Bourne Archive:
FNQ: C17 Civil War
http://boar.org.uk/ariwxo3FNQ860.htm
Latest edit 11 Aug 2009.
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.]