Edmund Sheffield (1565-1646)

1st Earl of Mulgrave

(Catalogue: EP46B0101)

Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, 3rd Baron Sheffield, was a peer and MP, who served as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire from 1603 to 1619 and Vice-Admiral of Yorkshire from 1604 to 1646. He was created Earl of Mulgrave in 1626. In 1640, Sheffield refused to contribute £1 to the war effort against the Scots, alleging poverty. Although he had many financial problems, this refusal was likely based on ideological reasoning, as he and his family sided firmly with Parliament. Due to his advanced age, Sheffield was not able to attend the House of Lords consistently, but his proxy vote in the House of Lords allowed his grandson, Sir Thomas Fairfax, to be commissioned Captain-General of the New Model Army in early 1645. Sheffield died at home, aged 81.

Thomas Fairfax (1612-1671)

3rd Baron Fairfax of Cameron

(Catalogue: EP42B Box 2)

Thomas was born at Denton Hall in Otley in the West Riding. He participated in the royal army during the Bishops’ Wars, but sided with Parliament after presenting a petition to Charles I at Heworth Moor in June 1642. He headed the anti-royalist insurgency in the West Riding’s clothing districts, storming Leeds and Wakefield in 1643. He was wounded many times, including a sword cut to the face at Marston Moor. Parliament appointed him General of the New Model Army in 1645 and his victories at Naseby, Langport, Bristol and Torrington broke royalist resistance. He opposed the regicide and resigned his commission in 1650 to retire to his Yorkshire estate at Nunappleton. In 1660 he assisted in the Restoration of Charles II, soon after which Fairfax withdrew from public life. Thanks to the Fairfax family today, Fairfax’s wheelchair to which he was increasingly confined after 1660, is on display at the National Civil War Centre, Newark Museum.

Sir John Lawson of Scarborough (1615-1665)

(Catalogue: EP41B0102)

Sir John Lawson was born in Scarborough. He became a parliamentarian naval officer in during the English Civil Wars, Interregnum and Restoration. He conveyed vital supplies into beleaguered Hull, and played a key role in the blockade and attack of royalist vessels serving Scarborough. Perhaps due to political inexperience, Lawson found himself in the dangerous waters of conspiracy when he promoted and endorsed a seamen’s petition which threatened Cromwell’s plans for a war with Spain. He was briefly imprisoned in 1657 when he continued to associate with militant Fifth Monarchists, and was permanently banished to Scarborough. However, Lawson was reinstated as vice-admiral in command of the Channel Fleet in 1659, and reluctantly co-operated in the Restoration in 1660, for which he was knighted. He died of a wound received at the Battle of Lowestoft in the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665.

Algernon Percy (1602-1668)

10th Earl of Northumberland

(Catalogue: EP46B0101)

Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, was an English aristocrat, admiral and a supporter of the parliamentarian cause. He became the highest-ranking member of Charles I’s government to side with his enemy, when in November 1641 he obeyed the Parliament’s instruction to prepare ships for the suppression of the Rebellion in Ireland. The majority of Percy revenues came from their northern estates, mostly in Northumberland and Yorkshire, such as Wressle Castle. As a major landowner, his support was essential to Parliament. His importance to the parliamentary cause was also enhanced by the fact that he was a lord admiral, and the navy was critical in the defeat of the royalists. He supported Fairfax in new modelling the parliamentarian army. However, Percy was the leader of the forces in the House of Lords opposed to trying Charles I, and largely withdrew from public life after the regicide.

Jan Rosworm, ‘the Faithful Stranger’ (d. in or before 1675)

(Catalogue: EP41B0204)

Jan (also known as John) Rosworm was a Dutch or German soldier and engineer who served the parliamentary cause. After serving as a professional soldier on the continent, Jan settled in Manchester in 1642, where the town engaged him in its defence. After his original contract ended, he was retained on an annual salary of £60, committing himself to the Manchester garrison and the improvement of its fortifications. Rosworm took part in the abortive attack on Warrington on 5 April 1643. In June he fortified Liverpool, newly won for parliament. Styling himself ‘the Faithful Stranger’, he was instrumental in raising defensive works at Blackstone Edge in the Pennine hills on the boundary between Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire, which dissuaded the Marquis of Newcastle from an attempt on Manchester. In 1651 Rosworm was appointed engineer-general of all the garrisons and forts in England, and promoted to colonel in 1655.

John Belasyse (1615-1689)

1st Baron Belasyse of Worlaby

(Catalogue: EP41A/1)

John Belasyse was born at Newborough Grange and was the second son of Thomas Belasyse, 1st Viscount Fauconberg. He joined the royalist cause and claimed to have raised six regiments at his own expense. In January 1644 he was appointed governor of York and Lieutenant-General of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Rutland. His army was destroyed in Selby in April 1644, where he was wounded and captured. He remained prisoner for a year until his exchange was negotiated, after which Charles I created him Baron Belasyse of Worlaby and Governor of Newark in 1645. A prominent Roman Catholic, Belasyse was among the first members of the royalist underground organisation, the Sealed Knot. Later in the century Belasyse suffered a long imprisonment during the Popish Plot, although he was never tried.

William Cavendish (1593-1676)

1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne

(Catalogue: EP46B0101)

William Cavendish was born at Handsworth Manor, Yorkshire, and was a writer, patron and royalist commander. He was created Viscount Mansfield in 1620, and Earl of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1628. When Charles I formally declared war against Parliament in August 1642, Newcastle was given jurisdiction over Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland and Westmorland, as he was willing to pay for his own troops. Yorkshire royalists appealed to Newcastle for help in November 1642, and after receiving the keys of the city, Newcastle became commander-in-chief of the north. He was made a Marquis in recognition of his victory over the Fairfaxes at Adwalton Moor in 1643. After the destruction of his infantry at Marston Moor on 2 July 1644, Newcastle left for Hamburg and later Paris where he remained until 1660. He wrote several books and plays during his exile. He was raised to a dukedom at the Restoration and when he died in 1676, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Marmaduke Langdale (1598-1661)

1st Baron Langdale of Holme

(Catalogue: EP41B0101)

Marmaduke Langdale was born in Beverley and became a leading royalist commander. He was appointed High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1639, and began his career fighting for the Marquis of Newcastle. After the defeat at Marston Moor in 1644, Langdale formed the surviving cavalry into its own brigade called the Northern Horse, which quickly gained reputation for dogged tenacity. Nicknamed ‘the ghost’ by his enemies, Langdale returned in 1648 to lead the northern royalists during the Second Civil War. He was captured after the Battle of Preston but escaped from Nottingham Castle and entered into Venetian service in 1652. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding in 1660, although he claimed to be too poor to attend the coronation of Charles II. He was buried at Sancton in 1661.

Thomas Wentworth (1592-1641)

1st Earl of Strafford

(Catalogue: EP41B0101)

Thomas Wentworth was born in Chancery Lane in London, and was the son of Sir William Wentworth of Wentworth Woodhouse, a member of an old Yorkshire family. Wentworth entered the English Parliament in 1614 as Yorkshire’s representative in the Addled Parliament, and sat again in 1621. In Charles I’s first parliament in 1625 Wentworth again sat for Yorkshire, and after its dissolution was made High Sheriff of Yorkshire, which excluded him from being an MP in the next Parliament. Wentworth was created Baron Wentworth in 1628, and became President of the Council of the North soon after. Wentworth made the biggest impact as Lord Deputy of Ireland between 1632 and 1639. He established a strong authoritarian rule in Ireland, after which he was recalled back to England to serve as advisor to Charles I, who reluctantly signed Wentworth’s death warrant when Parliament condemned him to a public beheading on Tower Hill in May 1641.

John Williams (1582-1650)

Archbishop of York

(Catalogue: EP46B0101)

John Williams was born in Wales, and was Archbishop of York between 1642 and 1646. After the succession of Charles I in 1625, Williams was removed from the office of Lord Chancellor given to him by James I, and was also prevented from attending Parliament. He remained out of favour with Charles and his leading advisers William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Williams was fined and imprisoned in 1636 for alleged sympathies towards the Puritans. He was released in 1640, when the Lords put pressure on the King. He was re-imprisoned by Parliament in 1641 and released on bail in 1642. Upon his final release he headed for York with the King, where he became the Archbishop. He was chased out of his palace at Cawood Castle by Captain John Hotham in October 1642. He returned to Wales and died a few years later of quinsy—a severe complication of tonsillitis.

Sir Hugh Cholmley (1600-1657)

Sir Hugh Cholmley was born at Roxby Castle in Thornton-le-Dale in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Sir Hugh was MP for Scarborough during the 1620s and in the Long Parliament. During the years when Charles I ruled without Parliament, Cholmley and Sir John Hotham became the main opposition leaders among the Yorkshire gentry and in 1640 Charles threatened to have both men hanged. In 1642 Sir Hugh raised a regiment of foot and troop of horse for Parliament, and was commissioned Governor of Scarborough castle. Upon Queen Henrietta Maria’s landing at nearby Bridlington in February 1643, Cholmley defected to the King, along with the majority of his garrison, for which he was savaged in the London press. He withstood a five-month siege at Scarborough castle, but was forced to surrender on his 45th birthday on 22 July 1645. He took ship for the continent and settled for a time at Rouen in Normandy. There he wrote his memoirs, which greatly underplayed his time as a Parliamentarian. He was permitted to return from exile in 1649, and he died at Roydon Hall in Kent in 1657.

Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland (1592-1643)

Henry Clifford was born at Londesborough in the East Riding of Yorkshire. As a son of Francis Clifford, 4th Earl of Cumberland, he was educated at Oxford and in 1607 became the joint Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland, Northumberland and Westmorland. He sat as an MP in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1622, and was created Baron Clifford in 1628, succeeding to his father’s title as 5th Earl in 1641. In recognition of his local standing, Charles I appointed him royalist commander of Yorkshire in July 1642. He raised forces at his seat at Skipton Castle but concluded a short-lived treaty of neutrality with the parliamentarian Fairfaxes in September. Although he was a well-educated and intelligent man, his genius was not military, as he lacked experience and often relied on his subordinates and inadequate forces. From December 1642 he was eclipsed by William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle as the royalist general in the north. Although he married and had a daughter, upon his death of fever in the Minster Yard at York on 11 December 1643, the earldom of Cumberland became extinct.

Lady Anne Fairfax (1617/8-1665)

Anne Fairfax was the daughter of Horace Baron Vere of Tilbury, commander of the English forces supporting the Dutch in the Netherlands. She spent her early years in this military upbringing, marrying the future parliamentarian commander-in-chief, Sir Thomas Fairfax at the age of nineteen. She was believed by contemporaries to have exercised significant influence over her husband’s actions during the Civil Wars. She accompanied her husband on campaign in the early years of the war, and was a patron of Presbyterian ministers. She was taken prisoner by William Cavendish, Earl of Newcastle at Bradford in July 1643, but was soon released. Her political views are shown by her hostile interruptions of the trial of Charles I, while her husband withdrew from his role as one of the trial commissioners. 17 months after the King’s execution she was blamed for her husband’s resignation of his command as Lord General and his retirement from national politics. They both later played a role in freeing their royalist son-in-law, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham from imprisonment. Anne died at Nun Appleton Hall in 1665, greatly mourned by her husband.