the clergy did the like. During his short stay of one night the gentry and others of inferior rank flocked thither in great numbers to welcome his Majesty." The majority of the townsmen of Southampton seem to have favoured the Royal cause ; while Clarendon says of the noble owner of Titchfield House, " The Earl of Southampton was indeed a great man in all respects, and brought very much reputation to the Royal cause." He watched the King's body during the night after the execution, and saw the entrance of a mufQed figure in a cloak, whom he believed to have been Cromwell, and who said " Stern necessity." Lord Southampton was present at the King's funeral at Windsor on February 8, 1649, The father of Lady Rachel Russell of Stratton, he died on May 16, 1667, and was buried at Titchfield. A large portion of the parish of Abbot's Worthy belonged to Arthur, Lord Capel, who desired that his heart, after his execution in March 1649, might be enclosed in a silver vase, and be presented to Charles II. at the Restoration, which was accordingly done. Of him the old rhyme ran :

Our lion-like Capel undaunted stood,
Beset with crosses in a sea of blood.

Colonel Sandys, of Mottisfont House, Colonel Phillips, of Stoke Charity, Captain Peregrine Tasbury, with many others, and Sir William (afterwards Lord) Ogle took up arms for the King. The Fleming family, who were relatives of Oliver Cromwell, and who had settled at North Stoneham in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, were staunch adherents of the Parliament. A Captain Fleming was wounded at Cheriton fight, and received a grant of £30 from the Parliament. Colonel Fleming was appointed governor of Pembroke Castle in 1647 ; and Sir Oliver Fleming was, on November 2, 1643, appointed by the Parliament as their Master of the Ceremonies. Captain Francis St. Barbe, of Broadlands, a Parliamentarian, was mortally wounded at the first Battle of Newbury, and was buried at Romsey in September 1643. The family had another seat at Ashlington, in Somerset. In the Isle of Wight the Oglander family were staunch Royalists, as was also the Earl of Portland, who was governor of the island, and of whom we shall speak presently.

On June 21, 1642, the Deputy-Lieutenants, Colonels, and Captains of the county declared for the Parliament, with the cheerful assent of the county trained bands, who were about 5000 in number, and who were speedily joined by numerous volunteers who offered to serve in person. Hampshire had its share in the local troubles and disturbances which preceded the actual outbreak of hostilities on a large scale. On August 10, 1642, seven straggling Cavaliers robbed two Wiltshire gentlemen on the highway, about three miles from Winchester, of about £80 in gold and £10 in silver, shooting their horses dead and riding off. They were pursued by two gentlemen of the county and their servants, and at length entered an inn at Romsey. Armed assistance having been obtained, they were promptly secured, and imprisoned at Winchester to await their trial. Next day there was a fight at Hosdown (Houndsdown, in Eling parish ?), which was a mile out of Southampton, according to a news-letter of the period. The High Sheriff of Hampshire, escorted by some eighty men, endeavoured to raise the county miUtia for the Parliament, but was attacked by between sixty and seventy Cavaliers and about 100persons who disliked his proceedings. The fight lasted about an hour. Fifteen of the King's party were killed and nine mortally wounded, with a loss of five killed and none wounded on the other side. The country people came in great numbers to assist the Sheriff, as did also numerous well-armed volunteers from Southampton. At length many of the Cavaliers were captured and placed in safe keeping. The Mayor of Southampton addressed the crowd, urging them to act only in a strictly legal manner, but, at the same time, took good care not to say anything which might afterwards be construed to his hurt by either the King or the Parliament, " and so taking his leave of the Sheriff, he returned home." Mr. Parker, of Upper Wallop, wrote an account of these proceedings, with great satisfaction, to a friend in London. On August 13 the Sheriff received the thanks of Parliament for " his good service and ready affections to the House," and Mr. Button was ordered with his regiment to be assistant to the Lord Gorges (late of Langford House, near Salisbury) in the defence of Hurst Castle for the Parliament. This fortress had a captain, who received is. 8d. per diem, an under captain at l0d., ten soldiers at 6d. each, a chief gunner at 8d., one porter at 8d., and six gunners at 6d. each per diem. The total yearly cost was £264 13s. 4d. The fort at St. Andrew's Point, near Hamble, of which some faint traces may still be seen, cost £85 3s. 4d. per annum. Calshot Castle had a chief captain in receipt of 1s. 8d. per diem, an under captain at l0d., four soldiers at 8d. each, one porter at 8d., and eight gunners at 6d. each per diem. The whole annual expenditure was £107 7s. 6d. The cost of maintenance of Netley Castle is not stated.

On Friday, August 26, 1642, information was given to both Houses of Parliament about a ship coming from St. Domingo, in the West Indies, with a cargo valued at £600,000. Her name was variously given as " the ship Cleare of London," and as the Sanda Clara, and she was laden with silver, cochineal, ginger, hides, &c., &c. The fleet of the Earl of Warwick was then blockading Portsmouth in the interest of the Parliament, and, in consequence, the Sancta Clara was carried into Southampton by her captain, Benedict Strafford. Her cargo was seized by order of the Parliament, and sent up to London, the silver alone requiring three waggons and a cart to convey it to the Guildhall, under the escort of Major Burrell and a troop of horse. Don Alongo de Cardenes, the Spanish ambassador, remonstrated, and on January 2, 1643, the King issued a proclamation warning all his subjects against any illegal handling of the silver, &c., in question. The cargo was only partly landed at Southampton, and was carried to the house of Mr. Le Gay, a prominent Puritan, who laid claim to the ship.

Two Committee-men, the Deputy-Lieutenants of the county, and the members for the town, were ordered to ascertain the value of the cargo, so that it might be restored to its lawful owner. The captain, who was also part-owner, John Marston, and others claimed the cargo, and gave a very curious account of the ship's voyage. Certain Spanish merchants put in a claim, which the Spanish ambassador supported, and which was allowed, for the sale of the cochineal, and for the coining of the bullion, which had been brought up from Southampton under escort and lodged in the Tower of London. They deposited £50,000 as security, and at last, after some very com- plicated proceedings in the Admiralty Court, the Sancta Clara was released in March 1643, and proceeded on her voyage to Spain. But the lawyers had not yet finished with her, and proceedings went on indefinitely, the matter being still further com- plicated by a petition presented to Parliament, which was referred to the Committee of the Navy on Wednesday, September 14, 1642, by " Philip, Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery, and his Associates in the Royal Fishing of Great Britain and Ireland," asking for a share of the cochineal and silver because the Dunkirkers had destroyed their herring busses. Sir John Mill, of Mottisfont, was entrusted by Parliament with the delivery of the cargo to its owners, who were to pay freight and other dues. The Sancta Clara had previously been delayed for more than a year " by the Factors and President of Ste Domingo," who refused her clearance to the " danger of cargo, risk of life, and hazard of** the loss of his ship, being eaten out with the worms."

That good antiquary, the late Mr. W. D. Pink, says, {Hampshire Notes and Queries, vol. v. p. 85) : " The following extract from the Journals of the House of Commons, under date July 22, 1642, immediately before th^ breaking out of the Civil War between King and Parliament, is interesting from the number of names of contemporary Hampshire gentry contained in the document : * Whereas information hath been given to the Parliament that divers ill-affected persons to the true Protestant Religion and the Peace of the Kingdom, have endeavoured to prepare Horses, and Store of Arms, Ammunition, and Money, with divers other Provisions, in some parts of this Kingdom, for the assisting and encouragement, of those that intend War against the Parliament ; And whereas it is probable that the said Horses, Arms, or Ammunition may be brought through some part of the County of Southampton or pro- vided there; For prevention whereof the Lords and Commons in this present ParHament assembled, do hereby require the High Sheriff" of the County of Southampton, and all Justices of Peace, Mayors, Constables, and all other his Majesty's Officers, within the said County to be aiding and assisting in the execution of tnis order ; and do hereby authorise the Deputy Lieutenants of the said County, or one of them. Sir Henry Wallop, Knight, Sir Henry Clerk, Knight, Sir John Compton, Knight, Richard Gifford, Esquire, Thomas Clark, Esq. John Kemp, Esq. John Hook, Esq. Richard Mayor, Esq. Thomas Hussey, Esq. Thomas Chandler, Esq. Edward Goddard (junior), Esq. Francis St. Barbe, Esq. Wm. Collins, Esq. James Nutt, Esq. Thomas Creswell, of Heckfield, Esq. William Pawlett, Esq. John Miller, Francis Rivett, Nicholas Love, Wm Bold, John Pitman, William Carrick, William Withers, John St. Barbe, Richard Love, of Basing, Henry Kelsey, Thomas Hambergh, Arthur Brorafield, Thomas Betsworth, John King, Robert Knapton, Esquires, Francis Palmes, George Wither, of Hale, Gentlemen, George Baynard, Mayor of Basingstoke, and the rest of the burgesses there, Robert Harwood, Esq. Richard Ashley, Gentleman, George Verner of Goorely, Esq. Wm. Blake of Andover, Wm Jervis of Andover, Wm Cooper of Andover, Gentlemen, or any one of them to make stay of all Horses, Arms, Ammunition, Money, or other Provisions whatsoever, which they or any of them, shall suspect to be preparing or carrying for the making of war against the Parliament as aforesaid. And whereas, in the Store House at the City of Winton» in the said County, there are Six Field Pieces, with double Carriages, Nine Sows of Lead, Five dry Vats of Match, with spoons, ladles, and brushes, and iron bullets for the Pieces ; which said Pieces and Ammunition aforesaid are belonging to the said County of Southampton. And whereas it is not convenient for the use and service of the said County that those Pieces and Ammunition aforesaid should remain and continue in the said Store House : It is therefore ordered by the said Lords and Commons that the said Pieces and Ammunition aforesaid shall be carried and conveyed into some more convenient place of the said County, as the Deputy Lieutenants, or any two or more of them shall nominate or appoint.'"

The Marquis of Winchester seems to have been at first inclined to neutrality, for in the " Description of the Siege of Basing Castle " (first reprinted by that good antiquary, W. Money, Esq., F.S.A., of Newbury, to the great comfort of all students) we read : " Hither, the rebellion having made houses of pleasure more unsafe, the Marquis first retired, hoping integrity and privacy might here have preserved his quiet, but the source of the time's villany, bearing downe all before it, neither allowing neutrality, or permitting peace to any that desired to be lesse sinful than themselves, enforceth him to stand upon his guard." The position of Basing House, commanding as it did the great western road, could not escape notice, and on August 19, 1641, "In the House of Commons, one, Mr. Sewer did this day give information that he did see on Monday was sevennight, a great many arms in the Marquis of Winchester's house at Basingstoke, a recusant, and that the keepers of them told him there were arms for a thousand five hundred men." On November 4 of the same year " It was ordered that the Lord Marquess of Winchester, shall have liberty, by vertue of this Order, to sell off his arms to such tradesmen as will buy the same." Having thus, as they thought, made Basing House defenceless, some of its foes attacked it, which, says the " Description," then " enforceth him (the Marquis) to stand upon his guard, which, with his gentlemen armed with six musquets (the whole remainder of a well-furnished armory), he did so well, that twice the enemies' attempts proved vaine."