BoAr:FNQ:C17CivilWar
http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQ860.htm
Latest edit 2 Sep
2007.
Interactive
version ©2006 R.J.PENHEY
The Bourne Archive
FNQ
Fenland Notes and Queries. Edited by Rev. W.D. Sweeting, Rector of Maxey.
Part 47. October 1900.
This quarterly periodical took the
form of a forum in which people sent in questions about the history, ecology
and so on of the
This
document is a continuation of the thread from FNQ 834.
Seventeenth
Century Civil War
860
– Delinquents around Peterborough
(834). – The defeated loyalists
were not harshly dealt with by the Committee at Goldsmiths’ Hall,
unless there were any suspicion of recusancy. The Papists were ruined men. The
estate of William Bawde of Walgrave
was ordered to be sold and the proceeds to go to pay Parliament’s debt to the
shoemakers at Northampton;
but a mere delinquent was glad to be let off with his
fine of 1/6th. Christopher Thursby, of Castor,
“compounded on his own discovery according to the vote of Parliament.”
Small estates not worth £200 were not assessed. This was the case with Henry
Finimore of Yaxley.
Minors did not escape. If old enough to fight; old enough to compound. In 1645 Adam
Claypole, [A kinsman of Sir J. Claypole, Master of the Horse
to the Protector,
whose daughter Elizabeth he married.] of West Deeping, co. Lincs., compounded for
delinquency, being in arms for the King under Lord
Loughborough, for the three years, and being under 21 years of age. His
fine was £600.
Oldfeild of Spalding
[Anthony
Oldfeild, son of John, of Bingley, co. Yorks.,
attorney, came to Spalding in 1590. He married Margaret Read of Pinchbeck in
1596. He acquired Spalding Rectory in 1609.]
Those who had
opposed the Court about “Shipping Money” adhered to the interest of the
Parliament when the Troubles began. John Oldfeild, [Married
to Mary Blythe of Denton, co. Lincs. Died at Spalding 1659.
His son Anthony, attorney, born 1626; married to Eliz.
To the hoble the
Comittee at Goldsmiths Hall for Composicons with delinquents.
The humble peticon of John Oldfeild of Spalding in
the
Sheweth That yor petnr having
borne armes agt the Parliament being in Newark when the same was
surrendred to the pliament had liberty by the articles to come hither and
compound for his estate whose evidences being out of the petnrs
power he cannot for want thereof make his pticuler who having taken the
naconall oathe and Covenant.
Humbly prayeth letters may be sent downe to the
Comittee in Lincolnshire to certefy the pticulers of the petrs
estate with the yerly charges issueing thereout for the time past and to come
and that for the expediting of the matter the petr may have liberty
in pson to attend his businesse in the country
28 May, 1646 And he shall ever pray &c.
Order
to certify John
Oldfeild
Referd to ye sub. Comittee.
In his
“particular” Mr Oldfeild returns the Priory site and lands, where he
dwelt, as of the annual value of £230; and the total value of his estate at
£1300. He claimed a deduction of £2000 [sic], the amount of a Public Faith Bill
issued in favour of his mother Margaret; and in respect of a debt of £1400 to
the children of Christopher Clapham, Esq.; and for a loan of £200 made to
Parliament in 1642; and for two suits of hangings sold, since he submitted to
Parliament, by the sequestrator who had them in his custody, for £20, they
being worth more than £40.
The estate being
large and difficult to assess, the Committee ordered a local enquiry. The
report of the agents of the Committee furnished a good account of Mr.
Oldfeild’s doings and affairs. It is as follows: ---
Gentlemen
In pursuance of your Order of the 28th
of May wch wee received the 16th June following we certifie: that
John Oldfeild of Spalding esqr att the first beginning of these warres did
voluntarily contribute two horses with men and armes to the forces raysed
against the Parliament.
Mr. Oldfeild’s
fine was fixed at £1390. He found it desirable to obtain a pardon under the
Great Seal, and reinvestment of his lands and goods. This pardon is rarely met
with. Possibly the fees for passing the Seal were prohibitory. Pardons on
Compositions have been described as “a device to fill the pockets “ of the state lawyers, and the discharge of Compounders was
often delayed till they had sued out a pardon. This was so with the following:
---
Richard Wyche of Croyland
[Members of this
family are referred to in manorial affairs from 1500 to 1700. William Wyche in
1611 was acting as bailiff of the manor for King James I.]
[In 1741/2, an L. Wyche was tendering his bill for seemingly legal
services to Matthew Clay.]
He pleads duress
to excuse himself for fighting against Parliament at the Siege of Croyland: ---
To the
honorable Comittee of Goldsmith Hall London.
The
humble petition of Richard Weech of Croyland in ye
County of
Sheweth
That yor petitioner in ye
yeare 1642 was by ye enemy who were then Masters of Croyland, he
then living in ye said Towne, was compelled to take up Armes against
ye Parlyamt. But he in obedience to an Ordinance of
Parlyamt so soon as he was out of their power he submitted himself
to ye justice and mercy of yt honourable court and willingly and
freely tendered himselfe to their protection about ye last of February 1643 taking ye
covenant and protestacon and hath ever since lived and behaved himselfe
obediently to ye commands of Parlyamt and is ready with his life and
ffortune to serve them notwithstanding all wch yor petitioner hath his estate
being sixteeine pounds p. ann. sequestred and is likely to be put to great
extremity unless your honors pleas to take it into your consideration and
yr petitioner shall dayly praie &c.
Richard
Wyche.
Mr. Wyche’s house
had been looted, all his personal estate lost, and the County Agent of the
Committee certified that “he hath lived in the Parliament’s quarters above a
year and hath demened himself well towards the officers and souldiers under the
Parliament’s command as Lieut. Collonel Dodson says,” Nevertheless his fine was
£50.
Poyntz of Dogsthorpe
Major Genl.
Poyntz in the army of the Parliament is well known but most of his kinsmen were
fighting for the King. Captn. Newdigate Poyntz was
killed at Gainsborough; and as he had assigned his property before the Civil
War began, his estate was nominal: yet a fine of £30 was imposed on his widow,
who lodged this short petition:---
30th Apl.
1646. The humble petition of Mary Poyntz widdowe late wife of Newdigate Poyntz
deceased. Sheweth that yor petnr’s husband was captain of a troope
of horse under the command of Colonel Candish in the garrison of
The widow’s case
was urged by Speaker Lenthall, who wrote thus on her behalf to the Committee at
Goldsmiths’ Hall:---
“Gentlemen, This bearer’s late husband Captain
Newdigate Poynes haveinge beene in armes about three yeares since, and now
being dead and she left with five younge children, her case hath been specially
recommended to mee by her brother, Major Genl Poynes now at ye siege
at Newarke, that you and the house might be acquainted terewit, hee making it
his request that she might receive favour for his sake; which I am confident
the house will doe; nevertheless she desires herewith to present herself and
her case unto you wch I shall upon sight accordinge to ye desire of Genl.
Poyntz acquaint you withal and the house
when it shall come thither, ever resting Your
assured friend 30 April 1646 Wm. Lenthall.
Mathew Robinson of Longthorpe
The Robinsons
held Longthorpe manor on lease from the Dean and Chapter of Peterborough. The
fee of this manor was held by the Wittlibury family till the reign of
Henry VII. It was then conveyed to the Abbot and Convent, and at the
erection of the See it was granted to the Dean and Chapter, who held it till
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners sold it to the Fitzwilliams.
Mathew Robinson’s
delinquency was occasioned by deserting his dwelling and living in
L. Gaches.
[There are
chronologies of events nationally
and nearer
Lincolnshire, which might be useful in providing a context for the above
information.]