At some point in April, 1660, Elizabeth Bourchier Cromwell (AKA Protectoress Joan) left London. She was soon accused of stealing jewels and other possessions belonging to the crown, charges she vigorously denied. Her whereabouts during this time was not known; rumor had it she was in Switzerland, however, her letter to Charles II denying the thefts appeared to have been written from Wales. She denied having taken part in Oliver’s regime and promised her obedience as Charles’ subject.
Apparently Charles believed her, even when some hidden Royal artwork was found which had been taken when she left.
Elizabeth Bourchier Cromwell was later allowed to take up residence with her widowed son-in-law John Claypole at Northborough Manor, Northamptonshire, where she lived quietly until she (supposedly) died in November, 1665.
But even that is a mystery. Mark Nobel, 18th century antiquarian writer and author of the much criticised "Memoires of the Protectoral House of Cromwell" suggests the date in the parish registers might have been a ruse to draw attention away from Elizabeth, who was still worried about possible attacks of revenge. John Heneage Jesse, writing 60 years later in "The Memoirs of the Court of England, from the Revolution in 1688 to the death of George II" adds credence to this by stating that Elizabeth Cromwell died on October 8, 1672.
This is a working trip -- and the idea of a weekend off or a 40 hour work week won't be invented for another 350-odd years. No unions here. No workers' rights. No health insurance.
We're the privileged generations, sitting on the shoulders of some very hardy, hard-working peoples.
Sir John Harrington and the Easter debate story with King Charles.
You will recall that Pepys knows a James Harrington from The Rota Club -- he is the cousin of this Sir James Harrington in this story: "In 1641–42 and in 1645 he [Pepys' friend James Harrington] provided financial assistance to Parliament, providing loans and perhaps also collecting money on behalf of Parliament in Lincolnshire. Yet, around the same time, he was acting as 'agent' for Charles Louis, the Prince Elector Palatine, who was nephew of King Charles and whose brother Prince Rupert led the Royalist forces in the English Civil War. Charles Louis and his mother declared their support for Parliament in 1642.
"Harrington's apparent political loyalty to Parliament did not interfere with a strong personal devotion to the King. Following the capture of Charles I, Harrington accompanied a "commission" of MPs appointed to accompany Charles in the move from Newcastle to Holdenby House (Holmby), after he had been relinquished by the Scots, who had captured him. Harrington's cousin Sir James Harrington was one of the Commissioners, which perhaps explains why the future author of "Oceana" was one of those who accompanied the commissioners as servants 'to wait upon' the King on the journey.
Pepys' "Harrington continued as 'gentleman of the bedchamber' to the King once they reached Holdenby House, and we see him acting in that capacity through to the end of the year at both Carisbrooke Castle and Hurst Castle." https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
My guess is that the Sir James Harrington who gave King Charles the Easter answer is the cousin, but I may be wrong.
"... Mr. Moore, giving me an account of the present dispute at London that is like to be at the beginning of the Parliament, about the House of Lords, who do resolve to sit with the Commons, as not thinking themselves dissolved yet. Which, whether it be granted or no, or whether they will sit or no, it will bring a great many inconveniences. ..."
The leader of this Puritan Knot was Gen. Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester. On 18 April we read "That the Lords do meet every day at my Lord of Manchester’s, and resolve to sit the first day of the Parliament" and I wondered where that was. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl… https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
I see no one answered the other half of Judy Bailey's question: "the steady stream of visitors, who I assumed were following along the shore, would end. Or is it likely that all of these visitors were from other ships traveling with them and they were simply moving from ship to ship as visitors?"
My best guess is that the Naseby is anchored somewhere near Dover behind the Goodwin Sands. Couriers arrive at Dover on horseback, gentry by coach, and they get rowed out to visit the Admiral when invited aboard -- to pick up warrents for travel or orders, or to visit on business.
They are not sightseers, guests or hangers-on. No wives.
Montagu's orders are to defend the coast and London from attack, but as Pepys can attest, the Naseby isn't water-tight yet. It's early in the fighting season and the weather is bad, so an attack is unlikely. That was Monck's cover story to justify having someone he trusts monitoring the traffic over the channel from the most popular port -- Dover to Calais is only 20 miles -- and be ready when ready is necessary. Which isn't yet.
England's two largest employers are the government/monarchy/army and the other is the navy/shipbuilding/victualling/dock yards. Monck has his foot on the parliament/army -- Montagu is exercising his foot whereever he can on the Navy, which is starved of cash. Making a fleet seaworthy and manned is essential, or England is a sitting duck for the French, Dutch, Spanish and Barbery Pirates next summer.
Time is of the essence. Getting a new Parliament in place to collect taxes and spend money is job one.
Dudley, 4th baron North KB MP was related to Montagu by marriage. His wife, Anne, was the daughter of Charles Montagu, a younger brother of Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester.
No wonder the gang was so upset at this result.
I'm not so sure about Thomas Willys, whose ancestors had resided in Cambridgeshire since Elizabethan times, but it was not until the succeeding reign of King James I and VI that they had a grant of the crown manor of Fen Ditton, 2 miles from Cambridge. Unlike his brother Richard, who fought with distinction for King Charles and plotted for Charles II, Thomas Willys took no known part in the Civil Wars, and held local office throughout the Interregnum (which may have facilitated his brother's notorious betrayal of the Sealed Knot to the Protectorate Government). In 1659 Thomas became the first of the family to sit in Parliament. An inactive Member of the Convention Parliament, Thomas Willis MP made no recorded speeches and was appointed to only 5 committees, including the committee of elections and privileges, and those to settle the establishment of Dunkirk and to draw up instructions for disbanding the army. Although doubtless in opposition, he was proposed as a knight of the Royal Oak with an income of 1,000/. per annum.
So once again we have someone who apparently did nothing to deserve a reward, being proposed for an honor and pension. Or what did he do that history has not shared with us???
Sir John Boys was governor of Donnington Castle near Newbury through the first Civil War, withstanding sieges and great deprivation.
In August 1648, Sir John Boys (1607-1664) made a fruitless attempt to raise the Siege of Deal Castle.
A resolution was put in the House of Commons, at the same time, to banish Sir John Boys as one of the 7 Royalists who had been in arms against Parliament since 1 January, 1648, which was rejected.
In 1659, Boys was a prisoner in Dover Castle for petitioning for a free Parliament. He was released on 23 February, 1660.
After the Restoration, Boys apparently received the office of Receiver of Customs at Dover from Charles II.
Sir John Boys died at his house at Bonnington, Kent, on 8 October 1664 and was buried in the parish church of Goodnestone-next-Wingham, Kent. The inscription describes his achievements in the wars.
By his first wife, Lucy, Sir John Boys had 5 daughters. He had no children by his second marriage to Lady Elizabeth Fotherby Finch, widow of Sir Nathaniel Finch, Sergeant-at-Law, and daughter of Sir John Fotherby of Barham, Kent.
Edited from Leslie Stephen's 'Dictionary of National Biography' (1885)
Brielle is a historic and fortified seaside town in the Western Netherlands, about 35 km from Rotterdam. It's a town with a long and prominent history. It played a crucial role in the Eighty Years' War, as the Capture of Brielle by the so-called Watergeuzen (or Sea beggars, the Dutch rebels) on 1 April 1572 became the beginning of massive Dutch uprising against Spain.
A major part of the village's historic heritage is situated within the old defensive walls, so navigating your way on foot is easy. With some 400 buildings and structures on the national heritage list, there's no way to escape some cultural sightseeing in this charming little town.
The main star-shaped structure of defensive walls and canals has changed little since their construction in 1713, making Brielle one of the best preserved fortified towns in the Netherlands. The 9 bastions and 5 ravelins were restored in the 1970s and several of the original city gates are still present.
The Grote of Sint-Catharijnekerk. This massive church would have been the largest in Holland of that time, but the structure was never completed. Building started in 1417 but the last bricks were added in 1482, when only the main nave and a 57-m tower was completed. A stained glass window depicts the wedding of William I of Orange and his third wife, which took place here in 1575, after the church was looted and turned into a Protestant church during the Dutch Reformation. It's possible to climb the stairs of the tower, for a nice view over the town
Brielle today is a charming town with one of the highest per capita counts of monuments in the country.
Brielle isn't far from touristic hotspots Rotterdam (known for its modern architecture) and historic Delft. If you'd rather see more of the Dutch seaside, go on island hopping on the Zuid-Hollandse Eilanden and head on to Zierikzee, Middelburg or Vlissingen, maybe stopping on route to see some of the Delta Works.
Isaac Thornton’s pedigree can be traced with certainty only from Elizabethan times.
His eldest brother, Samuel, compounded for his delinquency on the Oxford articles in 1646, but nothing is known of Thornton’s attitude to the Civil Wars, although he was probably a royalist sympathizer.
In 1654 he acquired a ‘capital messuage’ at Snailwell from another brother, Roger, possibly with the help of Edward Benlowes, a minor poet with whom he seems to have been living at the time. By 1658 he had control of the manor.
Thornton contested Cambridgeshire election in 1660 as one of the candidates standing for ‘the restoration of the King and the Church’, and was returned, according to Samuel Pepys, ‘against all expectations’.
He was inactive in the Convention Parliament, in which he was named to only 8 committees, of which the most important were those for appointing army commissioners and for settling the militia.
He probably did not stand again, but he was not overlooked by the Court, receiving a knighthood and a share in the regicides’ lands. [He must have done something to earn them -- not everyone received a cut of the spoils.]
He died on 1 May, 1669, and was buried at Snailwell, the only member of his family to sit in Parliament.
Dr Thomas Wendy, physician to Henry VIII, founded the family fortunes, acquiring Haslingfield in 1541 and sitting for the county in 1555.
This Thomas Wendy, a ship-money sheriff, was in Orleans in 1641; a noted bibliophile, he may have spent the Civil War years abroad. His sympathies were royalist; though he was appointed to two local commissions in 1648, he held no other office until the eve of the Restoration, when he was elected knight of Cambridgeshire as one of the candidates standing for the restoration of King and Church.
A moderately active Member of the Convention Parliament, he was named to 15 committees, including those for the indemnity bill, the drainage of the fens, and the militia and attainder bills.
He was re-elected in 1661, and made a Knight of the Bath for the coronation. [He must have done something for Charles II in exile!?]]
Lord Wharton marked him as a friend in the Cavalier Parliament, in which he was again moderately active. He was appointed to 69 committees, including most of those concerned with poor relief and the repair of highways. In 1663 he was named to the committee on the bill for settling the drainage of the Bedford level, and made a commissioner of complaints. An Anglican, he served on the committees for the conventicles bills in 1664, 1669 and 1670, and for the bill to prevent the growth of Popery in 1671.
Although presumably a court supporter his name does not appear on any list. He died on 17 Nov. 1673, and was buried at Haslingfield, the last of his family.
Turns out the Cambridge election was more elaborate than one might expect. The City of Cambridge, the University of Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire all elect MPs at the same time.
The House of Commons website consistently spell the name of the winner of the election Pepys is reporting on as WENDY. And he won the Cambridgeshire election, so he wasn't up against Montegu in the University election.
NOTE: The House of Commons consistently call the winner Wendy, not WendBy.
Cambridgeshire was a strongly political constituency throughout this period (1660 - 1680), and all but two of the elections are known to have been contested.
In 1660 Sir Dudley North, a Parliamentarian during the Civil Wars, and Sir Thomas Willys, who had held local office throughout the Interregnum, might have been returned unopposed if they would have pledged themselves for an unconditional restoration of Church and King. But when their refusal was announced to the freeholders, they were defeated ‘against all expectations’, by Thomas Wendy and Isaac Thornton, in spite of their ‘greater quality and estate’.
Wendy was re-elected in 1661 and Thornton probably stood down in favour of the Royalist, Thomas Chicheley. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
At the by-election held on Wendy’s death in 1673, the loyalist vote was divided between Sir Thomas Hatton and Sir William Wren, the son of the Laudian bishop of Ely, the country candidate Gerard Russell finishing less than 50 votes behind Hatton.
OH: Cambridge University and Cambridgeshire also elected MPs. Cambridge University proper doesn't have a Encyclopedia page, and nor does CambridgeSHIRE, so I'll post the lot here for you to sort out. @@@
The University of Cambridge was as devoted to Church and King in this period as Oxford university, but somewhat less prone to elect ‘gremials’, although all the successful candidates except George Monck and James Vernon had been educated there.
Monck’s return in 1660 was due solely to the determination of the electorate to reject the unpopular Cromwellian chief justice, Oliver St.John, who had been installed as chancellor of the university in 1651 in place of the 2nd Earl of Manchester.
Manchester’s cousin, Adm. Edward Montagu, learned with pleasure that ‘as a thriving man’ he himself enjoyed considerable support in the university; but the junior seat in the Convention Parliament went to another kinsman, Thomas Crouch, the most genuine ‘gremial’ of the period, whose horizon appears to have been bounded by the university and its interests.
When Monck chose to sit for Devon on 22 May, 1660 there was some alarm lest St.John should stand again, and William Gore, a lawyer who had just resigned his fellowship at Queens’, was said to have collected considerable support. Dr Thomas Sclater, an ejected fellow of Trinity who had represented the university in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, was also mentioned as a possible candidate. But 4 days later the House of Lords ordered Manchester’s restoration. Edward Montagu had already found himself a seat; but another cousin, William Montagu, was nominated for the vacancy and returned apparently unopposed.
Crouch was re-elected in 1661, but William Montagu preferred to stand for Stamford on his own interest. With the influence of the Presbyterian Royalists on the wane, it is probable that Manchester took no part in the election. The new Member was the royalist diplomat Sir Richard Fanshawe, whose wife wrote that the electors "... chose him of their unanimous desire, without my husband’s knowledge, until the vice-chancellor sent him a letter. He had the fortune to be the first chosen and the first returned Member of the Commons House of Parliament in England, after the King came home; and this cost him no more than a letter of thanks and two brace of bucks and 20 broad pieces of silver." https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
On Fanshawe’s death in 1666 the seat was contested by Sir Charles Wheler, sometime fellow of Trinity but now an army officer, and Christopher Wren, nephew of the bishop of Ely, who had recently completed the building of Pembroke College chapel. Although an Oxford man, the architect failed by only 6 votes, an indication of Wheler’s unpopularity.
Although the Duke of Monmouth was chancellor of the university throughout the Popish Plot, ... Lots more at https://www.historyofparliamenton…
The Spring 1660 elections in Cambridge. Remember the Pepys referred to here is ROGER Pepys MP. Sam Pepys tells us more about this than the House of Commons website:
Cambridge was an open constituency from 1660 to 1680. The only borough in the county, it chose its Members exclusively from the local gentry. The influence of the university was probably indirect, ...
It was at this time that manipulation of the freeman roll for electoral purposes began, and control of the corporation, consisting of the mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 common councilmen, became essential.
In April 1660 Sir Dudley North and Sir Thomas Willys, whose lukewarm attitude to the Restoration had led to defeat in the county election, were hastily granted the freedom of Cambridge to qualify them to represent the borough in the Convention.
They did not stand again, and in 1661 Sir William Compton, a much respected Cavalier, was returned "with all the ceremonies as could be, and more, a great deal of joy to him would have been showed but his entreaty with the gentlemen prevented. But he was brought back with all the town music, and [the] mayor with his maces, and all the gownmen in great order."
His colleague, Roger Pepys, the recorder, was clearly no friend to the Court, and in 1662 the Puritan corporation was drastically purged. The mayor, 7 aldermen, and 13 of the common council were removed.
When Compton died in the following year, he was replaced by Alington, his step-son, who was equally loyal to the Court.
At the first general election of 1679 Willys and Pepys stood as country candidates. They were opposed by Alington and Sir Thomas Chicheley, high steward of the borough, who had stepped down from the county seat. https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Great pressure was applied to ensure his return. The mayor went from house to house ‘to awe the electors’, and some freemen were warned that they would lose university custom and would be debarred from the charitable loans administered by the corporation if they voted the wrong way. Open house was kept at various inns owned by freemen, and the mayor was reported to have made ‘all the neighbour gentlemen free of the town’.
Pepys defied the corporation and lost both election and recordership, to which office Alington was appointed.
Pepys and Willys petitioned, alleging abuses at the election, but no report was made before the first Exclusion Parliament was dissolved.
Alington and Chicheley were again returned in August. On the day of the election, the freedom was granted to 7 non-residents, including Sir Levinus Bennet, 2nd Bt., shortly to be returned for the county.
The sitting Members were re-elected in 1681. Neither of these elections was contested.
And I will be posting info about the Cambridge Spring 1660 election under CAMBRIDGE later today.
For information about any election held during the Stuart century, go to https://www.historyofparliamenton… and select the year span you are interested in. 1660 - 1690 covers Charles II and James II
Then select the initial letter of the town/borough/county you are interested in.
"All the morning I was busy to get my window altered, ..."
Maybe Pepys means getting his porthole recaulked or rehung or something less drastic than altered? Since it's leaking so consistently, that would be a good idea.
Comments
Third Reading
About Wednesday 25 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Captain Isham came hither to-day."
Presumably he is still the captain of the Swiftsure. He must have just arrived in the Downs.
About Thursday 26 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
At some point in April, 1660, Elizabeth Bourchier Cromwell (AKA Protectoress Joan) left London. She was soon accused of stealing jewels and other possessions belonging to the crown, charges she vigorously denied. Her whereabouts during this time was not known; rumor had it she was in Switzerland, however, her letter to Charles II denying the thefts appeared to have been written from Wales. She denied having taken part in Oliver’s regime and promised her obedience as Charles’ subject.
Apparently Charles believed her, even when some hidden Royal artwork was found which had been taken when she left.
Elizabeth Bourchier Cromwell was later allowed to take up residence with her widowed son-in-law John Claypole at Northborough Manor, Northamptonshire, where she lived quietly until she (supposedly) died in November, 1665.
But even that is a mystery. Mark Nobel, 18th century antiquarian writer and author of the much criticised "Memoires of the Protectoral House of Cromwell" suggests the date in the parish registers might have been a ruse to draw attention away from Elizabeth, who was still worried about possible attacks of revenge.
John Heneage Jesse, writing 60 years later in "The Memoirs of the Court of England, from the Revolution in 1688 to the death of George II" adds credence to this by stating that Elizabeth Cromwell died on October 8, 1672.
https://www.friendsoflydiardpark.….
About All Hallows Church, Barking
San Diego Sarah • Link
Ignore the above -- posted in the wrong place. Sorry.
(It's always good to check where your annotation is going when you see your preview.)
About Sunday 22 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
My L&M is headed by "22. Sunday. Easterday."
Maybe Pepys isn't quite as Presbyterian as we are led to believe? Maybe he is practicing to become an Anglican?
The 20th is not headed Good Friday, so he wasn't that tapped into the future.
About All Hallows Church, Barking
San Diego Sarah • Link
My L&M is headed by "22. Sunday. Easterday."
Maybe Pepys isn't quite as Presbyterian as we are led to believe? Maybe he is practicing to become an Anglican?
The 20th is not headed Good Friday, so he wasn't that tapped into the future.
About Sunday 22 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Work! work! does make jack a dull boy,"
This is a working trip -- and the idea of a weekend off or a 40 hour work week won't be invented for another 350-odd years. No unions here. No workers' rights. No health insurance.
We're the privileged generations, sitting on the shoulders of some very hardy, hard-working peoples.
About Sunday 22 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sir John Harrington and the Easter debate story with King Charles.
You will recall that Pepys knows a James Harrington from The Rota Club -- he is the cousin of this Sir James Harrington in this story: "In 1641–42 and in 1645 he [Pepys' friend James Harrington] provided financial assistance to Parliament, providing loans and perhaps also collecting money on behalf of Parliament in Lincolnshire. Yet, around the same time, he was acting as 'agent' for Charles Louis, the Prince Elector Palatine, who was nephew of King Charles and whose brother Prince Rupert led the Royalist forces in the English Civil War. Charles Louis and his mother declared their support for Parliament in 1642.
"Harrington's apparent political loyalty to Parliament did not interfere with a strong personal devotion to the King. Following the capture of Charles I, Harrington accompanied a "commission" of MPs appointed to accompany Charles in the move from Newcastle to Holdenby House (Holmby), after he had been relinquished by the Scots, who had captured him. Harrington's cousin Sir James Harrington was one of the Commissioners, which perhaps explains why the future author of "Oceana" was one of those who accompanied the commissioners as servants 'to wait upon' the King on the journey.
Pepys' "Harrington continued as 'gentleman of the bedchamber' to the King once they reached Holdenby House, and we see him acting in that capacity through to the end of the year at both Carisbrooke Castle and Hurst Castle."
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
My guess is that the Sir James Harrington who gave King Charles the Easter answer is the cousin, but I may be wrong.
About Saturday 21 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... Mr. Moore, giving me an account of the present dispute at London that is like to be at the beginning of the Parliament, about the House of Lords, who do resolve to sit with the Commons, as not thinking themselves dissolved yet. Which, whether it be granted or no, or whether they will sit or no, it will bring a great many inconveniences. ..."
The leader of this Puritan Knot was Gen. Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester. On 18 April we read "That the Lords do meet every day at my Lord of Manchester’s, and resolve to sit the first day of the Parliament" and I wondered where that was.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
I see no one answered the other half of Judy Bailey's question: "the steady stream of visitors, who I assumed were following along the shore, would end. Or is it likely that all of these visitors were from other ships traveling with them and they were simply moving from ship to ship as visitors?"
My best guess is that the Naseby is anchored somewhere near Dover behind the Goodwin Sands. Couriers arrive at Dover on horseback, gentry by coach, and they get rowed out to visit the Admiral when invited aboard -- to pick up warrents for travel or orders, or to visit on business.
They are not sightseers, guests or hangers-on. No wives.
Montagu's orders are to defend the coast and London from attack, but as Pepys can attest, the Naseby isn't water-tight yet. It's early in the fighting season and the weather is bad, so an attack is unlikely. That was Monck's cover story to justify having someone he trusts monitoring the traffic over the channel from the most popular port -- Dover to Calais is only 20 miles -- and be ready when ready is necessary. Which isn't yet.
England's two largest employers are the government/monarchy/army and the other is the navy/shipbuilding/victualling/dock yards. Monck has his foot on the parliament/army -- Montagu is exercising his foot whereever he can on the Navy, which is starved of cash. Making a fleet seaworthy and manned is essential, or England is a sitting duck for the French, Dutch, Spanish and Barbery Pirates next summer.
Time is of the essence. Getting a new Parliament in place to collect taxes and spend money is job one.
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Dudley, 4th baron North KB MP was related to Montagu by marriage. His wife, Anne, was the daughter of Charles Montagu, a younger brother of Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester.
No wonder the gang was so upset at this result.
I'm not so sure about Thomas Willys, whose ancestors had resided in Cambridgeshire since Elizabethan times, but it was not until the succeeding reign of King James I and VI that they had a grant of the crown manor of Fen Ditton, 2 miles from Cambridge.
Unlike his brother Richard, who fought with distinction for King Charles and plotted for Charles II, Thomas Willys took no known part in the Civil Wars, and held local office throughout the Interregnum (which may have facilitated his brother's notorious betrayal of the Sealed Knot to the Protectorate Government). In 1659 Thomas became the first of the family to sit in Parliament.
An inactive Member of the Convention Parliament, Thomas Willis MP made no recorded speeches and was appointed to only 5 committees, including the committee of elections and privileges, and those to settle the establishment of Dunkirk and to draw up instructions for disbanding the army. Although doubtless in opposition, he was proposed as a knight of the Royal Oak with an income of 1,000/. per annum.
So once again we have someone who apparently did nothing to deserve a reward, being proposed for an honor and pension. Or what did he do that history has not shared with us???
About Sir John Boys
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sir John Boys was governor of Donnington Castle near Newbury through the first Civil War, withstanding sieges and great deprivation.
In August 1648, Sir John Boys (1607-1664) made a fruitless attempt to raise the Siege of Deal Castle.
A resolution was put in the House of Commons, at the same time, to banish Sir John Boys as one of the 7 Royalists who had been in arms against Parliament since 1 January, 1648, which was rejected.
In 1659, Boys was a prisoner in Dover Castle for petitioning for a free Parliament. He was released on 23 February, 1660.
After the Restoration, Boys apparently received the office of Receiver of Customs at Dover from Charles II.
Sir John Boys died at his house at Bonnington, Kent, on 8 October 1664 and was buried in the parish church of Goodnestone-next-Wingham, Kent. The inscription describes his achievements in the wars.
By his first wife, Lucy, Sir John Boys had 5 daughters.
He had no children by his second marriage to Lady Elizabeth Fotherby Finch, widow of Sir Nathaniel Finch, Sergeant-at-Law, and daughter of Sir John Fotherby of Barham, Kent.
Edited from Leslie Stephen's 'Dictionary of National Biography' (1885)
About Brielle
San Diego Sarah • Link
Brielle is a historic and fortified seaside town in the Western Netherlands, about 35 km from Rotterdam.
It's a town with a long and prominent history.
It played a crucial role in the Eighty Years' War, as the Capture of Brielle by the so-called Watergeuzen (or Sea beggars, the Dutch rebels) on 1 April 1572 became the beginning of massive Dutch uprising against Spain.
A major part of the village's historic heritage is situated within the old defensive walls, so navigating your way on foot is easy. With some 400 buildings and structures on the national heritage list, there's no way to escape some cultural sightseeing in this charming little town.
The main star-shaped structure of defensive walls and canals has changed little since their construction in 1713, making Brielle one of the best preserved fortified towns in the Netherlands. The 9 bastions and 5 ravelins were restored in the 1970s and several of the original city gates are still present.
The Grote of Sint-Catharijnekerk. This massive church would have been the largest in Holland of that time, but the structure was never completed. Building started in 1417 but the last bricks were added in 1482, when only the main nave and a 57-m tower was completed. A stained glass window depicts the wedding of William I of Orange and his third wife, which took place here in 1575, after the church was looted and turned into a Protestant church during the Dutch Reformation. It's possible to climb the stairs of the tower, for a nice view over the town
Brielle today is a charming town with one of the highest per capita counts of monuments in the country.
Brielle isn't far from touristic hotspots Rotterdam (known for its modern architecture) and historic Delft. If you'd rather see more of the Dutch seaside, go on island hopping on the Zuid-Hollandse Eilanden and head on to Zierikzee, Middelburg or Vlissingen, maybe stopping on route to see some of the Delta Works.
If you're more in the mood for nature, consider a visit to the Biesbosch National Park.
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Br…
About Isaac Thornton (MP Cambridgeshire)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Isaac Thornton’s pedigree can be traced with certainty only from Elizabethan times.
His eldest brother, Samuel, compounded for his delinquency on the Oxford articles in 1646, but nothing is known of Thornton’s attitude to the Civil Wars, although he was probably a royalist sympathizer.
In 1654 he acquired a ‘capital messuage’ at Snailwell from another brother, Roger, possibly with the help of Edward Benlowes, a minor poet with whom he seems to have been living at the time.
By 1658 he had control of the manor.
Thornton contested Cambridgeshire election in 1660 as one of the candidates standing for ‘the restoration of the King and the Church’, and was returned, according to Samuel Pepys, ‘against all expectations’.
He was inactive in the Convention Parliament, in which he was named to only 8 committees, of which the most important were those for appointing army commissioners and for settling the militia.
He probably did not stand again, but he was not overlooked by the Court, receiving a knighthood and a share in the regicides’ lands. [He must have done something to earn them -- not everyone received a cut of the spoils.]
He died on 1 May, 1669, and was buried at Snailwell, the only member of
his family to sit in Parliament.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Thomas Wendy (MP Cambridgeshire)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Dr Thomas Wendy, physician to Henry VIII, founded the family fortunes, acquiring Haslingfield in 1541 and sitting for the county in 1555.
This Thomas Wendy, a ship-money sheriff, was in Orleans in 1641; a noted bibliophile, he may have spent the Civil War years abroad. His sympathies were royalist; though he was appointed to two local commissions in 1648, he held no other office until the eve of the Restoration, when he was elected knight of Cambridgeshire as one of the candidates standing for the restoration of King and Church.
A moderately active Member of the Convention Parliament, he was named to 15 committees, including those for the indemnity bill, the drainage of the fens, and the militia and attainder bills.
He was re-elected in 1661, and made a Knight of the Bath for the coronation. [He must have done something for Charles II in exile!?]]
Lord Wharton marked him as a friend in the Cavalier Parliament, in which he was again moderately active.
He was appointed to 69 committees, including most of those concerned with poor relief and the repair of highways.
In 1663 he was named to the committee on the bill for settling the drainage of the Bedford level, and made a commissioner of complaints.
An Anglican, he served on the committees for the conventicles bills in 1664, 1669 and 1670, and for the bill to prevent the growth of Popery in 1671.
Although presumably a court supporter his name does not appear on any list.
He died on 17 Nov. 1673, and was buried at Haslingfield, the last of his family.
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
Turns out the Cambridge election was more elaborate than one might expect. The City of Cambridge, the University of Cambridge, and Cambridgeshire all elect MPs at the same time.
The House of Commons website consistently spell the name of the winner of the election Pepys is reporting on as WENDY. And he won the Cambridgeshire election, so he wasn't up against Montegu in the University election.
For the details for all 3 elections, which includes info about Samuel Pepys' cousin Roger, go to
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
About Cambridge
San Diego Sarah • Link
The CambridgeSHIRE election is the election Pepys posts about on Friday 20 April 1660 at https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
NOTE: The House of Commons consistently call the winner Wendy, not WendBy.
Cambridgeshire was a strongly political constituency throughout this period (1660 - 1680), and all but two of the elections are known to have been contested.
In 1660 Sir Dudley North, a Parliamentarian during the Civil Wars, and Sir Thomas Willys, who had held local office throughout the Interregnum, might have been returned unopposed if they would have pledged themselves for an unconditional restoration of Church and King.
But when their refusal was announced to the freeholders, they were defeated ‘against all expectations’, by Thomas Wendy and Isaac Thornton, in spite of their ‘greater quality and estate’.
Wendy was re-elected in 1661 and Thornton probably stood down in favour of the Royalist, Thomas Chicheley.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
At the by-election held on Wendy’s death in 1673, the loyalist vote was divided between Sir Thomas Hatton and Sir William Wren, the son of the Laudian bishop of Ely, the country candidate Gerard Russell finishing less than 50 votes behind Hatton.
Lots more, all after the Diary at
https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Cambridge
San Diego Sarah • Link
OH: Cambridge University and Cambridgeshire also elected MPs. Cambridge University proper doesn't have a Encyclopedia page, and nor does CambridgeSHIRE, so I'll post the lot here for you to sort out.
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The University of Cambridge was as devoted to Church and King in this period as Oxford university, but somewhat less prone to elect ‘gremials’, although all the successful candidates except George Monck and James Vernon had been educated there.
Monck’s return in 1660 was due solely to the determination of the electorate to reject the unpopular Cromwellian chief justice, Oliver St.John, who had been installed as chancellor of the university in 1651 in place of the 2nd Earl of Manchester.
Manchester’s cousin, Adm. Edward Montagu, learned with pleasure that ‘as a thriving man’ he himself enjoyed considerable support in the university; but the junior seat in the Convention Parliament went to another kinsman, Thomas Crouch, the most genuine ‘gremial’ of the period, whose horizon appears to have been bounded by the university and its interests.
When Monck chose to sit for Devon on 22 May, 1660 there was some alarm lest St.John should stand again, and William Gore, a lawyer who had just resigned his fellowship at Queens’, was said to have collected considerable support.
Dr Thomas Sclater, an ejected fellow of Trinity who had represented the university in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, was also mentioned as a possible candidate.
But 4 days later the House of Lords ordered Manchester’s restoration. Edward Montagu had already found himself a seat; but another cousin, William Montagu, was nominated for the vacancy and returned apparently unopposed.
Crouch was re-elected in 1661, but William Montagu preferred to stand for Stamford on his own interest. With the influence of the Presbyterian Royalists on the wane, it is probable that Manchester took no part in the election.
The new Member was the royalist diplomat Sir Richard Fanshawe, whose wife wrote that the electors "... chose him of their unanimous desire, without my husband’s knowledge, until the vice-chancellor sent him a letter. He had the fortune to be the first chosen and the first returned Member of the Commons House of Parliament in England, after the King came home; and this cost him no more than a letter of thanks and two brace of bucks and 20 broad pieces of silver."
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
On Fanshawe’s death in 1666 the seat was contested by Sir Charles Wheler, sometime fellow of Trinity but now an army officer, and Christopher Wren, nephew of the bishop of Ely, who had recently completed the building of Pembroke College chapel. Although an Oxford man, the architect failed by only 6 votes, an indication of Wheler’s unpopularity.
Although the Duke of Monmouth was chancellor of the university throughout the Popish Plot, ...
Lots more at https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Cambridge
San Diego Sarah • Link
The Spring 1660 elections in Cambridge. Remember the Pepys referred to here is ROGER Pepys MP. Sam Pepys tells us more about this than the House of Commons website:
Cambridge was an open constituency from 1660 to 1680. The only borough in the county, it chose its Members exclusively from the local gentry. The influence of the university was probably indirect, ...
It was at this time that manipulation of the freeman roll for electoral purposes began, and control of the corporation, consisting of the mayor, 12 aldermen and 24 common councilmen, became essential.
In April 1660 Sir Dudley North and Sir Thomas Willys, whose lukewarm attitude to the Restoration had led to defeat in the county election, were hastily granted the freedom of Cambridge to qualify them to represent the borough in the Convention.
They did not stand again, and in 1661 Sir William Compton, a much respected Cavalier, was returned "with all the ceremonies as could be, and more, a great deal of joy to him would have been showed but his entreaty with the gentlemen prevented. But he was brought back with all the town music, and [the] mayor with his maces, and all the gownmen in great order."
His colleague, Roger Pepys, the recorder, was clearly no friend to the Court, and in 1662 the Puritan corporation was drastically purged. The mayor, 7 aldermen, and 13 of the common council were removed.
When Compton died in the following year, he was replaced by Alington, his step-son, who was equally loyal to the Court.
At the first general election of 1679 Willys and Pepys stood as country candidates. They were opposed by Alington and Sir Thomas Chicheley, high steward of the borough, who had stepped down from the county seat.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/encycl…
Great pressure was applied to ensure his return. The mayor went from house to house ‘to awe the electors’, and some freemen were warned that they would lose university custom and would be debarred from the charitable loans administered by the corporation if they voted the wrong way. Open house was kept at various inns owned by freemen, and the mayor was reported to have made ‘all the neighbour gentlemen free of the town’.
Pepys defied the corporation and lost both election and recordership, to which office Alington was appointed.
Pepys and Willys petitioned, alleging abuses at the election, but no report was made before the first Exclusion Parliament was dissolved.
Alington and Chicheley were again returned in August.
On the day of the election, the freedom was granted to 7 non-residents, including Sir Levinus Bennet, 2nd Bt., shortly to be returned for the county.
The sitting Members were re-elected in 1681. Neither of these elections was contested.
For more in James II's reign, see https://www.historyofparliamenton…
About Elections
San Diego Sarah • Link
And I will be posting info about the Cambridge Spring 1660 election under CAMBRIDGE later today.
For information about any election held during the Stuart century, go to https://www.historyofparliamenton…
and select the year span you are interested in.
1660 - 1690 covers Charles II and James II
Then select the initial letter of the town/borough/county you are interested in.
About Friday 20 April 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"All the morning I was busy to get my window altered, ..."
Maybe Pepys means getting his porthole recaulked or rehung or something less drastic than altered? Since it's leaking so consistently, that would be a good idea.