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ENGLISH
CIVIL WAR HISTORY PAGES
THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR IN MANCHESTER AND SALFORD
1642.
(A
quick Chronology of these events is online at MANCHESTER
CIVIL WAR CHRONOLOGY
Civil
War Art in Manchester http://www.arthurchappell.clara.net/civilwarartinmanchester.htm
1/. EVENTS LEADING TO
WAR IN MANCHESTER
Manchester played a not
insignificant role in the English Civil Wars, especially in the early
years.
Manchester in 1642 had a
population of 6,000. Salford had 1,500 citizens. (Broxap) Its status as a
cotton linen mill town was already drawing attention to Manchester in the early
1640’s. Influential merchants were already beginning to invest heavily in the
region. Men trying to protect their financial business investments in the
town’s economic development would largely conduct the war in Manchester.
The popular perception is
that Manchester was very much a Puritan stronghold, and that the majority of
its citizens sided with Parliament from the outset. Dore (P.13) calls Manchester “that hotbed of Puritanism and
disloyalty” It seems that this may be a class-biased point of view. The
powerful local gentry were certainly pro-Parliament, but the civilian
population was more inclined to have Royalist sympathies. Manchester was not by
nature an anti-Royalist town. The King’s Privy Council for prompt collection
and payment of Ship Money in Manchester in 1635 praised Sir Humphrey Chetham
for getting the tax collected easily and punctually. Many inland towns had protested at Ship Money taxation being introduced
inland. It had been levied onto coastal towns for generations to pay for naval
defences. The King’s imposition of it inland had proved as unpopular as the
Poll tax. Manchester had failed to join the protests of neighbouring regions
like Westmoorland.
Salford, growing from a
fording point across the fast flowing River Irwell that divides the town from
Manchester, is actually an older city than its immediate neighbour. Many
Salfordians still resent being called Mancunians, and having Manchester post-codes
and telephone numbers today. Like Manchester, Salford was becoming affluent
because of the wool and linen trade. When disease caused major hardship in
Bolton in the 1630’s, Salford was wealthy enough in its own right to be able to
donate £140 to a relief fund.
In 1641, Parliament issued
The Oath of Protestation. This was a national petition, which the people of
England were to sign as pledge of lifelong opposition to Papal Catholicism. The
Oath was very emotive and political. There were still many openly practicing
Catholics in England, and the King was married to a young French Catholic
queen, Henrietta-Marie. The
Protestation was inspired by the success of he Scottish Covenant in blocking
the King’s efforts to introduce the English Prayer Book throughout
Scotland.
Lancashire towns, including
Manchester received the Protestation, which was sent to every ordained
Protestant minister, who was then ordered to encourage all of his parishioners
to sign it. Catholics understandably
refused to sign it. Wiganers proved particularly unwelcoming to the document.
103 recusant Catholics refused to sign it (14% of those asked) In Salford, a
mere 57 people (0.4%) refused to sign the Protestation. (Statistics taken from
Hilton. P.34). The best known regional opponent, Sir Alexander Radcliffe, or
Ordsall Hall was repeatedly fined for refusing to sign the Protestation. He had
to sell off a great deal of his property to survive. He would soon play a major
part in Manchester’s Civil War.
Lancashire’s Catholic gentry
were under fierce hostility and many faced persecution from Protestant
neighbours. The King had married a Catholic, though he was still obliged to
sign legal proclamations that stripped Papists of their rights and properties.
However, there were clear indications that a Parliament victory in the
impending struggles would make things considerably worse. Parliamentarians had
made much propaganda mileage out of the atrocities committed by Catholic
Irishry in Ulster. The indications were that Catholics would face horrendous
reprisals if Parliament gained more authority than the King.
Charles found his initial
recruitment drives floundering. He was in serious trouble in early 1642. He
needed help and he had few cares about where it came from. He sent envoys to seek
foreign mercenaries. The Catholics in England, including Lancashire, begged
permission to take up arms on his behalf. It was a shrewd move. Catholic
support for a Royalist victory might be remembered in peace times. Few Papists
expected such leniency from the Roundheads.
On the 4th January 1642 King Charles made his desperate and
disastrous attempt to arrest five members of his own Parliament. All five men
fled, and the King’s authority was usurped at every turn. Charles was forced to
leave London on the 10th January.
War, though not yet officially declared, now seemed inevitable, and like
many towns, Manchester made preparations long before the fighting would
begin. Leading landowners recruited men
to arms throughout the North, provisionally and transparently to protect their
own estates, but often with clear intent to support either the King or
Parliament.
Before the war began
properly many people actively petitioned for peace. They included Richard
Heydricke, the warden of Manchester, who took a petition signed by the
freeholders of Manchester to the King, who was then based at York. Heydricke petition had considerable
support. “It was subscribed by
sixty-four knights and esquires, fifty-five divines, seven hundred and forty
gentlemen, and of freeholders and others, over seven thousand.” (Halley p.179).
The King appreciated the
petition’s declaration of loyalty to the crown, and called on the signatories
to support him against those malignants who were prepared to fight against his
divine prerogative. The response was vague enough to be inconclusive, and gave
little indication of a desire by Charles to compromise with his Parliamentary
opponents. Manchester’s efforts to avert the pending Civil War, had failed.
A June 20th
meeting was called for the nobility to discuss the implications of the King’s
ongoing campaign and his response to the petition. The meeting took place on
Preston Moor. It was presided over by Sir John Girlington, High Sheriff of
Lancashire. He concluded the meeting by reading out the King’s commissioned
proclamations calling for all able-bodied men to raise their arms in defence of
the Monarch. James Stanley, known then as Lord Strange, the Knowsley born MP
for Liverpool, who was later to become The Earl Of Derby, closely assisted
Girlington as he rallied the Royalists to his side with cries of ‘For The King!
For The King!” Four Hundred men moved
behind Girlington and Strange, while just a few less moved to the opposite end
of the Moor to the rallying cry “For King And Parliament. For King and
Parliament.” The county of Lancashire
was severely but quite evenly divided.
The larger majority of people present took neither side, preferring to
remain neutral or take further time to consider their position. (Barratt p.4).
Peace in the region was no
longer an option. Matters had gone too far out of control. The King sent many
of his trusted lords and earls out on a major recruitment drive. One such man
was Lord Strange, who also intended to secure control of the powder supplies stored
in Manchester, at the Collegiate Church Of St. Mary’s College, (which is now
Chetham’s School Of Music near Victoria Railway Station). Weapons, especially
gunpowder, were kept in storage in castles, fortified houses, and in the crypts
of large churches in various towns.
A race had now begun between Cavaliers and Roundheads for control of
such supplies. Manchester, like many towns had increased its stockpiles of
powder in fear of a Papist Catholic rising similar to that, which had occurred
in Ireland, which had been in full-scale bloody rebellion since 1641. Many Catholics lived and worked secretly in
Salford, too, so in the minds of Mancunians the threat from the papists was all
too real. The fears had led to many
rumors that such an invasion was already under way. There was widespread panic
in Rochdale when claims were made that the Irish had reached Bolton. In fact,
it proved to be a small group of English soldiers returning to England after a
period of service in Ireland to address the crisis there.
Lord Strange had secured the supplies of Preston, and Lancaster without
a struggle. His demand for the powder supply from Manchester came far too late.
Sir Ralph Assheton
of Middleton had already organised its removal to other secret locations. He moved the powder on June 20th,
the day of the Preston Moor meeting. It was not actually his to move. Lord
Strange personally owned all ten barrels of powder and three fathoms of match.
He also owned the Collegiate rooms, which had once been the dwellings of Catholic
priests in the town. Lord Strange had bought the property under license from
the crown. Assheton’s removal of the powder was an unlawful act.
Strange was furious and
raised a modest band of troops with which to charge into Manchester from Bury.
He threatened dire consequences if the powder was not returned to his control
within three days, but Parliamentarians gave him cold shrift. The official
records add: that
…. They likewise declared
that if his lordship did take any other Course to seize upon it (the powder)
violently, they would lose their dearest lives in defence thereof by reason the
Country was in such great distraction and perplexity that they did not know how
soon they might be disposed of all they had if so be they had not Arms to defend
themselves withal. (Printed by order of John Brown, Cleric Of Parliament on
July 9th 1642 for immediate print and publication. (Tracts)
There are claims that: Lord
Strange made good his threats and attacked Manchester on July 4th
and supposedly killed eleven defenders while losing twenty-seven men, but the
claim is dismissed as Parliamentary propaganda. There is virtually no evidence
to support the allegation.
Trouble was coming for the
town and everyone expected bloodshed. The Manchester Militia was raised up to
8,000 strong, and they were drilling daily with some vigour.
2/. THE JULY ‘BANQUET
SKIRMISH’AND SUPPOSED FIRST ENGLISH DEATH OF THE WAR
Lord Strange arrived for a
15th July 1642 banquet in Manchester. In some accounts, Lord Strange
was invited to Ordsall Hall for the banquet, but the part of Ordsall Hall in
Salford was in fact to come after the riot that night, and not before it. Strange was actually invited to the inn
house known as the Eagle And Child, home and workplace of a vintor, one Alexander
Greene in The Conduit, (Now Spring Gardens), just off Market Street. The
Conduit is a name often given to a street, which provides drinking water pipes
for a town or city. Strange rode to the banquet feast in style, in a carriage,
flanked by some thirty cavalry riders. Other guests, including Lord Molyneux,
brought their own cavalry support, so the Royalist army grew significantly as
Manchester was approached. The people
of the town welcomed the Royalists at first. Crowds cheered in the streets and threw
flowers. (At least if we believe the Royalist accounts of events).
The banquet had either
neared completion, or as seems more likely, barely started, depending again on
which accounts you read when the town militia, led by Mr. Holcroft, surrounded
the inn-house at the Conduit. The men adopted hostile stances around the
cavalry and footmen waiting outside the house. Lord Strange’s own horse and
carriage were confiscated. Lord Strange walked out through the angry cordon to
take Alexander Radcliffe’s horse. As he went, at least two musket or pistol
shots rang out from the upper windows of nearby houses. They missed their
target. Further shooting was hampered by the incessant rain, which extinguished
match. The would be assassin was one Thomas Stanley, a kinsman to Lord Strange,
who had settled his support squarely with Parliament. (Tracts -p.37). Both parties bitterly claimed that the other
started the trouble first, The Parliamentarian Trained Bands clashed in angry
exchanges with the Royalist Cavalry, though no one really wanted a full-scale
pitched battle.
The gauntlet pressed on as
Lord Strange got to Radcliffe’s horse and rode through to Market Street, with
his cavalry pressing through the mob to protect him. One rider was suddenly
clubbed down from behind and dragged from his horse by a man on foot. His
assailant was instantly shot dead by one of Strange’s men. He was Richard
Perseval A local weaver, from Kirkmanshulme, and a staunch Parliamentarian,
generally taken to be the first English casualty of the War. There had been a
precedent in Scotland where the 10th May 1639 Bishop’s War attack on
Towie Barclay Castle at Turriff had resulted in the death of one David
Prat. It also seems likely that men
were killed in the siege of Hull, which had been under siege and intense musket
fire since July 3rd and would be under fire constantly until July 23rd.
Perseval’s death seems to have dispersed many of the rioters, rather
than aggravating them. The
Parliamentarians might well now have realized that they would fare badly if the
Royalist riders were fully deployed against them. Perceval was buried in the
Manchester Collegiate church on July 18th.
It was after this tragic killing, and not before, that Lord Strange rode
to Ordsall Hall, where he spent the night in the company of Sir Alexander
Radcliffe in the heart of pro-Royalist Salford. Alexander Radcliffe had attended the King at
his 1625 Coronation. The King had made
him a Knight of The Order Of The Bath for his services. Radcliffe was a
practicing Roman Catholic. His father had died at the Battle of Le Rochelle in
France in 1626. He would eventually be
incarcerated for a year in the Tower Of London for his support for Lord Strange.
The Manchester Banquet Riot had taken place over a month before King
Charles officially declared hostilities by raising the Royal standard at
Nottingham on the 22cd of August 1642. . Lord Strange had advised the
King to raise the Standard in Warrington, as he believed that Royalist support
was at its height in Lancashire, but he had been over-ruled. Had his advice
been heeded, Manchester and Lancashire might have seen much more action in the
Civil Wars than they did in the end.
Initially, Parliamentarians
in Manchester apologised to Lord Strange for his hostile reception, but they
quickly changed their tune. They began to openly blame him for the weaver’s
death. Richard Perceval became an early martyr to the
Parliamentarian cause. On September 16th Lord Strange was impeached
for his murder, which gave Parliament a great deal of propaganda power. Men
were called to arms to avenge him. The pulpits of Manchester churches were used
to call on men to defend their town with arms as well as with prayers.
. In that same September 1642 Lord Strange made preparations to march
back on Manchester with an army 3,500 strong in order to seize control of the
town. He had no approval for his action from Charles who was jealous of his
lineage and popularity. Charles wanted the Earl to come to his court (then
based at Nottingham). Strange planned to raise a Lancastrian army first. Strange also had a young French Protestant
wife, which may well have ruffled feathers for Charles’s French Catholic wife,
Queen Henrietta Marie.
Lord Strange’s remarkable wife, Charlotte, Countess Of Derby, was to
hold Parliamentary forces off herself in the siege of Lathom House, which she
defended against the advances of Thomas Fairfax from January 1644 to 27th
May 1645. The house finally fell in her absence in December 1645.
In Manchester, many citizens, angered by his earlier incursion, prepared
to offer Lord Strange fierce resistance.
Robert
Bradshaw and William Radcliffe, a relative of the Alexander Radcliffe, who had
been so willing to assist Strange on his previous visit, led the defenders.
Their support came from men of ‘Dunham Massey, by Handford, Stockport, Harden,
Duckinfield, Ashton, Hyde and Middleton to Heaton.’ (Tracts. P.43).
Lord Strange gained the
respect and support of men from Mosely, Prestwich, Trafford, Tyldesley, Barlow,
Tatton and Radcliffe. (Tracts p.43).
Lord Strange was a great benefactor to the North. He had supported a
1640-41 petition to make Manchester a university town, but jealousy from Oxford
& Cambridge as well as the growing conflict between King and Parliament had
led to the imitative being dropped.
Unlike Hull and Chester, Manchester had no walls or gated entrance ways
surrounding the town. It was wide open to attack. A German military engineer,
Johan Rosworm, a mercenary with experience of warfare from the ongoing European
Thirty Years conflict, built earthwork walls and dug ditches across the
streets, and advised the pro-Parliament defenders. Chains & bars were stretched across the streets to help
prevent a cavalry charge against the town. He also had large iron gates built
across the approaches to Market Street. This has confused some commentators as
Manchester is said rightly to have been unprotected by walls or gates. Rosworm
put some up only for the duration of the Civil War.
Lord Strange had offered to buy out Rosworm’s services, and he was
prepared to pay him three times whatever parliament offered for his work, but
Rosworm had flatly refused to serve him.
Rosworm was regarded as a bitter, foul-mouthed humorless individual.
Whenever he was criticized or given some new duty, he would swear and lament
not having taken up Lord Strange’s offers while he had the chance. He told all
and sundry that he hated them and their town. Nevertheless, he worked
tirelessly on his defenses. He would even remain in the city throughout the
coming siege, leading much of the fighting personally for Parliament. He had no
obligation to do so. His official role had been entirely advisory.
Rosworm was asked to show Manchester men how to store and prepare the
highly volatile mix of gunpowder safely, and in one demonstrative lesson, he
destroyed the roof of the munitions house that he was using.
One Of Manchester’s best known philanthropists, Sir Humphrey Chetham,
was doing his best to stay neutral as the war came to Manchester. Chetham was a
wealthy merchant with considerable assets throughout Lancashire, but especially
in Manchester and Bolton. The increasing tensions were affecting his income. He
had friends who were committing themselves to one side or the other. Royalists
and Parliamentarians alike pleaded with him for money to support their
campaigns. Chetham was a friend to the strange family, and to their opponents,
like Assheton. Chetham had avoided making a commitment to either army at
Preston Moor. He was absent from Manchester at the Banqueting Riot and he would
distance himself again during the siege. A kinsman, Thomas Chetham, of
Nuthurst, near New Moston, was more firmly committed to defending Manchester on
Parliament’s side. Sir Humphrey would not declare open support (for Parliament)
until the outcome of the battle for Manchester was known
3/. THE SIEGE OF MANCHESTER.
The King visited Chester on
September 22cd. He seems to have made
little effort to rally men to support for Lord Strange’s campaign.
Manchester missed being the first skirmish battle of the English Civil
War by a single day. On September 23rd 1642, Prince Rupert had
routed The Earl Of Essex’s men when
they crossed paths by chance at Powick Bridge, near Worcester. It was an early
Royalist victory.
The more carefully planned attack on Manchester was well timed by Lord
Strange. It was the height of the town’s annual trade fair, which was to have
taken place at Acresfield, (Now St. Anne’s Square.). The event was almost certainly
cancelled due to hostilities.
Rosworm’s defenses were only just completed when Lord Strange drew his
forces together in Warrington on Saturday the 24th September 1642
and prepared to March on Manchester for a swift victorious attack. Bad weather,
a broken cannon-carriage wheel and other delays hampered the advance. The
Royalists followed the Mersey towards Manchester, until they reached the
Irwell, and then approached through Salford, with divisions on each side of the
river. They had divided into two units at Stretford, the last potential
crossing before the stone, three-arched Salford Bridge, close to the location
of the present day Victoria Bridge, that led straight into Manchester’s town
centre. Lord Strange had strong support in Salford, which he hoped to use to
reinforce his army.
Though seen from Manchester while still at some distance, Lord Strange
faced no opposition before he reached Alport House, on Deansgate; Alport House
had an ancient pedigree.
Richard
Neville, known as the Kingmaker for his work in getting Edward 5th onto the
Throne of England, had stayed at Alport Lodge in 1470, staying there with the
first Earl Of Derby. Lord Strange, soon to become
Lord Derby himself, at Alport Lodge, was positioned a quarter of a mile from
the men serving under Lord Molyneux at Salford Bridge. His men were exhausted from the grueling
journey and most of them were ill equipped. Few pikemen had breastplate armour
or protective morions. Few of his musketeers had swords. They reached Manchester
at about midnight. As Lord Strange approached, two Parliamentary heralds were
sent to ask him his intentions. He took one prisoner and sent the other man
back with initial demands for his safe access to the town on the King’s
business. He is unlikely to have been surprised that he was not taken
seriously. Lord Strange had so many Catholics in his ranks that throughout the
Civil War his forces were nicknamed ‘The Catholic Army’. Strange himself was not a Catholic. Lord
Molyneux was. Another leading Catholic
was Sir Thomas Tyldesley, a veteran of the Thirty Years War conflict, and of
all Lord Strange’s men, the most experienced in battle. .
At first light on Sunday 25th September, at about 4 AM as
Derby’s men took up their battle positions, the church bells of Manchester were
rung backwards, in a pre-arranged signal to the men of the town to come to its
defense, which they did. Many had scythes, hoe and rakes rather than musket or
pike. There were still fewer weapons
than men this early in the national hostilities.
Manchester held the advantage. The Irwell is steeper in bank on the
Manchester side than on the Salford side. Any advance by Lord Strange’s forces
was uphill against carefully defended risings. The River Tib, (Now culverted
and buried under Tib Street) was at flood and it had reduced most of the area
around current Mosley Street to a waterlogged marsh that would have been nigh
on impassable to the Royalist cavalry. Both sides saw that the main areas that
needed controlling were the Deansgate road itself (guarded by Lord Assheton and
Lord Bradshaw) and Salford Bridge. (Protected by Rosworm).
Parliament also placed men at other less vulnerable spots. Captain
Richard Radcliffe was stationed on Market Street. John Booth held Millgate.
Lieutenant Berwick took his men to guard Hunt’s Bank. A division of soldiers
with no commanding officers was given charge of Shudehill. (Barratt p.7)).
The defenders took much pleasure in prayer and the singing of psalms.
William Bourne, an old, ailing but highly respected preacher. Of Chadderton,
led the morale boosting services.
The first day saw little shooting. Lord Strange repeatedly called on the
town to surrender and lengthy talks ensued that took up most of the time. Derby
said that he wanted permission to billet one hundred men in Manchester. None of
his requests and demands was met. That
night, Lord Strange received some important news. His elderly father, the 6th
Earl Of Derby, had died peacefully in Chester. Lord Strange was now the 7th
Earl Of Derby. He was keener than ever
to bring Manchester under control quickly in order to be able to go home and
mourn for his father.
The Royalists were still divided into two groups. Derby personally took
charge of the Deansgate assault from Alport Lodge. Lord Molyneux took charge of the campaign on Salford Bridge. Any advance meant crossing the bridge, which
afforded little cover, though there was a chapel at its center, which might
afford some protection from Parliamentary musket fire, which was heavily
trained on the route.
The Royalists had seven small cannons. Bradshaw had the only cannon held
in Manchester Parliamentarian hands. The cannons were capable of firing balls
of four, six and eight pounds in weight, but no bigger.
When the Parliamentarians rejected his demands on Monday 26th
September, Derby demanded the immediate surrender of the town’s defenders.
When that call was rejected with contempt, he immediately ordered his men to
open fire. They did so, creating more noise than damage. The Earl Of Derby’s
cannons roared and several of Rosworm’s men deserted immediately. Rosworm
threatened to personally kill any other man who fled his post. He had started
out by defending the bridge with only fifty musketeers. Only one man died in
the initial barrage, and he was said to be merely a spectator who had stood too
close to the action. The records list him as “A strange boy looking about him
but not in armies.” (Tracts p.46).
The initial Royalist advance against Bradshaw’s well-defended position
on Deansgate was launched but checked by smoke from two burning barns and up to
ten burning houses, which obstructed their view. The Royalists had set the
barns alight themselves, but they had not anticipated the way that the wind
would blow the smoke against them. Initially the wind had been blowing against
the enemy, but it quickly turned the other way instead. Derby turned his attention onto Salford
Bridge, but despite the crumbling resolve of his men, Rosworm held out well. The assault that Derby had considered so
easy was turning into a prolonged siege.
The Royalists captured a house close to the Salford side of the Salford
Bridge from which their musketeers kept firing on Rosworm’s men all night. The
weather worsened as the Royalists found themselves facing well-organized
defenses, and they were held at bay on Deansgate. Undeterred by the barn fires
having turned into a Parliamentarian advantage, Derby ordered his men to fire
burning faggots onto the rooftops of Manchester houses. None of the faggots
ignited the wooden buildings, but the attempt made it clear to the defenders
that Derby would probably sack their town and cause considerable death and
destruction if he broke through their lines. They had more incentive to resist
now than ever.
On Tuesday September 27th, the Royalists focused their
attack on Rosworm’s defenses at the Salford Bridge. Desertions had continued
and the German engineers were down to as few as fourteen musketeers out of his
original fifty. Some deserted from lack of food or pay rather than cowardice
under fire. Colonel Holland advised Rosworm to surrender the fight as a lost
cause. Rosworm openly chastised the man for his cowardice and fought on. The
Royalists seem to have been oblivious of how critical his situation was, and
they failed to exploit their advantage before Rosworm was reinforced, probably
with men from the relatively inactive Shudehill and Millgate reserves. By the Tuesday evening, Rosworm was
confident enough of his men to be able to move from defense to offense. He
attacked the house Molyneux’s men had taken at the opposite end of the bridge,
capturing or killing six Royalists. Rosworm lost two men in the attack.
The Royalists had little communication between the men fighting for the
bridge and the men trying to take Deansgate. Their attacks were never
co-coordinated.
That night, Derby called for fresh negotiation parley, which lasted
until the Wednesday morning. Despite the parley rules creating a cease fire
that let men of both sides rest a little, Derby’s men were plundering and
attacking any isolated properties they could find on the outskirts of the town.
Such a breach of protocol could only serve to jeopardize the negotiations for
him. Derby now
once again demanded the surrender of all arms in Manchester to his control, he
created a brief lull in the fighting, but he received the blunt reply that he
would get "nothing, not even a rusty dagger". It was brave wording,
as Parliament’s defenders were running dangerously low on powder and match,
especially on the Deansgate defences.
Derby’s men also
successfully intercepted a group of one hundred and fifty soldiers marching in
from Bolton to help defend the Parliamentarians, and killed three of them.
Rumours in the Parliamentary
ranks helped to demoralise the men. Derby was believed to be expecting heavy
reinforcements at any time. Prince Rupert and the King himself were expected to
arrive. (Broxap p. 40). They never did, and probably had no intention of doing
so.
On Thursday 29th September, a well respected Royalist
officer; Captain Standish was washing his hands as he looked out from the
Alport Lodge Derby used as his headquarters. He angrily shouted orders to some
of his men, who were dawdling. A musket ball killed him instantly. A
Parliamentarian musketeer positioned on the steeple of what is now the
Manchester Cathedral had shot him at considerable range.
Derby made a final desperate
concentrated push against the Deansgate defenders who killed up to one hundred
of his men. Parliamentarians lost only four of their own men in the attack. It
was the beginning of the end. The campaign had depended on rapid capture of the town, but the
Royalists had been held at bay for a week. They were low on ammunition, and
food supplies were running out.
Parliament now launched a concentrated counter-attack on Salford Bridge,
to re-capture a house, which the Royalists had secured there. The Royalists
were routed successfully. Three men, including one Captain Snill, drowned in
the fast flowing, heavily swollen River Irwell in the desperation of their
escape attempt.
The effect of the loss of the well-loved Captain Standish on the
Royalists was particularly devastating. Derby’s men began to desert on him in
droves. He must by now have realized that he had little real chance of taking
Manchester for the King. In many accounts, the death of Standish led to an
immediate Royalist withdrawal, but they still fought on throughout Friday 30th
September, the last full day of the siege.
Royalist firing was now more sporadic and half-hearted. The Royalists
also started to dig their own defensive trenches on Deansgate. The exact
purpose of this new trench has produced several conflicting theories. One
controversial theory has it that the well documented incessant rain that had
ruined any further plans to cause a fire in Manchester now also caused the
river Irwell to flood through the Royalist defensive ditches, ruining large
portions of the powder supplies already secured from Liverpool. This may help
to explain why Strange was digging a fresh trench so late in the fighting. It
is possible that he had to move his men to higher ground as the waters swelled
up dangerously nearby. The problem with the claim is that none of the primary
accounts of the siege mention the river overflowing at all. A better explanation for the fresh ditch was
that it screened Derby’s men while they made a tactical retreat as they had
already decided that they could no longer capture the town. Open retreat would have put the men on
exposed ground, and vulnerable to enemy musket fire.
Another claim is that Derby only retreated because he was ordered to
join the King at Shrewsbury, but that seems unlikely. The King would have been
only too happy had Derby stayed and taken Manchester. Derby had little left to
fight with, and he had lost over a hundred men. Retreat or surrender was his only realistic options.
The weather had definitely worked in Parliament’s favour. Bradshaw and
his men thanked God in their prayers for the rain he brought; which prevented
the Great Fire Of Manchester Derby had tried to start. Most houses were dry
timber and plaster constructions. A hot day could have seen the town raised to
the ground. One commentator wrote: “They sought help by fire. God helped us by
water. God has melted the Royalists into a wet and weeping frame.”
Rivers in the 17th century were not culverted, and so heavy
rain could turn fields into flood plains easily. The Irwell, Irk, Tib, Mersey
and Medlock rivers and their tributaries crisscrossed Manchester then, as now.
Much of the ground was swamped and waterlogged. The Tib was particularly
notorious for overflowing. Had Derby attacked in fair weather conditions, he
might well have been able to move men around the unwalled town of Manchester to
attack from several directions. Salford had many fording points for crossing
the Irwell on foot, but with the river in full flow from the rain, these were
certainly all rendered impossibly dangerous for use. There had been drownings
for men chased desperate enough to try to wade or swim through the Irwell to
escape from Parliament pursuit. A few Royalist cavalry horses also drowned.
Whether the water flooded into powder stores or manned trenches is mere
speculation, but the water certainly hampered the Royalist cause in many other
ways. As things stood, the Deansgate and Salford Bridge approaches were his
only viable route.
Derby had achieved too little and too late. He realized that he had
fought a doomed campaign. On Saturday 1st of October, he
called for a mutual exchange of prisoners, which he was allowed, Parliament
released twelve prisoners. Lord Strange released the six men he had captured.
Derby now retreated quickly and empty handed. Manchester had indeed not offered
him so much as a ‘rusty dagger’. It is
estimated that the Royalists lost up to one hundred and fifty men while
Parliament lost only about twenty. The
retreating Royalists left behind powder and arms and other supplies, and this
all fell to Rosworm’s protection.
The records conclude;
Thus the Lord hath
preserved an unwalled towne from being destroyed or detained by a great armie,
consisting as some say, of 4,000, some say 3,000, seven pieces of ordinance,
two hundred dragooners, a hundred Horsemen. To god alone be the prayse.
The ‘prayse’ was really for Bradshaw and
Rosworm.
The Parliamentary forces
were kept at their stations for another twenty-four hours in case Derby
returned in force, but once it was apparent that he posed no further threat,
the defenders were allowed to disperse and return to their homes.
4/. ‘MANCHESTER MEN’ AND THE
CIVIL WAR
On October 10th 1642, Parliament offered an official vote of
thanks to the men of Manchester for their defense. Much praise was lavished on
the town from that day on. One Parliamentary report stated:
Tis not unknown to all the kingdom that
Manchester men, since the beginning of these distractions, have behaved
themselves like men, and to their lasting fame, have expressed themselves
faithful servants to the Parliament in defending their privileges.” (Dore p. 16)
The catch phrase
‘Manchester-Men’ caught on. Men from Blackburn and Warrington fighting on
Parliament’s side were surprised to be called ‘Manchester Men; for their
bravery under fire too.
Three weeks after the siege
of Manchester, the Royalists and Roundheads engaged in the first official major
battle of the wars at Edgehill on October 23rd. 1642. William
Radcliffe, who had met with Lord Strange on the eve of the Manchester riots, was
wounded and captured by Parliamentarians here. The outcome was indecisive, and
both sides were able to claim victory. The Civil War that would claim the lives
of half a million men, and result in the execution of a King, had now begun in
earnest. Men from Manchester were frequently involved.
Not every Manchester
engagement was victorious. Men from Manchester served with Thomas Fairfax (who
set up headquarters in the town for a time) in his disastrous battle at
Adwalton Moor. (30th June 1643).
The Royalist Marquis Of Newcastle’s men chased the Manchester Men as far
as Halifax, and threatened to come and destroy Manchester if the men did not
surrender to him. The Manchester men chose not to surrender. Defenses were set
up and manned at Rochdale and on Blackstone edge in a first line of defense
against Newcastle’s forces, but they never came.
When Fairfax left the
Manchester HQ, he put the Manchester garrison under the competent command of
John Seaton.
Seaton took Preston for
Parliament in 1643 after just two hours of fighting.
Many Scots were billeted in
Manchester during their period of support for Parliament’s cause.
Neutrality now became dangerous. Many people
were bullied into taking sides when they had previously decided not to. George
Chetham 2cd of Crumpsall, North Manchester, had faced a two-month prison
sentence for trying to keep him out of the fighting. To the now dominant
Parliamentary forces in Manchester, neutrality was a bi-word for having
Royalist sympathies.
Only now, possibly spurred on by the fate of his
Crumpsall kinsman, did Humphrey Chetham openly stand up for the Parliamentary
cause. He became their main financier and bookkeeper for Lancashire, tirelessly
taxing the people to fund the war effort. He made some of the biggest fiscal
contributions to the war effort. He was Parliament’s Receiver General for
Lancashire. This came despite a great deal of loss to his personal fortunes.
The Mosely family was heavily indebted to Chetham, and they had sided with
Derby. (It was their property at Alport Lodge on Deansgate that Derby had used
as his Headquarters during the siege). Chetham accused the Moseley’s of taking
the Royalist cause to evade their debts, but they had actually pledged their
allegiances before he did.
On November 3rd 1642, Parliament presented
Manchester with a new cannon.
On May 23rd 1643, Manchester Men marched to
Parliament’s aid in the battle of Warrington.
Fairfax marched through the town on route to his victory at Nantwich in
January 1644. Royalist prisoners taken at Nantwich were kept in Manchester.
Sir Ralph
Assheton’s men fought alongside Cromwell at the battle of Preston in 1648.
There were no further direct attacks on the town of
Manchester itself, which remained heavily fortified throughout the wars. The
effects of the war were nevertheless very serious on commerce and food
supplies.
Plague hit Manchester in 1645. Money was sent from
London to help alleviate the crisis. Despite problems with his payments (he had been
offered £30 for his services) Rosworm remained in Manchester for another six
years after the siege. He was advised to leave when the plague hit the town,
but he refused to go before the borders were closed, preventing any one from
entering or leaving. He led a musket division round Manchester to deal with
looters and pillagers. He did not
contract the plague
Though strongly
in support of Parliament, many Manchester Men opposed the idea of executing the
King. Holland & Assheton both openly criticised the King’s trial, as did
Thomas Fairfax, but they were powerless to prevent it.
The execution of
the King shocked the nation. Few had predicted or expected it. Many Parliamentarians now turned Royalist,
and the Protectorate feared an early attempt to overthrow it. There were many
ill omens in the air.
On 6th February
1649, a month after the execution, a proclamation was read at the Manchester
Cross forbidding any man to declare himself the new King Of England. Similar
proclamations were read throughout England. Monarchy itself had now been
officially abolished. On the 26th
February 1649, three daytime moons were reported in the skies over Manchester,
causing much alarm and speculation about God’s anger over the death of the
King.
The Collegiate Church was
sequestered in 1649, and badly ransacked as it was ransacked by the Roundheads.
Stained glass windows were destroyed. A statue of Bishop Oldham was smashed.
Heydricke, still the warden of the church, protested but no one took notice.
The College rooms which had been owned by Lord Strange, and which had stored
the powder that had fuelled early trouble sin Manchester, was now turned into a
prison. Interestingly, prisoners from
Manchester, including Heydricke, were moved to London, possibly to deter
protest marches and make escaping more difficult.
In Blackley, North
Manchester, in 1650, John Pendleton was reaping corn when the corn appeared to
bleed red blood under his scythe. The area became a pilgrimage point for a
‘multitude’ of visitors eager to seethe phenomena for themselves.
Manchester was criticised
for openly celebrating the birthday of Charles 2cd in 1650. Parliament had
called for the day to be marked with fasting rather than feasting, the people
of Manchester decided otherwise.
Of course, Charles 2cd, from
exile in France, wanted his kingdom back. His campaigns lead to the doomed
Third Civil War. Manchester Men fought at the Battle for Wigan Lane on the 25th
August 1651, where Lord Derby’s men were routed in 1651, as they fought for
Charles 2cd. It was the last full scale Civil War engagement in Lancashire.
Derby was captured later as he tried to reach Charles at Worcester.
The Republic was to hit
Manchester harshly. Sequestration and confiscation of properties and estates
belonging to known Royalists began almost immediately Heydricke lost ownership
of The Collegiate Church. He was arrested for plotting to reintroduce the
Monarchy and narrowly escaped being sentenced to death.
In 1652, Rosworm’s now
crumbling siege defences were dismantled and the debris removed. No trace was
left behind.
Manchester’s first MP was Charles Worsely, of Platt Hall, Rusholme. It
is said that when Cromwell called out for the confiscation of the mace, in the
House Of Commons with the words ‘Take away that bauble”’ Charles Worsely
personally took the mace for hiding away by way of an answer. (Bruton p. 156).
On 12th October 1653, Sir Humphrey Chetham died. He was
buried in the Collegiate Church. A philanthropist to the last, his will
bequeath the city with its hospital and library, which is now the world famous
Chetham’s Music College.
The Protectorate years were
not good ones for Manchester. There was considerable religious division, and
many people were unforgiving to neighbours and family over which sides had been
served in the conflict.
Richard Heydricke, the warden
of Manchester, now reinstated, wanted the town to be governed on similar lines
to the Scottish Presbyterian Churches. This involved committees of ministers
(ordained) and lay elders, working in a hierarchy of bureaucratic committees.
Parliament experimented with such models in Lancashire during the war years, as
the Scots who wanted Presbyterianism introducing throughout England influenced
them. Parliament had agreed to such an introduction in order to secure the
support of the Scots, but they had later abandoned such agreements (much to the
offence of the Scots). Many in Lancashire had tasted Presbyterianism, and they
liked it. Heydricke was one such man.
Under his supervision,
Lancashire was divided into nine ecclesiastical districts, known as the Classis.
Manchester Collegiate Church was the headquarters of one Classis. Most towns
were happy to comply with the system.
Birch, Didsbury, Stretford and Gorton, were among those that refused to
co-operate. The system fell into such
disarray that Cromwell abandoned it nationally in 1653. Now only Papacy (Catholicism), witchcraft
and outright atheism would face intolerance from the State. Many independent religions found that they
could flourish openly with little immediate fear of reprisal or retaliation
At the height of Protectorate rule, Cromwell divided England and
Scotland and Wales into regions to be controlled by his Major Generals. Charles
Worsely was the first Lord-General in charge of Lancashire. His main job as
such was to be a tax collector, which he achieved admirably. He was also a
prohibitionist, closing up to two hundred alehouses. He described them as ‘dens
of sedition and iniquity’. Constables with poor arrest records were relieved of
duty, transferred or even dismissed from service under Worseley’s orders. He
was deeply disturbed to find that many people were living in sin in Lancashire,
or under illegal marital arrangements. He was uncertain about how to deal with
the Quakers, as they were both disruptive, and sincere God-fearing men. He
frequently wrote to London for advice on how to proceed against them
Horseracing
was a subject on which he had no such moral confusion. He wrote to his ally,
Thurloe, “Sir, there being a horse-race appointed in this county this last
week, being informed of it I sent a party of the troop. They apprehended the
chief actors and they took the horses, which I have, since I came to Manchester
and still, in custody. I desire your direction what to do with both.”
(Espinasse p.109).
He is described by Jill Groves as the most zealous of all the Major
Generals, and one who worked himself to death by exhaustion by 1656. He was
only 35. He was buried with some pomp at Westminster Abbey. Four Regimentes led
the funeral procession. His successor as Lancashire & Cheshire’s Major
General was Tobias Bridge, who was regarded as being much more moderate. The
generals, under Cromwell, collectively imposed a puritanical ban on theatre,
dancing and much more besides, including Christmas.
Upon Worsely’s premature death Richard Radcliffe, became Manchester’s
second MP. In the Restoration period, Charles 2cd stripped Manchester of its
right to have any MP’s in Parliament as punishment for their part in the early
hostilities. It would be the Reform Act of 1832 before Manchester had a
representative in Parliament again. His name was Mark Phillips.
In 1659 after the death of Cromwell, and at the height of the rule of
his weak son, Richard, Sir George Booth led the doomed Cheshire Rising. He
wanted an army of Royalists to lead against the Protectorate. His forces were
easily crushed at Winnington Bridge on August 19th 1659, but many
Manchester Men had supported him. Little did they know that plans were already
afoot for a more peaceful return for their King?
The Quakers, (The Religious Society Of Friends) began in the Civil War
years, and they were highly active throughout Lancashire. George Fox, their
founder, frequently visited and preached in Manchester.
Manchester, like much of
England, celebrated the Restoration with street parties and carnivals. The day
was declared a national holiday. Another party took place on the day of the St.
George’s Day official Coronation of Charles 2cd (23rd April 1661).
The Spring Gardens Conduit that normally gave water to Manchester ran with Claret
for the occasion.
The celebrations soon ended though. Despite the label of ‘Merry
Monarch’, Charles was a tough taskmaster, in 1662; his Act of Uniformity
declared that only ministers ordained by official Church Of England Bishops
could recite from the Prayer book. Many refused to comply with such a law,
including Heydricke, though unlike many, he did not face any serious reprimand
for his defiance. Charles tried to have Heydricke removed from office once and
for all and even lined up a man called Dr. Woolley to replace him, but
Heydricke had a powerful ally, Montague, Earl Of Manchester, the former
Parliamentarian General, now a close friend to the King, who persuaded Charles
to allow Him to stay in office. It was one of Lord Manchester’s few direct involvements
with the town that gave him his title.
Manchester had become the epicenter of the Non Conformist Movement, The
Rev. Henry Newcome would complain about it in his diaries. Newcome had been
preaching at the Collegiate Church from 1655 until 1662. He fully accepted the
wisdom of the King’s Act of Uniformity, and resigned from office, expecting,
and demanding that fellow ministers followed suit.
That at least was his visible position on the matter. In reality, he
was preaching illegally under cover in private houses and at open air Conventicles.
He conducted services in a barn owned by one Thomas Stockton on Shudehill. Newcome would not be granted a license to
preach legally again until 1687, when James 2cd issued declarations of
toleration for all religions.
Charles had a lavish lifestyle and he son faced the same central
problem that had plagued his father and even the Protectorate. He was needed
revenue. He was perpetually broke. He created a new and widely despised form of
taxation, Hearth (or Chimney) Tax.
People were taxed for the number of chimneys and fireplaces in a
dwelling (three or less was generally grounds for exception). 700 people played Hearth Tax in Manchester in
1666.
.
THE
EFFECTS OF THE CIVIL WAR IN GREATER MANCHESTER
Surrounding towns that are now part of Greater
Manchester also played a major roll in events in many ways. Here are some of
the events affecting the region. Of course, many of the towns covered,
including Manchester, were then part of Lancashire. The County itself remained
predominantly in Parliament hands.
Bolton fell to Royalist attack, but Derby never dared hold on to the
town. In Lancashire, only Lathom House held off Parliamentary attack for any
substantial period of time.
ASHTON
John Soundiforth, two men, each called Dean Shott, of Ashton, and Robert Ashton of Sheply, were severely fined for refusing to accept knighthood awards bestowed by the King in 1628-9. The awards were made merely to oblige on gentry to have to pay tax for their status, and the men of Ashton were not alone in opposing he unpopular policy. It was one of the acts, which caused Charles 1st to begin to lose the respect of many of his subjects in the decade leading to Civil War.
Men from Ashton were called upon to support King Charles in the disastrous and costly Bishop’s Wars of 1639 and 1641. The wars, (against Scotland) were started when the Scots refused to accept English changes in the way they worshipped, such as only reading a Book of Common Prayer authorized in London. The King was under-funded and many on his own side sympathised with the Scottish stance, so the King was forced to accept defeat in both Bishop’s Wars.
John Harrison, Minister for Ashton, obliged most of his flock to sign the Parliament Protestation in early 1642. 149 Ashtonians chose to do so.
Ashton became a leading magazine town in the months leading to hostilities. Many of its men served at the siege, which is not surprising given their loyalty to Sir Ralph Assheton. They were on the defensive after the Siege of Manchester in case Derby attacked them to try and take their own powder stores, but he never tried.
Sir Ralph Assheton became a Puritan in some contradiction to his Catholic beliefs.
Sir George Both had supported Parliament from the outset of the troubles and promised his soldiers good rewards for their services to him. His control of the lease of their estates ensured their loyalty to him. Booth had strong family connections to Parliament. His son-in-law, William Breton, led the Parliament army in Cheshire. Breton’s Mother was a cousin to Colonel Holland, of Denton, the Governor of Manchester.
Ashton’s rector was Henry Fairfax, an uncle to Thomas Fairfax.
Edmunde Ashton, and Sir Cecille Trafford both openly sent men to serve in the King’s army while secretly selling muskets and powder to Parliament supporters in Manchester.
Though predominantly pro-Parliament, Ashton had a few Royalist supporters in its bosom. Sir John Hotham had strong financial interests in Hull, a town the King had failed to capture early on in the Civil War.
Nicholas Lilly give up his horses to men riding for Nantwich on April 2cd 1642, long before the fighting began in the town there.
Ashton men were involved in a battle for Preston in 1643, which was then in Royalist hands. Thomas Stansfield lost a hand in the battle there. He received a compensation pension right up to Cromwell’s death, when his payments ceased.
Ashton men helped to liberate Wigan for Parliament, but failed to capture Warrington. It was taken in May 1643 without involvement by Ashtonians who were to serve at Adwalton Moor, where they were noted as being concerned by their lack of wages for their ongoing duty to the Roundhead cause.
When Prince Rupert took Stockport, Ashton, being a few miles away, became nervous. Duckinfield sent a division of men from Ashton and his own town to force Rupert to retreat, but he was driven back, and 800 of his men were taken prisoner. There was much resentment and bitterness between the neighbouring Ashton and Duckinfield communities for generations to follow.
When the Scots marched into England in support of the Parliament cause, Ashton men signed the Solemn League & Covenant pledging support for Scottish Presbyterianism. It was a promise betrayed in due course throughout England.
On March 20th 1643, Alex Davie, a farmer, sold his horse under extreme duress (having no choice) to the High Constable Of Oldham.
Ashton was ravaged by plague and smallpox outbreaks with devastating effects on the community at the height of the Civil War.
In the Protectorate years, the Sandifords lost their Ashton estates as punishment for their service to the Royalist cause. The estates were given to the Puritan Stopford family. Joseph Stopford of Audenshaw was to sail to Cromwell’s Plantation estates in Jamaica. Stopfords also served under Cromwell in his campaign in Ireland in 1650.
There is a totally groundless legend that Sir Thomas Fairfax, once
Cromwell’s closest Parliamentary al, lies buried in Ashton Church cemetery.
(Harland & Wilkinson) In fact, Fairfax lies at rest in Bilbourne, near York.
BOLTON
Twice, Lord Derby attacked the town known even then as the ‘Geneva Of
The North’, in February and March 1643, without success. It was the town in
which he had been educated before he went on to Oxford University study. Like
Manchester, Bolton kept him out, but the murders of captured pro-Royalist Irish
Mercenaries by Boltonians, when a loyal body of Irish infantrymen served under
Prince Rupert, helped to provoke a savage reprisal attack. The corpses of the
captured Irishmen were hung over the town wall as a warning to the enemy. They
served only to enrage them. Prince Rupert stormed the town on the 28th
May 1644, supported by Lord Derby. Lord Molyneux and Sir Thomas Tyldesley were
also present. They rode through Barlow Moor and Trafford Park on their way to
Bolton. It was the closest they would ever get to Manchester again. In Bolton,
1,600 people (Soldiers and civilians alike) were simply slaughtered. Cavalry
horses trampled people down in the streets. It is possible that more than half
of the town’s population died.
Manchester and Salford raised £140.00 to help relieve the suffering in
Bolton.
Sir Humphrey Chetham had been in Bolton as the town fell, but he fled to
Yorkshire and escaped from the massacre itself.
Lord Derby was arrested seven years later, during his campaign in Wigan
for Charles 2cd. Derby was tried for his part in the Bolton massacre. He was
even found personally guilty for the death of Richard Perceval; He was
sentenced to die. He spent his last night on earth in Bolton’s Man Of Scythe
inn, a bar that had been built in 1251, and rebuilt in 1636. James Cockerel
then owned the bar. The execution took place just outside the pub at the Bolton
Cross, which is on the corner of Deansgate. It’s a coincidence that Derby had
faced an earlier defeat at Manchester’s own Deansgate.
CHADDERTON
Many people in the town wanted to support Parliament, but Isaac
Allen bullied most of them into neutrality or opposition. Allen was the rector
for Prestwich, who was married to Anne Assheton, of Chadderton Hall, daughter
of Richard Assheton
Sir William Radcliffe, who built Chadderton Hall in 1620 died at
Edgehill fighting for the Royalists. His son, also called William Radcliffe but
known as the Foxdenton Redhead to his friends, served for Charles at the Battle
Of Lostwithiel in 1644 and got knighted for his services. He was defeated, and
surrendered to Parliament at Truro in 1646.
Sir William Assheton, another tenant of Chadderton Hall, and a relative
of Parliamentarian Ralph Assheton’s, served the King, and surrendered at Oxford
in 1644.
Chadderton Hall and the Foxdenton estates were sequestered under the
orders of Sir Ralph Assheton.
. DIDSBURY
Thomas Hebblethwaite, a Royalist, killed in the
Siege Of Manchester, was brought to Didsbury on 28th September 1642,
for a burial conducted by a schoolmaster called Mr. Turner.
Thomas Birch was a staunch Parliamentarian from
Didsbury. He helped to capture Preston, and Lancaster. He took charge of
Manchester’s Collegiate Church after the siege in the town. His men did
considerable damage to the stained glass windows and pews there.
Birch was a magistrate in
the trial of The Earl Of Derby. He was in charge of Sequestration activities in
Manchester following the end of the First Civil War in 1646. On Cromwell’s
behalf he took The Isle Of Man. He also arrested the Countess Of Derby and her
family
After Charles 2cd was defeated at Worcester by
Cromwell’s forces, the Scots Army who had marched for the new King retreated tired,
cold, hungry, and in many cases, wounded, through North West England on their
increasingly desperate journey home. They found themselves picked off by
Parliament supporters at every turn. Some were attacked mercilessly as they
tried to march through Didsbury, and it said that some of the Scottish dead are
buried on what is now the main golf course in Didsbury. There are rumours that
Charles 2cd himself narrowly avoided being shot in this rout, but such claims
are unfounded. He certainly did not try to escape through Lancashire.
DUKINFIELD
Many soldiers from here took part in Parliament’s defence of
Manchester. Lord Duckinfield had led the attack on Wythenshawe Hall. The main
claim to fame for the town in the Civil War period is that it was an early
preaching point for George Fox, the founder of the Quakers (The Religious
Society Of Friends). Fox gained converts in Duckinfield in 1647. He wrote in
his journal:
Passing on, I went among the professors of
Duckinfield and Manchester, where I stayed a while and declared truth among
them. There were some convinced, who received the Lord’s teaching, by which
they were confirmed and stood in the truth…. The professors were in a rage, but
the Lord’s power was over all.” (Fox
p.11)
The Friends Centenary
booklet declares that this is the earliest record of Fox successfully gaining
converts. (Pp. 7 –8).
Fox had no set organised
church at that time. The Quakers were not named as such until 1950 (Due to the
way they would tremble and quake as the spirit of the Lord took them). They
were in frequent trouble with the authorities because they refused to take
oaths, which Puritans were keen to enforce. Quakers also disobeyed the hateful
post Restoration Conventicle Acts of 1664 and 1670, which forbade any unauthorised
gathering for worship for more than four people. The only church practices
allowed were those of the Protestant faith. Fox returned to Manchester in the
1650’s to find an angry reception. Stones, and water were thrown at him, and he
was soon arrested. He impressed the town magistrates when he criticised
Manchester for its drunkenness and debauchery. They released him.
Fox did not establish a
fixed Quaker community in Manchester or Duckenfield. That task fell to Thomas
Briggs, a convert from Bolton-Le-Sands, near Morecambe. He established a Quaker
community on Jackson’s Row, near Deansgate. They met illegally in each other’s
houses. In 1673, they bought some land on Jackson’s Row to use as a cemetery,
but they also established the first Manchester Friends’ Church on the plot. The
Quakers were fully accepted in Manchester in 1830 with the opening of the Mount
Street Friends’ Meeting House, which is still in use today.
FAILSWORTH
Failsworth men were
predominantly puritan. They fully supported Parliament. When the national
Protestation petition (calling for an oath of allegiance to the anti-Papist
faith) was circulated in Failsworth, on the 28th February 1642,
Humphrey Barnet, the minister for Newton Chapel not only signed it himself, but
openly encouraged his congregations and parishioners to sign it too. Failsworth men proudly marched to the
defence of Manchester during the siege.
In 1644, Fairfax bought four packhorses from Failsworth at 6d
each, to carry his supplies for the Nantwich campaign.
After the Manchester siege,
Royalists still moved as close to the town as they dared. They had to pass
through the region repeatedly in moving men from the North to the South as they
were needed for different stages in the war. During such movements, a Cavalier
division was almost ambushed near Atherton, between Leigh and Bolton on
November 27th 1642. Many of the townsmen, famous for their
production of nails, joined in for Parliament with homemade swords and
battle-axes. Lord Derby’s forces fled but up to two hundred were captured by
men drawn from Manchester as re-enforcements. This was the Battle of Chowbent.
Rosworm fully liberated Atherton and Leigh n December 24th 1642.
MIDDLETON
North Manchester town where
Parliamentarian Major General, Sir Ralph Assheton was born and later, buried.
He lies at rest in the grounds of St. Leonard’s Church). Unusually, his tomb is
made in Brass, which is highly unusual for Parliament was in a habit of
destroying such over-decorous monuments as idolatrous symbols of royalist
Catholic interests. He had helped to protect the powder supplies in Manchester
during Lord Strange’s visit, and had been presented with a brass cannon with
which to protect Middleton Hall for his services. The church has a number of connections to the Assheton family
ornate windows depict the archers who served under the Assheton banner at the
battle of Flodden.
NORTHENDEN
On Monday November 22cd 1643, on route to take part in the
Siege at Wythenshawe Hall, ‘Manchester Men’ Roundheads led by Colonel Robert
Duckenfield marched through the nearby villages Didsbury and Northenden. They
attacked Northenden’s parish church of St. Wilfred’s. The minister, Mr. Thomas
Mallory, an ardent Royalist, was a good friend of the Tattons of Wythenshawe
(Who worshipped at St. Wilfred’s). Windows, pews, fonts, and more, were damaged
in the rampage. Mallory himself fled, initially to The Tatton Arms, just across
the road from the magnificent church, which still stands today.
Many of the Tattons and
their friends are buried in the churchyard at St. Wilfred’s, as is Sir Robert
Radcliffe who died duelling in 1686.
OLDHAM
The immediate post-war years had given rise to a number of
radical independent church bodies, such as the Duckinfield Quakers mentioned
above. A related group, and possibly a splinter sect from the Quakers, was
Oldham Greengate Congregational church founded by The Reverent Robert
Constantine in 1647. His refusal to
take an oath of Loyalty to Cromwell’s Commonwealth in 1650, and Sir Ralph
Assheton forced him to leave the community. He returned freely in 1654.
Constantine’s troubles were
far from over. In 1662, Charles 2cd ordered all clergymen to make use of the
new Prayer Book. Constantine refused, and again, he was stripped of his
ministry and forced into exile, this time in Salford. Charles relaxed the laws
in the Act Of Indulgence of 1672.
Constantine was free to preach once more, in Oldham Heyside.
STOCKPORT
Rupert captured Stockport on the 25th May 1644,
but quickly lost interest in it when he marched on Bolton. While at Stockport,
Rupert made approaches to Johan Rosworm, hoping to gain his support for the
Royalist cause. He failed to impress the man.
Peter Davenport owned Stockport’s Bramhall Hall during the Civil War Years. He insisted on maintaining neutrality throughout the conflict, and wished only to be ‘left quiet’. Parliament fined him £750 for his non-involvement. He would complain bitterly when Parliamentarian troops requisitioned his horses for their cavalry.
John Bradshaw (the regicide) was baptised in Stockport Church on 10th December 1602. The entry about this in the church register has been grafitied with the word ‘traitor’. In his will, Bradshaw had left £10 to the blind poet, John Milton (himself an ardent admirer of Cromwell).
Henry Bradshaw was at Lord Derby’s trial, and one of the few there to argue for leniency in the sentencing. He was over-ruled.
STRETFORD
The town was strong in its support for the Protestation, with 129 members of the village signing the Protestation petition.
TRAFFORD
Sir Cecil Trafford, an ardent Royalist and Catholic, described as
‘an arch papist’, was arrested by Parliamentary forces in December 1642.
WESTHOUGHTON
1,000 riders from Derby’s Cavalry captured parliamentarian Colonels,
Bradshaw and Venebles in December 1642 on the Westmoreland moors. The
Parliamentary forces were hopelessly outnumbered.
WIGAN
The town declared for Charles
from the outset of conflict, but it fell to Sir Ralph Assheton in spring 1643.
It would not see direct military action again until the Second Civil war battle
of 1648 when Cromwell came to the town on the 18th August to
intercept the Scots who were marching South under Lord Middleton, who had splintered
away from Hamilton’s main forces who were now at Preston. Cromwell devastated
Middleton’s men and rode north through the town to intercept Hamilton’s forces
at Preston in one of the most brutal battles the region ever saw.
In 1651, the Scots led by Charles 2cd in the Third Civil War, marched
relatively unopposed through Wigan. Lord Derby’s men, trying to unite with
them, were however, captured on the 25th August, and by
Parliamentarians led by Robert Lillburne. The Royalists were besieged and fought
at close quarter with appalling casualties. Sir Thomas Tyldesley was killed in
the battle. Lord Derby himself was wounded, and later captured and sent for his
infamous trial and execution in Bolton.
WYTHENSHAWE
Prince Rupert and Lord Derby maintained a fixed camp of their forces in
the Lancashire and Cheshire borderlands. It was as close to the Puritan
stronghold as they dared. They gained support from Wythenshawe Hall though they
seldom visited the Hall themselves.
Robert
Tatton, who owned the Hall, had helped recruit many of the men
Derby had marched against the Manchester garrison. He knew that he was in
danger from reprisal attacks. He began fortifying Wythenshawe hall almost
immediately on receiving news of the Royalist retreat from Manchester. Robert’s
wife, Anne was also in a difficult position, as of all of her family, she alone
proved to be staunchly Royalist. Her sister, Katherine, was married into the
Assheton family.
Neighbors and friends from Wythenshawe, Northenden and Etchells
villages’ cam to assist in fortifying the house, and many would take part in
the siege to come. Others came from Baguely, Stockport, & Altringham to
offer their services, which shows how much respect the Tattons had in the South
The Hall had been built with a moat surrounding it, but this had been clogged
with leaves and debris which now needed clearing out.
The Parliamentarians made several abortive efforts to drive the
Royalists out. The defenders, mostly household servants, and local friends,
rather than trained soldiers, held off a continuous assault over three months.
Some of the defenders used bow and arrow. One defender, Thomas Gerrard, of
Timperley, who brought food to the house during the siege, shot himself in the
thigh with a pistol, showing how dangerous it was to have inexperienced amateur
soldiers crammed into a relatively small building. One lady, Eleanor Legh. Was
heavily pregnant throughout the siege.
The extreme winter conditions favored the people besieged. The
Parliamentarians were out in the open field fully exposed to the elements while
those in the house had some shelter and possibly fires to give them warmth. In
milder conditions, the muskets fired
at the house would have had dry powder, and the dry timber frame of the house
would have been easily damaged and breached.
Many of the Parliamentary troops were inexperienced, and the best of
them were drawn away to take part in the battle at Nantwich. For most of the
siege, Parliament had one hundred men to spare against a well-fortified, moated
house prepared and stocked up on food and arms for a long siege battle.
In one dramatic attack, Roundheads got into the kitchens and killed six
defenders before being driven back outside. It is estimated that at the height
of the siege there were fifty-two people stationed at Wythenshawe Hall,
including twenty-five domestic household servants. Sixteen were freeholders
such as Richard Grantham of Davenport Hall, in Hale, who brought along his
twelve year old son, Robert. Their
kinsman, Richard Grantham, also of Davenport Hall, was a soldier in the
Parliament army.
The Royalists asked for a truce in which to recover their dead for a
decent Christian burial, but the attackers would not relent for any such cause.
The fallen were therefore buried in unconsecrated ground close to the house, at
considerable risk for their gravediggers.
During one of the many attacks on the house, a certain Captain Adams was
killed by musket fire by a servant girl who had noticed that he was standing in
her line of fire. The story comes in several versions. The serving girl was
called Mary Webb. In some versions of her action, she is merely an opportunist
who saw the gun and realized that one of the Roundheads was in her line of
fire. It is believed that he may even have been killed on the last day, and
possibly even after Tatton had agreed to surrender. In other tellings, Mary was
purposely, avenging the death of her lover at the hands of this Roundhead,
Captain Adams, earlier in the siege. Her action was therefore an act of war, or
a brutal vengeful murder of a man who may not have been armed when she shot
him. His ghost is said to haunt the property to this day, though others say
that it is the ghost of Mary herself, lamenting her lost love and dammed
forever for her murderous act of vengeance.
It was the arrival of Thomas Fairfax and a division of. Manchester Men’
on the 25th February 1644 that finally succeeded in storming the
main Wythenshawe Hall house. Two cannon were trained on the house with threats
being made to raise the property to the ground. The defenders had virtually no
protection against such firepower. They quickly capitulated. They were
virtually out of food, water and ammunition anyway. Even without the cannons
being brought along, the house may not have held out much longer. But Sir
Robert Tatton escaped, to join the King in the disastrous battle for Chester,
and later reunited with Charles at Oxford.
There was a final act of violence when Dukinfield’s men snatched three
horses from Tatton’s stables for the use of the army, and some of the defenders
made an abortive attempt to prevent them being taken.
In 1646 Sir Robert Tatton was forced to buy back the house for £707 15s
4d from the London based Committee For Confiscations And Delinquencies. Charles
2cd presented him with a lavish silver snuffbox for his services after the
Restoration.
The Quakers, and their founder George Fox himself, visited and passed
through Wythenshawe several times in the 1650’s, gaining some converts.
The Hall make a rather over-simplified
case of stating that Wythenshawe was attacked by ‘Cromwell’s Men’ though
Cromwell was not then of the rank and power that he would develop as Marston
Moor loomed in 1644. It was Fairfax’s forces that over-ran the house, and
Colonel Robert Duckinfield led them.
WYBERSLY HALL
Cheshire property owned by John Bradshaw, who was a leading regicide, as
the lawyer who presided over the trial of The King. And having signed the
King’s Death warrant. Though Bradshaw died in 1659, his body, like Cromwell’s,
was exhumed, tried, executed and destroyed, when the monarchy was restored.
I am a
re-enactor in the Sealed Knot (http://www.thesealedknot.org.uk/members/index.asp)
and though Mancunian, I am actually in a Scots-Irish Brigade, Manus O’Cahan’s
Regimente Of Foote). This often leads to the question of why I didn’t join the
Knot’s Manchester’s Regimente. The simple answer is that I met the Scots first.
Many of the O’Cahans Regimente lives in Manchester, as well as in Scotland,
Ireland, and throughout the UK. Manchesters Regimente is a truly fine Foote
regimente in their own right, good sports and great drinking buddies to The
Scots and the many other regimentes in the Knot. Historically speaking, their
actual civil war period founder, Edward Montague, the second Earl Of
Manchester, a status he inherited in 1626, actually had little if any direct
contact with the town. He mainly took charge of The Eastern Associations, in
Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, etc. He is perhaps best known for his contempt for
Cromwell, and Manchester was happily able to use the Self Denying Ordinance
ruling, with which Cromwell laid off many of his opponents, to get out of the
war from 1644 onwards. He was a fierce
opponent of the execution of the King, and one of the few leading
Parliamentarians to be later welcomed into the post-restoration governments
serving Charles 2cd. He died peacefully in 1671.
The
Sealed Knot also has regiments for Lord Derby and Lord Molyneux.
THE
CIVIL WAR IN MANCHESTER TODAY
The city
commemorates the Civil War history in many ways. The Deansgate plaque is just
one memorial.
A more controversial one is
the Bronze on granite statue of Oliver Cromwell, made by Matthew Noble and
first unveiled on 1st December 1875. And now located in Wythenshawe
Park, looking towards the nearby Hall. .
Elizabeth Salisbury Heywood,
whose family had been involved in the Civil War on the Parliament side,
bequeathed it to the city.
Until the 1980’s it stood on the corner of Cateaton Street and Deansgate, close to the Cathedral. Deansgate’s role in the Siege Of Manchest