I don't think we can explain it, RLB. Maybe she wanted the sublease so she could escape from living with the old man at the Inn -- or sublet it herself to suppliment her income -- or they had 6 daughters parked at another relatives? We don't have enough info to get to the bottom of this one.
I suspect this was Pepys' way of indicating that the Commissioners sat that morning to discuss what was afoot. He had to be there. If the Navy Board did not sit, and he had finished what work there was, or had delegated it to the trusty clerks who worked for him -- he was free to do other things.
Is she trying to tell you something, Pepys, or did her parents keep her at home? This liaison really isn't a good idea. She may be willing, but Sandwich will be home in a couple of days, and you have nowhere to take her. Plus you know her family ... this could turn out to be very nasty.
"I staid here all day in my Lord’s chamber and upon the leads gazing upon Diana, who looked out of a window upon me."
This tells us how close, as the birds fly, Axe Yard (where Diana lives) is to the Palace of Whitehall, A perfect place for the King's wine celler keeper to live.
Pepys always made it sound like he walked miles to see the young Jemima Montagu.
This gazing must have reassured Pepys of Diana's intentions towards him. "The talk" might be pleasant after all ... but where can he take her now?
When Henry, Duke of Gloucester died, we had conversations about mourning behavior and clothing:
Wednesday 19 September 1660 https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… (Office day). I put on my mourning and went to the office. At noon thinking to have found my wife in hers, I found that the tailor had failed her, at which I was vexed because of an invitation that we have to a dinner this day ...
and
Friday 21 September 1660 https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/… (Office day). There all the morning and afternoon till 4 o’clock. Hence to Whitehall, ... Back by water about 8 o’clock, and upon the water saw the corpse of the Duke of Gloucester brought down Somerset House stairs, to go by water to Westminster, to be buried to-night.
L&M: "He was buried at about midnight in Henry VII's chapel, Westminster Abbey. ... Funerals especially of grand and wealthy personages, were commonly held at night, to the light of torches which were extinguished at the grave."
@@@
Elsewhere, I found an article about sin eaters -- employment for the poor at its worst -- but the authors give dates for it in the 1680's and in the country, so I doubt this happened at Westminster Abbey! http://www.atlasobscura.com/artic…
You bring up a good point, RLB: Recently I tracked down the color of the 2 new suits Pepys had made for his Navy Commissioner's job. They were both black. https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
We know Charles II wears purple. Somewhere I saw that described as the correct color for princely mourning.
What color is for regular people's mourning? Or was it a style of clothing?
The French didn't write down what the "rules" were until 1765. No mention of what the British did. A section on the Middle Ages, and then she skips to the Victorians, apart from showing a painting of Mary, Queen of Scots when she was in mourning as Queen of France for her first husband, wearing white. The surrounding notes say white was the cheapest color available, and everyone had white clothes, so white was the agreed color. Even later, children wore white to funerals to indicate their innocence.
Phil has given us an Encyclopedia page for FUNERALS, and Terry copied in the L&M entry, and they say people wore black. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
So why did Pepys bother to have a new outfit made? To impress Peter Llewellyn? Because he needed another one anyway? It clears up what Elizabeth wore, as I'm sure she had a black dress, but maybe not in the latest style.
"we drank off two or three quarts of wine, which was very good;"
He's out drinking every night with his old friends. Elizabeth is home alone again -- she must be upset by this. Chaplin seems to be a person with prospects to remain friends with, but a couple of clerks to a victualler hardly seem appropriate people for Pepys to be socializing with now.
Who is holding family prayers at bedtime? That's Pepys' role as an employer. There's no need for Pepys to do intelligencing for Sandwich now. Not that these three would know much.
"Seems a bit odd to make a correction after 10 years but Sasha Clarkson was wrong about Henry Cromwell."
Good catch, Chrissie -- and you're not correcting Sasha so much as making sure people don't use incorrect info. they see here and giving Pepys Diary as the citation.
"... how my Lord Sandwich had disappointed him of a ship to bring over his child and goods, ..."
At this time the Downings only have one son: his eldest son and heir George (c. 1656 – 15 April 1740). I can understand Sandwich not wanting to have a 4-year-old to entertain and keep safe while he has Princess Mary on board. If any old ship will do, contact Pepys or Coventry, not Sandwich.
Wikipedia says Downing was Ambassador to the Dutch Republic from 1657–1665 -- we have seen that the position almost involved commuting to The Hague when necessary, so I wonder why the Downings don't leave their goods there? Things were ruined by being shipped at sea. Yes, bring the child, but leave the beds and linen, etc.
Better still, the Embassy should be furnished -- didn't we hear about The Wardrobe furnishing 2 houses for the Spanish Ambassador recently?
Frances Downing (nee Howard) Born 1625 in Naworth Castle, Brampton, Cumberland, England ANCESTORS: Daughter of William Howard and Mary (Eure) Howard Sister of Charles Howard, Philip Howard, Thomas Howard, Margaret (Howard) Leslie and Catherine (Howard) Lawson Wife of George Downing Bt — married 1654 (to 1683) DESCENDANTS: Mother of George Thomas Downing Bt, Frances (Downing) Cotton, Philadelphia (Downing) Pickering, William Downing, Lucy (Downing) Worth, Charles Downing, Anne (Downing) Pengelly and Mary (Downing) Barnardiston Died 10 Jul 1683 at about age 58 in Cambridgeshire, England https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/How…
Frances Howard Downing sister of Charles Howard 1st earl of Carlisle; both were descended from Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk - uncle to Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard and also a descendant of King Edward I of England. Francis and Charles were descended from Thomas Howard's son Henry Howard Earl of Surrey via his son Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk; also Francis Howard was cousin to Margaret Howard Cotton of baronet Cotton of Connington, Huntingtonshire, England https://www.findagrave.com/memori…
[George] "Downing’s ancestors can be traced in Suffolk back to the opening years of Elizabeth’s reign, and one of the family sat for Orford in 1586. His grandfather was master of Ipswich grammar school, but his father, a Puritan lawyer who practised chiefly in the court of wards, emigrated to New England in 1638. "Downing, one of the first graduates of Harvard, was educated for the ministry and became preacher to the regiment of John Okey." https://www.historyofparliamenton…
"He was appointed scoutmaster-general of Cromwell's forces in Scotland in November 1649, and as such received in 1657 an annual salary of £365 ..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir…
Between graduating from Harvards and working for Col. Okey, Downing returned to England and married his Frances on a salary of probably less than £365. She was nobility -- how did he pull that off?
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection) 19.9.1660 (Wednesday 19 September 1660) document 70012680
19. This day a stock of plank at the park fell down, which may be a warning, a matter of thankfulness it doing no hurt and my children being wont in the summer to play and work under them.
@@@
An example of the Old Testament, Presbyterian way of thinking by Rev. Ralph: I wonder what sort of warning he thought might that be.
Just 15 years before, if the planks had hurt someone, Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins might have hanged some witches for causing the collapse. Earls Colne is only 22 miles away from Chelmsford, where they executed 15 of the Essex witches in 1645, so the people in Earls Colne would have know all about it -- and may well have attended. https://www.historic-uk.com/Histo… https://www.oxfordcastleandprison….
Col. John Birch (September 7, 1615 – May 10, 1691) was a soldier in the English civil wars and later a Member of Parliament for Leominster and Weobley, Herefordshire.
Birch played a significant role in the battle of Cropredy Bridge, Oxfordshire on June 29, 1644.
On December 18, 1645, Parliamentarians under the command of Col. John Birch and Col. Morgan captured the City of Hereford.
In 1646 Col. John Birch besieged and captured Goodrich Castle from the Royalist Sir Henry Lingen.
Biography of John Birch -- headline from the defunct BCW Project Sep 23, 2006 — John Birch, 1615-91. Presbyterian army officer famous for capturing Hereford in a daring midwinter attack in 1645.
@@@
Cropredy Bridge, battle of, 1644. While waiting for news of Prince Rupert's attempt to relieve York, King Charles' southern army clashed with Sir William Waller at Cropredy Bridge, on the River Cherwell near Banbury, on 29 June.
Waller, seeing the royalist army strung out on the march, hoped to punch a hole between van and rear by taking Cropredy Bridge. In turn, he found himself facing a battle on 2 fronts, when the royalist van turned, and he was fortunate to extricate himself with the loss of some light guns. Although little more than a cavalry skirmish, Cropredy sustained royalist morale until the news from Marston Moor came through. https://www.encyclopedia.com/hist…
Aftermath: The Battle of Cropredy Bridge cost Sir William Waller around 700 killed, wounded, captured, and deserted. Royalist casualties were minimal. The defeat effectively immobilized Waller's army as it was beset with desertions and it ceased to be an immediate threat to Oxford.
What Col. John Birch did on the losing side is not recorded.
I'm not good at using the Wayback Machine https://web.archive.org/web/20230… But no, the Biographies have not been captured. How very, very sad. I do hope someone can rescue this valuable resource.
On the fall of Clarendon, Col. Birch resumed full-scale political activity, and from the 1667 session served on most of the important committees. He ridiculed the charges against Clarendon and acted as teller for the unsuccessful motion to refer them to a committee. ‘I did not believe one word of that which Clarendon was accused of’, he later said. Col. Birch was active with a bill against highwaymen and a petition from the silk throwers. The new treasury commissioners, perhaps at Sir George Downing's suggestion, began to employ Birch as a trouble-shooter over accounts quite unconnected with the excise, such as the Surrey hearth-tax, the London wine duties and the Herefordshire aid. He was appointed a member of the council of trade, and was most active in the supply debates of 1668, chairing several sub-committees. He was teller for the motion on 30 Mar. to proceed with supply every day.
Over the inquiry into the mismanagement of the war, Pepys began by grumbling at him as ‘the high man that do examine and trouble everybody with his questions’, but later noted that ‘Birch like a particular friend do take it upon him to defend us’. Col. Birch was teller against putting the motion for declaring as a miscarriage the delay in ordering Prince Rupert to rejoin the main fleet in 1666. He told the House that £600,000 over and above the customs receipts had been spent on the navy in the first 4 years of the reign. Nevertheless he moved for investigations into the mis-spending of revenue and the failure to defend the Medway, which he called the 2 great miscarriages of the war. Confident of Charles II's dislike of the conventicles bill, he urged that ‘it would prove for the advantage of trade and the interest of religion to comprehend some that were now dissenters’. The fewer the dissenters, the stronger the church would be, he pointed out rather disingenuously, as in private he was assuring Pepys that episcopacy was doomed and leases of bishops’ lands the best investment going.
On carrying several supply bills to the Lords on 4 May, Col. Birch was maliciously given the additional instruction to remind their lordships of the conventicles bill, which he carried out exactly.
In the supply debate in 1669, he defended the Government with his usual bluntness: ‘The great mismanagement has been in this House; unless some course be taken here that moneys be not at 10 per cent we shall never be safe’.
And so it goes on. I can see why Pepys found him exasperating for 30 years -- bureaucrats who do not understand the accounts they are auditing, and therefore ask deceptively simple questions which confound the "experts" are dangerous, and he did that until he died, still an MP, in 10 May, 1691.
By the general election of 1661, Col. Birch had lost his stewardship and with it his interest at Leominster; and his ownership of church lands was threatened by the bishop of Hereford. He had not completed buying Garnstone from Roger Vaughan, which was to give him an impressive interest at Weobley. He won a seat at Penryn, Cornwall, although the Duke of York supported another candidate, Sir William Killigrew.
In the Cavalier Parliament, Col. John Birch MP was on 538 committees and gave around 400 recorded speeches. He was appointed to one political committee during Clarendon’s administration, that for the execution of those under attainder. Nevertheless Clarendon thought it wise to conciliate him by asking Bishop Croft to renew his leases of church lands without an entry fine, which could have been as much as £2,000. He was given a life patent as sole auditor of excise at a salary of £500 p.a.
Col. Birch’s work as disbandment commissioner was not over; he reported to the House on 11 July and was made chairman of the navy committee. After the Christmas recess he was teller on a successful general excise bill on beer and ale, and unsuccessfully on the motion for committing a bill to restrain abuses in its collection. He was also active in measures to forbid the wearing of gold and silver lace and to encourage the production of flax and hemp, for which he chaired 3 bills in this Parliament. He was a manager of a conference on repairing and cleaning London and Westminster roads. On 3 May he reported to the House on customs duties. On 30 June 1663 he acted as teller for an unsuccessful proviso to the conventicles bill in favour of occasional conformists.
In 1664 Col. Birch opposed giving new powers to the ecclesiastical courts. But his name appears on the list of court dependents.
In 1666 he regularly attended Anglican services.
In 1667 Col. Birch was teller (with old enemy Massey) for the motion to recommit the bill against cattle imports. He again clashed with Knight over excise, and his report from committee on 2 Nov. failed to satisfy the House. Andrew Marvell accused ‘Black Birch’ of nourishing an incestuous passion for his own "offspring", excise. A few weeks later in the debate on the poll-tax it was moved that whoever kept a nonconformist minister in his house should pay an additional £5 -- which was understood by John Milward to be a jocular hit at Birch. He was one of the managers of the conference on the Canary patent. But his proposal for comprehensive redevelopment of the devastated areas of the City of London found little support.
Col. John Birch MP's Parliamentary bio is llong. I'm only pulling highlights to 1670:
Birch’s father, who claimed descent from a minor gentry family of Lancashire, bought Ardwick Manor, Manchester, in 1636 and became a Presbyterian elder and county committeeman after the Civil Wars.
Col. John Birch (1615 - 1691) liked to boast of humble origins, but by 1642 was trading on his own account as a wine merchant from Bristol to Shrewsbury.
After a brilliant military campaign against the Herefordshire Cavaliers, he invested in church lands, and was appointed high steward of Leominster, Herefordshire, by Parliament in 1648.
Imprisoned as a Presbyterian at Pride’s Purge, he met with Charles II before the 2nd battle of Worcester, and was under constant suspicion during the Interregnum. He estimated he was imprisoned 21 times, but was not an active Royalist.
Gen. George Monck entrusted Col. Birch with John Lambert’s old regiment of foot in 1660; but when he returned with the secluded Members and sat on the Council of State, he was suspected of wanting the restoration of Richard Cromwell. (I.E. he was with Monck and the Montagus.) Edward Massey called him a vile man, but Edward Harley thought he could be brought if Charles II confirmed his church lands.
Whatever his views, Col. John Birch MP was safe in his Leominster seat, although Massey engaged all his friends against him.
In the Convention Parliament, Col. Birch was appointed to 42 committees, made 20 speeches, and 16 reports. He served on the important committees including the indemnity bill, and acted as chair of those for army commissioners and disbandment.
... During the debates on religion he asserted that the liturgy was not established by law, and spoke in favour of the Covenant. He seconded the motion for a reward to Sir George Booth. On 2 Aug. 1660 he was ordered to draw up a statement of the debts of the army and navy. Inexperienced Samuel Pepys found his ‘scrupulous inquiries’ about the navy accounts ‘very impertinent and troublesome’; ‘a mighty busy man’, he confided to his diary, ‘and one that is the most indefatigable and forward to make himself work’.
On 8 Aug. 1660, Col. Birch MP was appointed chair of the grand committee on excise. Monck’s asked him to defend his old colonel, Sir Arthur Hesilrige MP, in the debate on the pardon bill. During Sept. 1660, he was made a commissioner, and acted as chair of the disbandment bill committee.
In the second session Col. Birch MP's time was devoted to finance. He took no part in the debates on modified episcopacy. Two of his numerous reports to the House were interrupted by John Knight MP and Edward King MP, who claimed the excise committee didn't knew about his estimated £673,000 deficit nor of his proposed excise on all foreign commodities. Birch was also in the chair for stating the public debt.
"Robert Waith -- L&M Companion: "Appointed Paymaster to the Navy Treasurer [CARTERET] 1660, and possibly the 'Wayte' who was a royalist financial agent in Brussels in 1659. As paymaster he was distrusted ..."
I wonder why Sir George wasn't standing by his colleagues today, but delegated a Parliamentary Committee hearing to someone who was a Royalist financial agent in Brussels last year. At least Sir George could speak with authority about what makes a ship "ship-shape and Bristol fashion" and probable costs of such work. Of course, Penn and Batten can do that as well.
The more I read about Amb. Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne, I suspect this reception was another reason James, Duke of York wanted to be out of town at this time. Thank you, Princess Mary, for giving him a decent excuse.
Of course, manners and protocol would dictate everybody's actions that day, so no observor would know of any discomfort felt by anyone.
Comments
Third Reading
About Thursday 20 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I don't think we can explain it, RLB. Maybe she wanted the sublease so she could escape from living with the old man at the Inn -- or sublet it herself to suppliment her income -- or they had 6 daughters parked at another relatives? We don't have enough info to get to the bottom of this one.
About Monday 24 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
(Office day).
I suspect this was Pepys' way of indicating that the Commissioners sat that morning to discuss what was afoot. He had to be there.
If the Navy Board did not sit, and he had finished what work there was, or had delegated it to the trusty clerks who worked for him -- he was free to do other things.
About Sunday 23 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Diana did not come according to our agreement."
Is she trying to tell you something, Pepys, or did her parents keep her at home?
This liaison really isn't a good idea. She may be willing, but Sandwich will be home in a couple of days, and you have nowhere to take her. Plus you know her family ... this could turn out to be very nasty.
About Saturday 22 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I staid here all day in my Lord’s chamber and upon the leads gazing upon Diana, who looked out of a window upon me."
This tells us how close, as the birds fly, Axe Yard (where Diana lives) is to the Palace of Whitehall,
A perfect place for the King's wine celler keeper to live.
Pepys always made it sound like he walked miles to see the young Jemima Montagu.
This gazing must have reassured Pepys of Diana's intentions towards him. "The talk" might be pleasant after all ... but where can he take her now?
About Funerals
San Diego Sarah • Link
When Henry, Duke of Gloucester died, we had conversations about mourning behavior and clothing:
Wednesday 19 September 1660
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
(Office day). I put on my mourning and went to the office. At noon thinking to have found my wife in hers, I found that the tailor had failed her, at which I was vexed because of an invitation that we have to a dinner this day ...
and
Friday 21 September 1660
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
(Office day). There all the morning and afternoon till 4 o’clock. Hence to Whitehall, ... Back by water about 8 o’clock, and upon the water saw the corpse of the Duke of Gloucester brought down Somerset House stairs, to go by water to Westminster, to be buried to-night.
L&M: "He was buried at about midnight in Henry VII's chapel, Westminster Abbey. ... Funerals especially of grand and wealthy personages, were commonly held at night, to the light of torches which were extinguished at the grave."
@@@
Elsewhere, I found an article about sin eaters -- employment for the poor at its worst -- but the authors give dates for it in the 1680's and in the country, so I doubt this happened at Westminster Abbey!
http://www.atlasobscura.com/artic…
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
You bring up a good point, RLB: Recently I tracked down the color of the 2 new suits Pepys had made for his Navy Commissioner's job. They were both black.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
We know Charles II wears purple. Somewhere I saw that described as the correct color for princely mourning.
What color is for regular people's mourning? Or was it a style of clothing?
I found a website
"The History of Mourning Dress and Attire in the West"
https://www.eterneva.com/resource…
The French didn't write down what the "rules" were until 1765.
No mention of what the British did.
A section on the Middle Ages, and then she skips to the Victorians, apart from showing a painting of Mary, Queen of Scots when she was in mourning as Queen of France for her first husband, wearing white.
The surrounding notes say white was the cheapest color available, and everyone had white clothes, so white was the agreed color. Even later, children wore white to funerals to indicate their innocence.
Phil has given us an Encyclopedia page for FUNERALS, and Terry copied in the L&M entry, and they say people wore black.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
So why did Pepys bother to have a new outfit made? To impress Peter Llewellyn? Because he needed another one anyway?
It clears up what Elizabeth wore, as I'm sure she had a black dress, but maybe not in the latest style.
About Hoop
San Diego Sarah • Link
"we drank off two or three quarts of wine, which was very good;"
He's out drinking every night with his old friends. Elizabeth is home alone again -- she must be upset by this. Chaplin seems to be a person with prospects to remain friends with, but a couple of clerks to a victualler hardly seem appropriate people for Pepys to be socializing with now.
Who is holding family prayers at bedtime? That's Pepys' role as an employer.
There's no need for Pepys to do intelligencing for Sandwich now. Not that these three would know much.
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Seems a bit odd to make a correction after 10 years but Sasha Clarkson was wrong about Henry Cromwell."
Good catch, Chrissie -- and you're not correcting Sasha so much as making sure people don't use incorrect info. they see here and giving Pepys Diary as the citation.
Keep on posting! The more the merrier.
About Thursday 20 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... how my Lord Sandwich had disappointed him of a ship to bring over his child and goods, ..."
At this time the Downings only have one son:
his eldest son and heir George (c. 1656 – 15 April 1740).
I can understand Sandwich not wanting to have a 4-year-old to entertain and keep safe while he has Princess Mary on board.
If any old ship will do, contact Pepys or Coventry, not Sandwich.
Wikipedia says Downing was Ambassador to the Dutch Republic from 1657–1665 -- we have seen that the position almost involved commuting to The Hague when necessary, so I wonder why the Downings don't leave their goods there? Things were ruined by being shipped at sea.
Yes, bring the child, but leave the beds and linen, etc.
Better still, the Embassy should be furnished -- didn't we hear about The Wardrobe furnishing 2 houses for the Spanish Ambassador recently?
About Frances Downing
San Diego Sarah • Link
Frances Downing (nee Howard)
Born 1625 in Naworth Castle, Brampton, Cumberland, England
ANCESTORS:
Daughter of William Howard and Mary (Eure) Howard
Sister of Charles Howard, Philip Howard, Thomas Howard, Margaret (Howard) Leslie and Catherine (Howard) Lawson
Wife of George Downing Bt — married 1654 (to 1683)
DESCENDANTS:
Mother of George Thomas Downing Bt,
Frances (Downing) Cotton,
Philadelphia (Downing) Pickering,
William Downing,
Lucy (Downing) Worth,
Charles Downing,
Anne (Downing) Pengelly and
Mary (Downing) Barnardiston
Died 10 Jul 1683 at about age 58 in Cambridgeshire, England
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/How…
Frances Howard Downing
sister of Charles Howard 1st earl of Carlisle;
both were descended from Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk - uncle to Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Katherine Howard and also a descendant of King Edward I of England.
Francis and Charles were descended from Thomas Howard's son Henry Howard Earl of Surrey via his son Thomas Howard 4th Duke of Norfolk;
also Francis Howard was cousin to Margaret Howard Cotton of baronet Cotton of Connington, Huntingtonshire, England
https://www.findagrave.com/memori…
[George] "Downing’s ancestors can be traced in Suffolk back to the opening years of Elizabeth’s reign, and one of the family sat for Orford in 1586. His grandfather was master of Ipswich grammar school, but his father, a Puritan lawyer who practised chiefly in the court of wards, emigrated to New England in 1638.
"Downing, one of the first graduates of Harvard, was educated for the ministry and became preacher to the regiment of John Okey."
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
"He was appointed scoutmaster-general of Cromwell's forces in Scotland in November 1649, and as such received in 1657 an annual salary of £365 ..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir…
Between graduating from Harvards and working for Col. Okey, Downing returned to England and married his Frances on a salary of probably less than £365. She was nobility -- how did he pull that off?
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Diary of Ralph Josselin (Private Collection)
19.9.1660 (Wednesday 19 September 1660) document 70012680
19. This day a stock of plank at the park fell down, which may be a warning, a matter of thankfulness it doing no hurt and my children being wont in the summer to play and work under them.
@@@
An example of the Old Testament, Presbyterian way of thinking by Rev. Ralph: I wonder what sort of warning he thought might that be.
Just 15 years before, if the planks had hurt someone, Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins might have hanged some witches for causing the collapse.
Earls Colne is only 22 miles away from Chelmsford, where they executed 15 of the Essex witches in 1645, so the people in Earls Colne would have know all about it -- and may well have attended.
https://www.historic-uk.com/Histo…
https://www.oxfordcastleandprison….
About Wednesday 19 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
This is the mourning party Pepys for which has spent about 40/.s on new clothes?
You think Peter Llewellyn noticed or was impressed? No, nor do I.
At the very least I thought they were off to ogle the Royals at Westminster Abbey. What a let down!
About Col. John Birch
San Diego Sarah • Link
Col. John Birch (September 7, 1615 – May 10, 1691) was a soldier in the English civil wars and later a Member of Parliament for Leominster and Weobley, Herefordshire.
Birch played a significant role in the battle of Cropredy Bridge, Oxfordshire on June 29, 1644.
On December 18, 1645, Parliamentarians under the command of Col. John Birch and Col. Morgan captured the City of Hereford.
In 1646 Col. John Birch besieged and captured Goodrich Castle from the Royalist Sir Henry Lingen.
Birch is buried in a monumental tomb in Weobley Church.
https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/e…
@@@
Biography of John Birch -- headline from the defunct BCW Project
Sep 23, 2006 — John Birch, 1615-91. Presbyterian army officer famous for capturing Hereford in a daring midwinter attack in 1645.
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Cropredy Bridge, battle of, 1644.
While waiting for news of Prince Rupert's attempt to relieve York, King Charles' southern army clashed with Sir William Waller at Cropredy Bridge, on the River Cherwell near Banbury, on 29 June.
Waller, seeing the royalist army strung out on the march, hoped to punch a hole between van and rear by taking Cropredy Bridge.
In turn, he found himself facing a battle on 2 fronts, when the royalist van turned, and he was fortunate to extricate himself with the loss of some light guns.
Although little more than a cavalry skirmish, Cropredy sustained royalist morale until the news from Marston Moor came through.
https://www.encyclopedia.com/hist…
Aftermath: The Battle of Cropredy Bridge cost Sir William Waller around 700 killed, wounded, captured, and deserted. Royalist casualties were minimal. The defeat effectively immobilized Waller's army as it was beset with desertions and it ceased to be an immediate threat to Oxford.
What Col. John Birch did on the losing side is not recorded.
About Col. John Birch
San Diego Sarah • Link
I'm not good at using the Wayback Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20230…
But no, the Biographies have not been captured. How very, very sad.
I do hope someone can rescue this valuable resource.
About Col. John Birch
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 3
On the fall of Clarendon, Col. Birch resumed full-scale political activity, and from the 1667 session served on most of the important committees.
He ridiculed the charges against Clarendon and acted as teller for the unsuccessful motion to refer them to a committee. ‘I did not believe one word of that which Clarendon was accused of’, he later said.
Col. Birch was active with a bill against highwaymen and a petition from the silk throwers.
The new treasury commissioners, perhaps at Sir George Downing's suggestion, began to employ Birch as a trouble-shooter over accounts quite unconnected with the excise, such as the Surrey hearth-tax, the London wine duties and the Herefordshire aid.
He was appointed a member of the council of trade, and was most active in the supply debates of 1668, chairing several sub-committees.
He was teller for the motion on 30 Mar. to proceed with supply every day.
Over the inquiry into the mismanagement of the war, Pepys began by grumbling at him as ‘the high man that do examine and trouble everybody with his questions’, but later noted that ‘Birch like a particular friend do take it upon him to defend us’.
Col. Birch was teller against putting the motion for declaring as a miscarriage the delay in ordering Prince Rupert to rejoin the main fleet in 1666.
He told the House that £600,000 over and above the customs receipts had been spent on the navy in the first 4 years of the reign.
Nevertheless he moved for investigations into the mis-spending of revenue and the failure to defend the Medway, which he called the 2 great miscarriages of the war.
Confident of Charles II's dislike of the conventicles bill, he urged that ‘it would prove for the advantage of trade and the interest of religion to comprehend some that were now dissenters’.
The fewer the dissenters, the stronger the church would be, he pointed out rather disingenuously, as in private he was assuring Pepys that episcopacy was doomed and leases of bishops’ lands the best investment going.
On carrying several supply bills to the Lords on 4 May, Col. Birch was maliciously given the additional instruction to remind their lordships of the conventicles bill, which he carried out exactly.
In the supply debate in 1669, he defended the Government with his usual bluntness: ‘The great mismanagement has been in this House; unless some course be taken here that moneys be not at 10 per cent we shall never be safe’.
And so it goes on. I can see why Pepys found him exasperating for 30 years -- bureaucrats who do not understand the accounts they are auditing, and therefore ask deceptively simple questions which confound the "experts" are dangerous, and he did that until he died, still an MP, in 10 May, 1691.
See https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Col. John Birch
San Diego Sarah • Link
PART 2
By the general election of 1661, Col. Birch had lost his stewardship and with it his interest at Leominster; and his ownership of church lands was threatened by the bishop of Hereford. He had not completed buying Garnstone from Roger Vaughan, which was to give him an impressive interest at Weobley.
He won a seat at Penryn, Cornwall, although the Duke of York supported another candidate, Sir William Killigrew.
In the Cavalier Parliament, Col. John Birch MP was on 538 committees and gave around 400 recorded speeches.
He was appointed to one political committee during Clarendon’s administration, that for the execution of those under attainder. Nevertheless Clarendon thought it wise to conciliate him by asking Bishop Croft to renew his leases of church lands without an entry fine, which could have been as much as £2,000.
He was given a life patent as sole auditor of excise at a salary of £500 p.a.
Col. Birch’s work as disbandment commissioner was not over; he reported to the House on 11 July and was made chairman of the navy committee.
After the Christmas recess he was teller on a successful general excise bill on beer and ale, and unsuccessfully on the motion for committing a bill to restrain abuses in its collection.
He was also active in measures to forbid the wearing of gold and silver lace and to encourage the production of flax and hemp, for which he chaired 3 bills in this Parliament.
He was a manager of a conference on repairing and cleaning London and Westminster roads.
On 3 May he reported to the House on customs duties.
On 30 June 1663 he acted as teller for an unsuccessful proviso to the conventicles bill in favour of occasional conformists.
In 1664 Col. Birch opposed giving new powers to the ecclesiastical courts.
But his name appears on the list of court dependents.
In 1666 he regularly attended Anglican services.
In 1667 Col. Birch was teller (with old enemy Massey) for the motion to recommit the bill against cattle imports.
He again clashed with Knight over excise, and his report from committee on 2 Nov. failed to satisfy the House.
Andrew Marvell accused ‘Black Birch’ of nourishing an incestuous passion for his own "offspring", excise.
A few weeks later in the debate on the poll-tax it was moved that whoever kept a nonconformist minister in his house should pay an additional £5 -- which was understood by John Milward to be a jocular hit at Birch.
He was one of the managers of the conference on the Canary patent.
But his proposal for comprehensive redevelopment of the devastated areas of the City of London found little support.
About Col. John Birch
San Diego Sarah • Link
Col. John Birch MP's Parliamentary bio is llong. I'm only pulling highlights to 1670:
Birch’s father, who claimed descent from a minor gentry family of Lancashire, bought Ardwick Manor, Manchester, in 1636 and became a Presbyterian elder and county committeeman after the Civil Wars.
Col. John Birch (1615 - 1691) liked to boast of humble origins, but by 1642 was trading on his own account as a wine merchant from Bristol to Shrewsbury.
After a brilliant military campaign against the Herefordshire Cavaliers, he invested in church lands, and was appointed high steward of Leominster, Herefordshire, by Parliament in 1648.
Imprisoned as a Presbyterian at Pride’s Purge, he met with Charles II before the 2nd battle of Worcester, and was under constant suspicion during the Interregnum.
He estimated he was imprisoned 21 times, but was not an active Royalist.
Gen. George Monck entrusted Col. Birch with John Lambert’s old regiment of foot in 1660;
but when he returned with the secluded Members and sat on the Council of State, he was suspected of wanting the restoration of Richard Cromwell. (I.E. he was with Monck and the Montagus.)
Edward Massey called him a vile man, but Edward Harley thought he could be brought if Charles II confirmed his church lands.
Whatever his views, Col. John Birch MP was safe in his Leominster seat, although Massey engaged all his friends against him.
In the Convention Parliament, Col. Birch was appointed to 42 committees, made 20 speeches, and 16 reports.
He served on the important committees including the indemnity bill, and acted as chair of those for army commissioners and disbandment.
... During the debates on religion he asserted that the liturgy was not established by law, and spoke in favour of the Covenant.
He seconded the motion for a reward to Sir George Booth.
On 2 Aug. 1660 he was ordered to draw up a statement of the debts of the army and navy.
Inexperienced Samuel Pepys found his ‘scrupulous inquiries’ about the navy accounts ‘very impertinent and troublesome’; ‘a mighty busy man’, he confided to his diary, ‘and one that is the most indefatigable and forward to make himself work’.
On 8 Aug. 1660, Col. Birch MP was appointed chair of the grand committee on excise.
Monck’s asked him to defend his old colonel, Sir Arthur Hesilrige MP, in the debate on the pardon bill.
During Sept. 1660, he was made a commissioner, and acted as chair of the disbandment bill committee.
In the second session Col. Birch MP's time was devoted to finance.
He took no part in the debates on modified episcopacy.
Two of his numerous reports to the House were interrupted by John Knight MP and Edward King MP, who claimed the excise committee didn't knew about his estimated £673,000 deficit nor of his proposed excise on all foreign commodities.
Birch was also in the chair for stating the public debt.
About Tuesday 18 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Robert Waith -- L&M Companion: "Appointed Paymaster to the Navy Treasurer [CARTERET] 1660, and possibly the 'Wayte' who was a royalist financial agent in Brussels in 1659. As paymaster he was distrusted ..."
I wonder why Sir George wasn't standing by his colleagues today, but delegated a Parliamentary Committee hearing to someone who was a Royalist financial agent in Brussels last year. At least Sir George could speak with authority about what makes a ship "ship-shape and Bristol fashion" and probable costs of such work.
Of course, Penn and Batten can do that as well.
About Monday 17 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thanks Stephane. Fascinating stuff when you get it all together like that.
About Monday 17 September 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
The more I read about Amb. Claude Lamoral, 3rd Prince of Ligne, I suspect this reception was another reason James, Duke of York wanted to be out of town at this time. Thank you, Princess Mary, for giving him a decent excuse.
Of course, manners and protocol would dictate everybody's actions that day, so no observor would know of any discomfort felt by anyone.