The Great Civil War in Lancashire (1642-1651) Part 4

The defenders were, however, not quite so unanimous as the defiant replies would suggest. There was a party in the town led by Colonel Holland the Governor, which desired to come to terms with the royalists.

They pointed out that the stock of ammunition was running very low, and that the country people who had come in as volunteers were becoming restive owing to the plundering by the royalists in the neighbourhood.[57] Rosworm describes a scene when Holland on Wednesday afternoon came down to him at the Bridge urging these considerations; Rosworm referred the matter to his soldiers, who declared they would stand firm, and Holland went away in anger. Shortly after this Mr.

Bourne, the aged fellow of the Collegiate Church coming by, Rosworm urged him to go along Deansgate to Bradshaw's men and persuade them if necessary to resist. They, however, needed no persuasion but declared "by a general shout that they would part with their arms and their lives together."[58] It was perhaps a concession to the faint-hearted that on the following day Mr. Alexander b.u.t.terworth of Belfield was sent towards London for aid.[59]

There was, however, no need to bring help from London or anywhere else, for the royalist attack was nearly spent. When hostilities were resumed the Parliamentarians were the a.s.sailants. At 10 o'clock on Thursday, September 29, 200 men sallied out from Deansgate to relieve a house which had been occupied by the royalists; they were attacked by 100 musketeers and a troop of horse, but after an hour's fighting the royalists were defeated, most of the horse being driven into the river and an officer[60] and two men drowned. The losses are given as 13 on each side and the town made two prisoners. In Salford some guns previously placed in a position which was commanded by the churchyard were removed. On this day also the royalists lost one of their leaders in Salford, Captain Standish, who was shot by a marksman posted at the top of the church tower.[61] There was no further fighting after this.

The following day desultory firing continued from Deansgate and Salford, and at the former position the royalists began to dig a trench as if they intended to establish a blockade; but it was only a pretence for they dared no longer to come to close quarters.[62] On Sat.u.r.day the Earl of Derby, as he now was from his father's death on the previous day, sent for an exchange of prisoners, of which the town is said to have taken 85. The royalists made up their number by seizing non-combatants from the surrounding district. When the exchange had been effected the royalists decamped in such haste that Rosworm was able to send out a party openly to capture their arms.

It is not very easy to estimate satisfactorily the losses on both sides during the six days of the siege. We have very full details, but unfortunately all the accounts are written by Parliamentarians, and no one-sided descriptions of Civil War battles can be relied upon. Heyrick for instance roundly says of the Monday operations when fighting was the most severe of all, "in this day's fight blessed be G.o.d we lost not one man." One writer states that the townsmen lost no one at all except one boy who was looking on from a stile; and they all estimate the royalist casualties at some hundreds. It is of course to be expected that few of the defenders were killed but surprising that many lives were lost at all. Seventeenth century musketry was very erratic, and the besieger's cannon was probably wholly useless; and the combatants came to close quarters very little except on the first day of the siege. The "Sutherland Diary," which seems altogether the most accurate and moderate account estimates the royalist losses at 220 killed and 85 prisoners; detailed losses of the defenders amount only to 19. But on the first day the losses are said to be 125 and 3 respectively, which sounds very unlikely. It is, however, not possible to arrive at any greater accurateness for all the accounts agree in the main that about 80 prisoners were taken by the town, and that the royalists lost from 100 to 250 men. Nineteen is the largest total given for the defenders'

losses.[63] A very glowing picture of the state of the town during the siege is given by Heyrick and other writers. Heyrick says "our Souldiers from first to last had prayers and singing of Psalmes daily at the street ends, most of our Souldiers being religious honest men of a civill and inoffensive conversation, which came out of conscience of their oath and protestation. The Townsmen were kind and respective to the Souldiers; all things were common: the Gentlemen made bullets night and day; the Souldiers were resolute and coragious and feared nothing so much as a Parley; the deputy Lieutenants, Captaine Chantwell and other gentlemen took paines night and day to see that the Souldiers did their duty."[64]

If this description is not somewhat overdrawn, it is because the town did not stand by itself in the matter of defence. The neighbouring Deputy-Lieutenants and Bradshaw's men probably did much not only in numbers but in moral effect to strengthen the resistance. For there was certainly a party in the town less inclined to stand out. Manchester contained many royalists; and as we have seen, they were at least the majority in Salford. Probably Lord Strange counted on a far less stubborn resistance than he encountered; and judging by the support given him in July he was justified in doing so. This may have had something to do with the badly organised state of his force, though there is no need to credit all the stories which the other side told about its composition. It was evidently without discipline or efficiency;[65] and the attack was ill-planned and conducted with no vigour. The royalists attacked Manchester which was not a strong position on the whole, at two of its strongest points. At Deansgate they had no advantage of ground, and in Salford they were at a disadvantage, having to advance across a narrow sloping bridge which was commanded by the higher opposite bank of the river; whereas at Shude Hill or at Market Stead Lane the royalists would have had the advantage of ground, and their guns would have proved much more effective at these positions than pointing up Salford Bridge. The princ.i.p.al attacks should have been delivered at these two points.

The weather was no doubt an item in favour of the town. It was a very wet week, and not only did the rain make communication impossible between the two divisions of the royalists, for the Irwell rises rapidly in flood; but as the besiegers were mostly out in the open the discomfort of their position served to demoralise them still further.

"By reason of cold and wet hunger and thirst and labour want of sleep and a bitter welcome that we gave them, their hearts were discouraged mightily."[66]

Moreover no attempt was made by the royalists to blockade the town, which kept open communications during all the week of the siege. It was, however, a mistake to divide the royalist forces at all.

Nevertheless Manchester might congratulate itself on a very considerable and well deserved success. The thanksgivings of October 2nd, and of October 6th, when there was a special service in the church for the soldiers, were amply justified; for it was the first trial of strength, and the royalists were thought to be the stronger. The effect of their failure was therefore very great. And it is surely not only local pride which sees in the siege of Manchester an event which had an importance quite out of proportion to that which is at first apparent.

As a Parliamentarian writer says, "had not that town stood very firmly for the King and Parliament in all probability the whole county had been brought into subjection to the oppression and violence of the Cavaliers."[67] This is quite true. Manchester became the Parliamentarian headquarters, though even after their first success that party was for three months very largely on the defensive. Manchester was the key of the position, and had it fallen in October, 1642, and remained in royalist hands the King would have been supreme in the whole county. And to have been supreme in Lancas.h.i.+re would have enormously strengthened Charles' cause in all the north of England.

FOOTNOTES:

[44] The population is probably estimated from the list of Manchester signatures to the Protestation of 1641-2, which are given at length in the "Palatine Note Book," Vol. 1. This is supposed to be a complete list of the householders in Manchester at the time. The whole total, however, is 1,305, and as 120 or more are names of officers mostly outside the town, and there are many reduplications besides, the estimate of 5,000 seems nearer the mark.

[45] "Fairfax Correspondence" (2 vols., 1848), Vol. 2, pp. 271-4. "Hist.

MSS. Com.," Rep. 9, app. 2, pp. 431-2. Fairfax writes to his brother, Henry Fairfax, at Ashton-under-Lyne: a bill in Parliament would cost 100 marks, and would have very small chance of success.

[46] The Reeve of Salford at this time was Henry Wrigley, a successful cloth merchant and banker. He gave 20 towards the 200 which was subscribed for the building of Salford Chapel, the remainder being paid by Humphrey Booth. Wrigley was Constable for Salford Hundred, and in that capacity issued the summons under the Commission of Array for the muster at Bury on July 14, 1642. He was a lukewarm royalist, however, and prevented two of his servants from joining the royalist army.

Afterwards he closed his house and fled to London, where he appeared definitely on the Parliament's side. Attempts were afterwards made to convict him as a malignant, but without success. Wrigley, who was a very prosperous merchant, afterwards lived at Chamber Hall, near Oldham. He was one of Humphrey Chetham's executors and High Sheriff of Lancas.h.i.+re in 1651. ("Palatine Note Book," Vol. 3. pp. 103, 104.)

[47] "Perfect Diurnall" (Cooke), Sept., 19-26. "Perfect Diurnall" (Cooke and Wood), Sept., 19-26. "The Cavaliers have disarmed most of Lancas.h.i.+re; Lord Wharton has been ordered north."

[48] Rosworm's connection with Manchester is given in greatest detail in his "Good Service Hitherto Ill-Rewarded ("C.W.T.," pp. 215-244), which was an appeal to Parliament against the arrears of his salary from the town; and it cannot therefore be called an impartial account of his services. His estimate of himself is always a great deal higher than that given by other writers. Moreover his complaints of arrears would seem to have been considerably exaggerated. From the "Good Service" one would gather that the town never paid Rosworm anything at all; there are, however, given in "C.W.T.," pp. 246, 247, particulars showing that Rosworm was paid 135 between Dec., 1644, and July, 1647, which is not very far short of his amount due for the period. He also received 28 in 1648 ("Chetham Miscellanies," Vol. 2, New Series, No. 63; "Manchester Civic Records). It must be remembered that our information of payments made is necessarily very fragmentary. The details in "C.W.T." are said to be "from an old Book of Accounts of the town of Manchester in the custody of the Boroughreeve," but it is an example of the way in which the Manchester Munic.i.p.al Records have been neglected that this book does not now exist, and no information as to its contents can be obtained.

In 1651 Rosworm was recommended by the Council of State to be employed as engineer at Yarmouth, where some works were to be erected in prospect of an attempted landing by the enemy ("C.S.P.," 1649-50, pp. 225-235).

[49] Alport Lodge stood half a mile from the town, on the site of the present Great Northern Goods Station. It seems to have been burnt down by accident during the siege. Sir Edward Mosley contributed 20,000 to the royal cause. He afterwards joined Sir Thomas Aston in Ches.h.i.+re, and was taken prisoner near Middlewich. One-tenth levied on his estate amounted to 4,874. His pardon was pa.s.sed by Parliament in October, 1647. (Axon, "Lancas.h.i.+re Gleanings," p. 3. "H. L. Calendar, Hist. MSS.

Com.," Vol. 6.)

[50] The princ.i.p.al authorities for the Siege of Manchester are a number of Tracts in the Thomason Collection:--"Newes from Manchester"; "A True and Faithfull Relation of the Besieging of the Town of Manchester, etc."; "A True and Exact Relation of the Several Pa.s.sages at the Siege of Manchester, etc."; "A True and Perfect Relation of the Proceedings at Manchester, etc.," E. 121 (13). The first two of these are given in "C.W.T.," pp. 44 and 49; the third is summarised in the appendix to that volume, p. 332. The fourth Tract differs greatly from the other accounts. There are also several other Tracts of little value. To these must be added Rosworm's narrative ("C.W.T.," pp. 219-223) and that in Lancas.h.i.+re's "Valley of Achor" ("C.W.T.," pp. 111-123). And perhaps the most interesting account of all is the Diary contained in the Sutherland MSS., "Hist. MSS. Comm.," Report 5, p. 142. The present writer contributed an essay on the Siege of Manchester to the "Owens College Historical Essays" (1902), p. 377.

[51] The Captain Bradshaw here mentioned was probably Robert Bradshaw, younger brother of John Bradshaw, of Bradshaw Hall, near Bolton, Sheriff of Lancas.h.i.+re in 1645 (often wrongly confused with President Bradshaw).

He did good service in command of the a.s.sheton tenantry at Manchester: "Captain Bradshaw hath quit himself most valiantly to his everlasting renown; he prays with his soldiers every day himself," E. 240 (23). His name does not, however, appear much afterwards, but if he was the Captain Bradshaw who was taken prisoner later in the year, and carried to Lathom House, he died soon after his release from there. The "Discourse" calls him "a very moderate man and of good parts" (p. 20).

Richard Radcliffe lived at Radcliffe Hall, a moated house then standing south of Market Stead Lane. It was afterwards called Pool Fold, and the name is still preserved. The Hall was pulled down in 1811. This is usually supposed to have been the Richard Radcliffe who was elected Member of Parliament for Manchester in Cromwell's Parliament of 1656; but as he is called 'old Mr. Radcliffe' in the following year, this may be doubted. The return of the Burgess to Parliament in 1656 simply calls the Member "Richard Radcliffe, Esquire, of Manchester." Radcliffe served at the second defence of Bolton against the royalists in 1643.

("C.W.T.," p. 351. "Manchester Munic.i.p.al Records." "Palatine Note Book,"

Vol. 3, pp. 265-6.)

Captain, afterwards Colonel, John Booth, was the fifth son of Sir George Booth, Lord of the Manor of Warrington; for a full account of his career _vide_ a note in the "Discourse," p. 120-122. He must be distinguished from Colonel (afterwards Sir George) Booth, grandson of the Sir George Booth referred to, who at first fought on the Parliament's side, but headed a rising for Charles the Second in 1659, and became first Lord Delamere after the Restoration.

[52] These numbers sound very disproportionate, but the statement is made in the "Sutherland MSS.," which seems much the most reliable in the matter of numbers. "These were estimated," the account continues, "from the graves found in the fields about the town, and five more were found in the sands of the river; and it is supposed that more were cast into the river, among whom was Mr. Mountain, a Colonel of horse, and Captain Skirton and a lieutenant, with others of note" ("Hist. MSS. Com.," Vol.

5, p. 142). The tract called "A True and Faithful Relation, etc.," which is supposed to have been written by Heyrick, says roundly: "In this day's fight, blessed be to G.o.d, we lost not one man."

Richard Heyrick, the Warden of the Collegiate Church, was son of Sir William Heyrick, Alderman of London, who afterwards lived at Beaumanor, in Leicesters.h.i.+re. He was born in London in 1600, became Rector of North Repps, in Norfolk, and Warden of Manchester in 1635, his father obtaining the Wardens.h.i.+p for him in satisfaction of some monetary transactions with the Crown. Heyrick was a man of great energy, and was the leader of the Presbyterian party in Manchester. He was a cousin of Herrick the poet. (Art. by C. W. Sutton, "Dictionary of National Biography.")

[53] No other account mentions this incident.

[54] The royalists continued plundering, if they suspended their actual attacks upon the town; and evidently the garrison took opportunity to bring in reinforcements. They came from Bolton, and two of them were killed by the royalists during a skirmish outside the town; "Coming peaceably with 150 more to a.s.sist the town," Heyrick says quaintly ("C.W.T.," p. 55).

[55] The terms offered are variously stated, the fullest account being given in a tract ent.i.tled, "The Lord Strange, his Demands, etc."

("C.W.T.," p. 47). Rosworm mentions only a demand for 100 muskets.

Heyrick says that the question was finally referred to the soldiers, "who all resolutely answered they would not give him a yard of match, but would maintain their cause and arms to the last drop of blood."

[56] "Sutherland MSS."

[57] "As also their foot plundered, which gave the occasion and example for all the plundering that after happened in the county" ("Discourse,"

P. 7).

Richard Holland (afterwards Colonel in the service of the Parliament) lived at Heaton, in Prestwich. He was a magistrate and sequestrator, and served at Preston, Wigan and the first siege of Lathom House. Rosworm was his bitter enemy, and accused him of great cowardice.

[58] The shortage of ammunition was evidently a very grave danger, for all the accounts mention it. Rosworm confesses that he had only 6 lbs.

of powder and 18 fathom of match left, but he had told no one. Cf. a letter from Sir John Hotham to the Speaker on Nov. 25, 1642, in which he refers to his having sent from Hull five barrels of powder to Manchester "when they were in that extremity with Lord Strange" ("Portland MSS.,"

Vol. 1, p. 174). This powder arrived on Oct. 14 ("C.W.T.," p. 122). The "Valley of Achor" refers to the fact that the very wet weather made the country people more willing to stay in Manchester, it being harvest time ("C.W.T.," p. 118).

Rev. William Bourne was senior fellow of the Collegiate Church. He died in the following year. He "had long been a blessing to the town, and had seen a resurrection of it from the Plague, nigh forty years before"

(evidently the visitation of 1605), and "was lifted up from the gates of death and raised in spirit to promote this work."

[59] Cf. also a letter dated Sept. 26, signed by Holland, Booth, Egerton and Hide, to Colonels Shuttleworth and Starkie "at Haslingden or elsewhere," asking them to send powder and match for the relief of Manchester ("Lancs. Lieutenancy," pt. 2, p. 273).

[60] This was Captain Snell, who "had two rings on his hands worth 20"

("Sutherland MSS.").

[61] Captain Thomas Standish was not of the royalist family of that name at Standish; that branch was represented at the siege of Manchester by its head, Ralph Standish, the uncle of Lord Molyneux and father-in-law of Colonel Tyldesley; but was the eldest son of Thomas Standish of Duxbury, near Chorley, Shuttleworth's colleague as M.P. for Preston.

Heyrick says he was killed whilst "reproaching his soldiers because they would not fall on," but the "Discourse" less picturesquely, but probably with more accuracy, that "quartered in a house upon the north side of Salford, well up towards the Chapel, was, by a bullet shot from the top of Manchester Steeple, slain" (p. 7). The "Sutherland Diary" gives a touch of human interest in the statement, "He was to have married Mr.

Archbould's kinswoman, who married Sir John Harper of Cork." There is no doubt that the loss of Standish was a serious blow to the attack.

[62] "On Friday Lord Strange's forces were so scattered that they durst not come within pistol shot of the town" ("Sutherland Diary"). When Derby requested an exchange of prisoners and a cessation of plundering, the town retorted that they had not plundered at all, but his lords.h.i.+p had done so much damage "that 10,000 would not make a recompense"

("C.W.T.," p. 55).

[63] These figures are from the authorities cited above. The only independent estimate is in a letter from Stephen Charlton to Sir R.

Leveson: "News confirmed by several letters from Manchester that they of the town have slain about 300 of Lord Strange's forces" ("Hist. MSS.

Com.," Vol. 5, p. 161).

[64] The "Valley of Achor" goes further than this: "A spirit of Piety and Devotion in Prayers and singing of Psalms rested generally upon Persons and families, yea Taverns and Innes where it might not put in the head formerly" ("C.W.T.," p. 120). Cf. however "Salford Portmote Records," C.S. (new series), 48, Vol. 2, p. 77; on Oct. 16, 1644, Edward Rosterne was presented "for making an affray on the Bridge with the soldiers that kept the Bridge there."

[65] It was stated that the royalist forces had been summoned to Warrington to meet the King, and the direction of their march was at first concealed from them. "The Lord Strange's Souldiers some of them wept, others protested great unwillingness to fight against Manchester, affirming they were deceived and deluded else they had not come hither"

("C.W.T.," p. 56).