The Leaders on Both Sides.
In September, 1642, when the two parties in Lancashire faced each other
before coming to blows, the royalist prospects appeared considerably the
better. Their leaders were the men of chief rank in the county; they had
the undivided support of the numerous Catholic families; they held
nearly all the defensible positions and fortified houses, and they had
secured nearly all the stores of arms and ammunition which the county
contained. In four out of the six Hundreds of Lancashire their influence
was entirely predominant. With the possession of the greater part of the
county, and the support of two out of the three religious parties it
appeared that the King had a far better prospect of success than the
Parliament. In the light of the events of the next two years this
expectation is seen to have been unjustified, but in September, 1642,
the result could not be foreseen. There was reason for expressions such
as that of the author of the "Discourse:" "That part of the Civill
Broyles that fell within this County shewes a Divine hand to have
overruled them, considering that a handfull in respect of the multitude
always caried it."[28] For even the east and south-east parts of the
county where Puritanism had its stronghold were not all of one mind, and
the strength of their resistance had not yet appeared. Sir Edward Fitton
could write in June, 1642, "I may assure you that the major part of
this Hundred of Manchester where I live will stand right," meaning of
course it would support the King. And that there were many royalists
even in Manchester itself the events of July 15 and 16 had plainly
shown. Moreover even the possibility of raising the royal standard
within the borders of Lancashire would seem to show that it was a county
whose loyalty could be relied upon.
It is not possible in the present work to give a detailed account of all
the families in Lancashire during the Civil War; all that can be done is
to indicate the main lines of division between the various parties and
to give brief descriptions of the more prominent leaders on both sides.
The unquestioned leader of the royalists was the head of the great house
of Stanley, James Stanley, Lord Strange, afterwards 7th Earl of Derby.
Though not actually succeeding to the title until September, 1642, his
father William the 6th Earl had resigned all his estates in his son's
favour five years before, and Strange had been since then the leader of
the county. Born on January 31, 1606-7, he was educated in Bolton and at
Oxford, and entered public life very early, becoming member of
Parliament for Liverpool in 1625. Two years later he was summoned to the
House of Lords as Baron Strange under the impression that this title was
held by his father; that however not being the case the summons amounted
to the creation of a new peerage. In June, 1626, Strange married, and
lived for a time at court; but he soon retired to his estates in the
north of England, living chiefly at Lathom House, and finding ample
scope for his activities in local affairs in Lancashire, Cheshire and
the Isle of Man. Strange was not a man fitted by temperament or
inclination to shine at a court like that of Charles I., and though his
loyalty was conspicuous and undoubted, he had evidently made himself
very unpopular with the royal advisers who hindered rather than helped
him during the Civil War. "Court friendship," he writes, "is a cable
that in storms is ever cut," and probably the words had a personal
significance. But however objectionable he may have been to the Court,
Strange was marked by his position for leadership when the King needed
help from Lancashire.
In February, 1638-9, he was summoned by Charles at the outbreak of the
first Scotch war, and in 1640 he joined the King at York. When the Civil
War began he was Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire and Cheshire, and was
continued in those positions by the King, though of course removed by
Parliament.
In 1642 Strange was 35 years of age. He was in many ways not unworthy of
the great traditions of the famous House which he represented. There is
no need to subscribe to all the panegyrics which royalist writers have
showered upon the 'martyr earl'; and no doubt his personal worth,
unhappy history, and tragic death are some excuse for them. Personally
he was honourable, high minded and brave; even his enemies speak of him
as a "worthy gentleman, courteous and friendly" and suggest that his
actions were rather due to evil counsels than to his own disposition.
Indeed it is remarkable that of contemporary judgments, Clarendon's is
the most unfavourable. He was personally religious, as his Book of
Private Devotions shows, and he was a patron of literature and art. But
there seems to have been in his character some underlying flaw of
weakness and irresolution which paralysed all his actions. He broke with
the Court, yet he made himself no party in Lancashire; and finding
himself in 1642 in command of great resources, he had not the strength
to concentrate his efforts, and lost control in the county while sending
to the main royalist armies troops over which he had no command. His
leadership was marked by no foresight or capacity; he left Lancashire
just at a time when his presence was most needed there; and on his
return obeyed, though with reluctance, the Queen's orders to go to the
Isle of Man, when it was far more necessary that he should remain in
England. During his absence the famous first siege of Lathom House was
sustained by the Countess of Derby. Refusing all overtures after the end
of the first war, he retired to the Isle of Man, which became a refuge
for the more irreconcilable royalists. Pursued to the last by
ill-fortune and bad judgment Derby emerged from his retirement to join
Charles II.'s expedition in 1651; he escaped wounded from his own defeat
at Wigan to join in the general rout at Worcester; and finally, having
surrendered on promise of quarter to a Captain who could not keep the
promise, he was the only Lancashire royalist to suffer death on the
scaffold. But if unswerving loyalty and sincerity in a lost cause
constitute a claim to martyrdom, the leader of the Lancashire royalists
is abundantly entitled to the honour.[29]
Lord Derby was ably seconded if not directed by his wife; indeed she was
the stronger character of the two. She was the daughter of Claude de la
Tremoille, Duc de Thouars, and grand-daughter of William the Silent,
Prince of Orange. On coming to England her mother had endeavoured,
though without success, to have her attached to the household of the
Queen. After the outbreak of the war it would seem as if Lady Derby had
endeavoured to secure herself against possible reverses of the royalist
cause; but she showed no wavering afterwards, and her defence of Lathom
House in 1644 was the one conspicuous success of the royalist cause in
Lancashire. After her husband's death she was with difficulty persuaded
to surrender the Isle of Man when all other resistance had come to an
end.[30]
Next in rank was Richard, Second Viscount Molyneux, the son of Sir
Richard Molyneux of Sefton, who had been created in 1628 Viscount
Molyneux of Maryborough in the Irish peerage. He was only 19 at the
outbreak of the Civil War, and though he took some part in the fighting
he was not personally of much advantage to his party in Lancashire.
There are several references to him by contemporaries as Lord Derby's
son-in-law, the fact being that a 'child marriage' was contracted in
1639 between Molyneux and Henrietta Maria, eldest daughter of Lord
Derby, who was then only 9 years old. There was some legal doubt as to
whether the marriage was not actually valid; but it was never
consummated, though apparently the matter was still in abeyance in 1650
when Molyneux received permission to send messengers to the Isle of Man
to receive the lady's answer. He died in July, 1654, and was succeeded
in the title by his brother Caryll, who also had taken some little part
in the war in Lancashire.
Molyneux surrendered after the capture of Ludlow and took the Covenant
and the Negative Oath in August 1646. His fine at a sixth was
£9,037.[31]
By far the ablest of the Lancashire Royalists, and next to Derby the
most prominent, was Thomas Tyldesley. He was a Roman Catholic, of a
younger branch of the Tyldesleys of Tyldesley, and resided at Myerscough
Hall near Garstang. He married Bridget Standish, whose mother was sister
of Richard, first Viscount Molyneux, and was therefore a cousin by
marriage of the second Viscount. He is better known as Sir Thomas
Tyldesley, being knighted for his services when with the Queen at Burton
Bridge in July, 1643. Tyldesley was concerned in all the early Royalist
movements in Lancashire. He was in command at Liverpool when it was
first surrendered to the Parliament in 1643; and attended Rupert in the
following year at the sack of Bolton, the recapture of Liverpool, and
the relief of Lathom House. When the Royalist cause in Lancashire was
finally lost, Tyldesley was active in other parts of the country, and
was three times taken prisoner. He was Governor of Lichfield when that
town was captured in 1646; he then served in Ireland, and took part in
Hamilton's invasion in 1648. Afterwards Tyldesley found refuge in the
Isle of Man, joined Derby's invasion in 1651, and was killed at the
Battle of Wigan Lane. He was a good specimen of the best type of
chivalrous Cavalier. He never compounded for his estates, and
considering the very prominent part which he took in the War, the ruling
powers treated him very lightly, for no forfeiture is known to have
followed his death.[32]
After Tyldesley the three most prominent Lancashire royalists were Sir
Gilbert Hoghton of Hoghton, Sir John Girlington of Thurland, and Mr.
William Farington of Worden Hall, near Chorley. Hoghton was the son of
the Sir Richard Hoghton who, when Sheriff in 1617, had entertained King
James the First at Hoghton Tower. He was an elderly man at the outbreak
of the war, and took a more prominent part in the earlier operations. In
Blackburn Hundred, however, Hoghton was the first royalist to take
action, and he was present at the loss of Preston in February, 1642-3.
Later he served at Chester, but became involved in a dispute with
Colonel Byron the royalist Governor. He died in 1647.[33]
Sir John Girlington of Thurland was Sheriff of Lancashire in 1642. He
was one of the first to be sent for by the House of Commons as a
delinquent, on account of his energy in plundering his opponents. He was
twice besieged in his strong castle at Thurland, and after surrendering
it for the second time in October, 1643, Girlington took refuge in
Yorkshire, where he was killed in action in the following year.[34]
William Farington of Worden had been Sheriff of Lancashire in 1636. He
was a member of the Commission of Array and one of the royalist
collectors for Leyland Hundred. His principal military service was at
the first Siege of Lathom House, where he was Lady Derby's most trusted
adviser. He suffered imprisonment and sequestration and did not compound
until 1649. His fine was £511.[35] Farington acted in the attempted
pacification in the Autumn of 1642.
It is significant of the strength of the popular movement against the
King that even in Lancashire a majority of the members of the Long
Parliament were opposed to him. There were at this time two members for
the County and two each for Lancaster, Preston, Clitheroe, Wigan, Newton
and Liverpool, fourteen in all; and the popular party had eight to the
King's six, while in weight and ability their advantage was far greater.
The full list of the Lancashire members is as follows:--
LANCASHIRE.
Ralph Assheton, Esq.
Roger Kirkby, Esq.
LANCASTER.
John Harrison, Knight.
Thomas Fanshaw, Esq.
PRESTON.
Richard Shuttleworth, Esq.
Thomas Standish, Esq.
CLITHEROE.
Ralph Assheton, Esq.
Richard Shuttleworth, Gent.
WIGAN.
Orlando Bridgeman, Esq.
Alexander Rigby, Esq.
NEWTON.
William Ashhurst, Esq.
Roger Palmer, Knight.
LIVERPOOL.
John Moore, Esq.
Richard Wyn, Knight and Baronet.
Of the above, Kirkby, Fanshaw, Harrison, Bridgeman, Palmer and Wyn were
nominally royalists, but three of them took no part in the war at all,
and only Kirkby had anything to do with it in Lancashire. Roger Kirkby
of Kirkby Lonsdale was a member of the royalist County Committee, and
one of their collectors for Lonsdale Hundred; he was concerned in the
capture of Lancaster in 1643, and in the attempt to raise the siege of
Thurland Castle later on the same year, but his name does not afterwards
appear.[36]
Sir John Harrison was a native of Beaumont, near Lancaster, but he lived
in London, where he had acquired considerable wealth as an official in
the Customs. At the outbreak of the war he was arrested, but he escaped
and joined the King at Oxford. Harrison outlived the Restoration by ten
years, and died at the age of eighty. His daughter was Anne Lady
Fanshawe, the wife of Sir Richard Fanshawe.[37]
Bridgeman was the son of the Bishop of Chester of that name, and a
lawyer. On the day on which Lord Strange's impeachment was moved
Bridgeman was disabled from sitting any longer, it having been reported
to the House that he had raised fourteen men to assist Lord Strange and
had been active in persuading others to do so. Bridgeman came into some
prominence after the Restoration, being created a Baronet in 1660, and
in 1667 Lord Keeper. He was the ancestor of the Earls of Bradford.[38]
Ralph Assheton of Middleton, one of the members for the County, was head
of that branch of the ancient family. In the seventeenth century the
three principal branches were that at Middleton, Whalley, and Downham
near Clitheroe, the last being now the only one which remains. He was
the son of Richard Assheton, and his wife Mary, daughter of Thomas
Venables, Baron of Kinderton in Cheshire, and he married Elizabeth, only
daughter of John Kay of Woodsome in Yorkshire. Born on March 31, 1606,
Assheton was quite a young man at the beginning of the Civil War, but he
at once came to the front, and was first Colonel and afterwards
Major-General in command of all the forces in Lancashire. He was a man
of great energy and ability and of moderate views. He fought in nearly
every engagement of the first war, and on January 2, 1644-5, was
specially thanked by the House of Commons for his services to the
public. This vote was repeated after the Battle of Preston in 1648. But
no one was safe in such troublous times. In 1644 Assheton was committed
to the Tower for a fortnight on refusing to obey an order of Parliament
about the payment of some money; and in May, 1650, a warrant was issued
by the Council of State for him to be brought before the Council on a
charge of high treason. Whether the warrant was executed or not does not
appear. Assheton died early in 1651, and was buried in Middleton Parish
Church on February 25, 1650-1.[39]
He must be distinguished from two other Ralph Asshetons, both of them on
the Parliamentary side. These were Ralph Assheton, eldest son of Sir
Ralph Assheton of Whalley, who was M.P. for Clitheroe in the Long
Parliament, and Ralph Assheton of Downham who was a Deputy-Lieutenant
and a sequestrator of delinquents' estates. The latter of these,
however, died in 1643.
Richard Shuttleworth of Gawthorpe near Padiham, ancestor of the present
Lord Shuttleworth, was born in 1587, and had been Sheriff of Lancashire
in 1618. His experience and standing in the county, as well as his
ability made him of great value to his party. He was a moderate man of
Presbyterian views, and became a lay elder of the third Lancashire
Classis. He was the only one, however, of the original Lancashire
leaders who had an interview with Lilburne in the campaign of 1651. Four
of his sons took part in the war, three of them becoming colonels, while
one of them was killed at Lancaster in 1643 while still a captain.[40]
Alexander Rigby of Middleton near Preston, was certainly the most active
of the Lancashire Parliamentarians. He seems to have attempted to
control local affairs and to attend Parliament at the same time, and was
constantly travelling about between London and Lancashire. He was one of
the first to take action on the Parliament's side in Lancashire; his
chief military commands were at Thurland Castle in 1643 and at the first
siege of Lathom in the following year. He commanded a cavalry regiment
against Hamilton in 1648. In the following year Cromwell appointed him a
Baron of the Exchequer, and he died in 1650 from fever caught whilst
trying a case. Rigby was named as one of the King's judges but he
refused to sit. In spite of his ability he was never popular with his
own party, and Lady Derby's description of him as "that insolent rebel"
fairly represents the royalist opinion of him. He was nevertheless
closely connected with the opposite party by relationship. A curious
illustration of Rigby's activity was his 'Governship' of Lygonia, a
district in the province of Maine in North America. He bought the
charter and described himself as Governor until his death, though he
never visited America and discharged his duties by deputy.[41]
John Moore was head of the family of Moore of Bank Hall, near Liverpool.
He was the leader of the Puritans in that district and was returned for
Liverpool in the Short Parliament. He took little part in the early
military operations in Lancashire but commanded at the first siege of
Lathom; and he was Governor of Liverpool when that place was stormed by
Prince Rupert in August, 1644. Moore was blamed for his surrender, but
apparently without due reason. He was a Deputy-Lieutenant, Sequestrator,
and one of the judges at the King's trial, his name appearing in the
death warrant. He afterwards served in Ireland and died in 1650. His son
Edward, was created a Baronet by Charles II. Moore was a restless,
bitter, and unscrupulous man, and his household was described as a 'hell
upon earth' by Adam Martindale, who for a time acted as his clerk.[42]
William Ashhurst took no part in the operations in Lancashire but looked
after the interests of the county at Westminster. He attained some
prominence in the House of Commons, and was one of the commissioners
sent to Scotland in 1647-8. His brother Major Ashhurst who had at first
fought on the Parliament's side joined Charles the Second in the
expedition of 1651, and William Ashhurst was for a time imprisoned as a
suspected person.[43]
It has already been indicated that the division of Lancashire between
the two factions followed the same lines as the division of the country
generally, that is, the Parliament had the south-east and the King the
north-west. The divisions of the families also on the whole followed
this arrangement. But no hard and fast lines can be drawn. The
Parliament for instance had one firm supporter, Colonel Moore, in the
extreme west, and one, Colonel Dodding, in Lancaster; Rigby himself
lived near Preston: while on the other hand the Nowells of Read lived in
what was chiefly a Parliamentarian district, and we find the Traffords,
Mosleys, and the Radcliffes who were Royalists in or near Manchester
itself.
Moreover hardly a single family of note was to be found entirely united.
Even the Stanleys had their representative in the Parliament's
ranks, Sir Thomas Stanley. Sir Gilbert Hoghton's eldest son was a
Parliamentarian, whilst Capt. Standish, son of the M.P. for Preston, was
killed in the royalist ranks at Manchester. The two bitterest opponents
of the King in Lancashire were Rigby and Moore; and Rigby's wife was the
sister of an active royalist, while Moore's son was created a Baronet
after the Restoration.
FOOTNOTES:
[28] "Discourse," p. 5. Cf., however, "MSS. of Lord Montague of
Beaulieu," p. 153. J. Dillingham to Lord Montague, May, 1642: "I am
assured from a good hand that in Lancashire and Cheshire the Puritans
are able to encounter the papists, and the Protestants are rather for
the Puritan party than the popish. This you may build upon for my
authority is very good."
[29] The chief authorities for Lord Derby's career are the article in
the "Dict. Nat. Biog."; The Life by Canon Raines in the "Stanley
Papers," C.S., No. 66, and Seacome's "House of Stanley." Seacome had
access to the papers of Bishop Rutter, the supposed author of the
Journal of the first siege of Lathom House, and his work contains
valuable information about the Stanley family not otherwise obtainable;
but he is a bitter partisan and very inaccurate. The first edition of
his work was published at Liverpool in 1741; the references in the
following pages are to the second edition, printed by Joseph Harrop in
Manchester in 1767.
[30] _Vide_ "Dict. Nat. Biog." "Hist. MSS. Com.," Rep. 11, pts. 1-3, p.
85. Despatch of the Tuscan Resident at Whitehall: "The Duchess is very
desirous of attaching her (Lady Strange) to the household of the Queen;
but with little prospect of success, either because no more French are
desired, or because she has no influence with those who dispose of these
offices." Cf. also "Moore Rental," pp. 136, 137.
"Hist. MSS. Com.," Rep. 10, "Bouverie MSS.," p. 91, November 10-20,
1642. W. Strickland to John Pym from the Hague: The States General have
received a letter from Lady Derby which has been communicated to
Strickland by Lord Vosbergen. Lady Derby desires the States General to
mediate with Parliament that her person, children and house may be
secured from dangers to which she may be exposed by Lord Derby following
the King's party. "I told Lord Vosbergen that some of her letters were
said to show but little good affection to Parliament, and I knew not how
far Parliament had power to exempt any from these common dangers."
_Same Day and Place_: "Do what you please about Lady Derby's business; a
civil answer will serve, though it be not to expectation. I desire to
speak for malignants, but I could do no less" (_ibid_, p. 93).
[31] For a sound account of Molyneux _vide_ "Hist. Soc.," Vol. 7 and 8,
pp. 245-278. This contains an account of the "child marriage."
Particulars of his sequestration are given in "Royalist Composition
Papers," R.S., No. 26, p. 157.
[32] "Dict. Nat. Biog." "C.W.T.," pp. 306, 353. "Discourse," p. 92.
Myerscough Lodge lies just aside from the main road from Preston to
Garstang, and about half-way between the two. Until comparatively
recently some parts of the old house remained, but in 1887 the Lodge was
entirely re-built. Clarendon's estimate of Tyldesley is a very high one
("Hist. Rebell.," ed. Macray, Vol. 5, p. 186; bk. 13, par. 70).
[33] "Discourse," p. 91. "Rupert MSS." ("Add. MSS.," 18981), fol. 266.
[34] "C.W.T.," p. 344. "Discourse," p. 90.
[35] "Farington Papers" (C.S., No. 39). "Discourse," p. 94. Worden Hall,
some three miles from Chorley, is still standing, though it was largely
dismantled when the new Hall was built. The old stables remain. About
half a mile away across the fields is Buckshawe Hall, the residence of
Major Robinson, the supposed author of the "Discourse." Both are now
used as farmhouses. Several stone gate-posts bearing Robinson's initials
are now built into the walls at Buckshawe.
[36] "C.W.T.," pp. 67, 84, 149, 347.
[37] "Memoirs of Anne Lady Fanshawe" (ed. H. C. Fanshawe, 1907), pp.
21-25.
[38] "C.W.T.," 340. "C.J.," Vol. 2, p. 742.
[39] "C.W.T.," 337. "Discourse," p. 100. Both these notices, however,
give the date of Assheton's death incorrectly. The entries in the Parish
registers of Middleton put the question beyond doubt ("Lanc. Parish
Register Soc.," Vol. 12, pp. 45, 98). For the votes of the House of
Commons _v._ "C.J.," Vol. 4, p. 7; Vol. 5, p. 680. The former referred
to Assheton's "great, constant and very faithful service." He was
committed to the Tower on Feb. 9, 1643-4, for not paying £1,500 of the
King's revenue in his hands, as one of the Receivers of the King's
Revenue. The Order for his arrest in 1650 was issued by the Council of
State on May 1, "To deliver Lieut.-Col. Ralph Assheton, prisoner in the
Compter for debt, into the custody of the Serjeant-at-Arms, to be
brought before Council on a charge of High Treason, he having been
informed against as a very dangerous person" ("C.S.P.," 1650, p. 539).
It is difficult to see how this warrant can refer to anyone else. In
"Iter Lancastrense" (C.S., 6), p. 29, a description of Assheton's tomb
in Middleton Church is given, and the situation of it is exactly
indicated. This book was published in 1845; but on the restoration of
Middleton Church by Bishop Durnford in 1869, the stone was removed with
others bearing brasses into the sacrarium. The floor of the Assheton
Chapel is now occupied by pews. The Albany Mill stands on the site of
old Middleton Hall. There is a pedigree of the Middleton Asshetons in
Baines' "Lancashire" (ed. Croston), Vol. 2, p. 396.
[40] "C.W.T.," p. 352. "Discourse," p. 101, note. Pedigree in Whitaker's
"Whalley," p. 339. Robert Shuttleworth (1784-1855) had an only daughter
Janet, who married, in 1842, Sir James Kay-Shuttleworth; the present
Lord Shuttleworth is their son (Burke's "Peerage"). Colonel Ughtred
Shuttleworth was committed to the Tower in March, 1651 ("C.S.P.," 1651,
p. 104).
[41] "C.W.T.," p. 351. "Discourse," p. 127. "Palatine Note Book," Vol.
3, pp. 137-140. Rigby's elder brother, George Rigby of Peel, was the
ancestor of the present Lord Kenyon.
[42] "C.W.T.," p. 349. "Discourse," pp. 101-2. "Martindale's Life," pp.
36-7. "There was such a pack of arrant thieves and they so artificial at
their trade, that it was scarce possible to save anything out of their
hands except what I could carry about with me or lodge in some other
house. Those that were not thieves (if there are any such) were
generally, if not universally, profaned bitter scoffers at piety." For
the surrender of Liverpool _vide_ "Hist. MSS. Com.," Rep. 10, app. 4,
pp. 102-3 (Depositions of Capt. Andrew Ashton concerning the loss of
Liverpool). It is here stated that when Moore heard of the royalists'
entry into the town he drew his sword and asked for volunteers, but his
men refused to follow him, and he then reluctantly proceeded to the
waterside, many shots being fired at him as he embarked. The fullest
account of Moore is in the "Moore Rental," pp. v-xxxix.
[43] "C.W.T.," p. 337. "Tanner MSS.," Vol. 59, fol. 503. Another
brother, Henry, became a prominent London merchant and philanthropist.