“Everyone hastes out of town, which causes that there is no sale for goods, and merchants pay ill.” – Sir William Turner, London, to M. Pocquelin of Paris, June 29, 1665 -- The Great Plague, Lloyd and Dorothy Moote, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, page 158.
“Ye miserable conditions of St. Giles Cripplegate, which is one of your particulars, is more to be pittied than any parish in or about London, where all have liberty least the sicke and poore should be famished within dores, the parish not being able to relieve their necessityes.” – John Tillison to Dean Sancroft, August 15, 1665 -- The Great Plague, Lloyd and Dorothy Moote, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, pages 131.
“Nor have I yet been wanting in giving notice to the Greate-ones at Court, from post to post-day (long before this as having prospect sufficient of what is befallen us) in a style more zealous and peremptory, than perhaps becomes me; …”
The paper I found on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch PoWs and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, exploring whether or these functions were government, public/private or totally privatized functions. Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing's paper is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
They say that, from Dover and other prisons the directives of Charles II’s Council to receive PoWs went unquestioned, except at Winchester where authorities tried to refuse to take PoWs when the Great Plague was at its height in September 1665.
So ‘the Greate-Ones' were not deaf to Evelyn’s pleas.
At smaller coastal towns, PoWs needed to be moved directly inland, for example from Harwich to Colchester Castle, or from Southwold to Sudbury. Dover Castle and its associated forts, and Landguard Fort in Suffolk formed part of the national coastal defenses and were thus under military jurisdiction.
The most significant reason for the miserable conditions was the desperate lack of money that afflicted the government. The revenue granted by Parliament to Charles II following the Restoration, although sufficient for peacetime purposes, was totally inadequate for a war economy. We are seeing just the beginnings of this now -- worse is to come.
The Plague was an additional disruption during the second war. Evelyn’s diary and correspondence with Pepys and others are full of his desperate attempts to raise money to feed, clothe and care for PoWs, when the condition of the English sick and wounded in the commissioners’ care was no less critical, and English unpaid seamen were starving to death in the streets.
It was not until the wars at the end of the 18th century that purpose-built state accommodation for PoWs began to be constructed.
“… having since I saw you contracted with my Lord Culpeper (fourty miles from this place,) for Leeds-Castle, where I am repairing, and fitting things for their safty, …”
I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch PoWs and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, exploring whether or these functions were government, public/private or totally privatized functions. The paper by Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
My take is: Civil prisons, while nominally institutions of the Crown, were run on private-enterprise lines. County gaols, such as Winchester and Colchester Castle, were run by sheriffs, and municipal prisons by the town authorities.
London prisons may have remote landlords (ecclesiastical or other foundations) who leased them to sub-contractors. The Tower and the Marshalsea Prison were under direct Crown control and were used for officers and special prisoners.
Since the Middle Ages the running of a prison had usually been sub-contracted to a gaoler or keeper, who needed it to be a profitable enterprise. For the inmates, the resulting fee-taking regime was often harsh. For everything but the most basic subsistence, money was demanded from prisoners, not only by the gaoler but also by their underlings (turnkeys).
Civil prisons are an example of the hybrid public/private culture. Finding room in them for PoWs was possible because of a drop in civil indictments.
When hundreds of PoWs were taken after a sea-fight in the second war, attention turned to places in London where the captured troops from the last battles of the Civil War had been held. Among these were the artillery ground at Tothill Fields in Westminster, the Mews prison on the site of the old royal stables, and Chelsea College.
In June 1665 the High Sheriff of Kent was summoned by warrant to allow prisoners to be received into the county gaols of Canterbury, Maidstone and Rochester, and to provide other places for them ‘if these be not sufficient’.
This was soon the case and, with Chelsea College also full, Evelyn was charged with finding more accommodation. High Sheriffs were told to help him by providing guards. Evelyn had to search for facilities where the government writ did not automatically run, necessitating negotiation.
His search took him to Lord Culpeper, owner of Leeds Castle, Kent, which he leased. This privately-owned Jacobean country house occupied the site of an earlier castle, but the moat survived, making it secure for PoWs.
Improvised gaols like Chelsea College and Leeds Castle had no prison organization so Evelyn had to appoint marshals to secure the PoWs, and to supply them with straw and basic needs, and sutlers for their provisioning.
from L&M Companion: Capt. George Cocke (1617-76). Baltic merchant and navy contractor, of London and Greenwich; a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (which played an important part in trade to Scandinavia). Cocke's wife was Anna Maria Solomons of Danzig (where he lived in 1656 as an agent of the Eastland Company). He was an influential member of the Eastland Company, dealt extensively in hemp and owned a tannery in Limerick.
"Resolve that it is not convenient for H.M's service that the Great Ships should take the sea this winter; that the Hambro' Fleet be not sent away till we be assured that the Dutch are harbored; and that 15 sail of men of war will be enough to go to Norway, to await the Dutch East-India fleet." %%%%%%%%%%%%%%% "He did discourse to us of the Dutch fleete being abroad, eighty-five of them still, and are now at the Texell, he believes, in expectation of our Eastland ships coming home with masts and hempe, and our loaden Hambrough ships going to Hambrough."
Not convenient for the English fleet to sail -- I'm sure Pepys agreed with that! So only 15 ships are to sail and stop the 85 ship Dutch fleet from capturing the English merchantmen coming from the 'Eastland' with needed masts and hemp. And the merchantmen bound for Hamburg can't sail until it's safe.
L&M Companion -- Capt. George Cocke, 1617-1676. Baltic merchant ... a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (which played an important part in trade to Scandinavia). He was an influential member of the Eastland Company, dealt extensively in hemp ...
The boys are taking care of each other. And it's a hell of a gamble. I see no alternative.
Meanwhile, in France:
Philip VI, King of Spain died on September 17, 1665. Ignoring the fact that his daughter renounced her claim to the Spanish kingdom (which includes some of the rebellious Netherlands) when she married Louis XIV, Louis finds spurious legal reasons to argue that parts of the Spanish Netherlands should devolve to Queen Marie Therese anyways. Which may account for Pepys/Sandwich's worries: "... and seems to believe that the Dutch will call for the protection of the King of France and come under his power, ..."
And Sandwich thinks "and the King some little designs of his owne," -- implying a side deal with his cousin Louis? Or that Charles wants more than his legal share of the prize goods?
So many tangle webs. No wonder Pepys is pocketing as much money as he can, as fast as he can. Anything could happen. Conspiracy theories reign.
I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch prisoners-of-war and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, and the question was whether or not these functions were governmental or privatized functions.
I only wanted to know if Greenwich Palace was officially being used as a prison or hospital. So far as I can tell it was not, so Pepys’ petitioners are ordinary seamen squatting at Greenwich, who are not allowed back on their ships because of fear of the plague.
Plus, as noted above, it was a Quarter Day near enough. Payment was due.
Gerard Winstanley was a founder of the Diggers movement, and prolific pamphleteer. He married the daughter of a London surgeon, who owned some property in Cobham.
Winstanley set himself up in business before the civil war started. He had possibilities of trade with his native Lancashire, which presumably he was relying on. But the civil war disrupted trade links between London and Lancashire and like many other people, Winstanley was ruined in the early 1640s. In 1660 he left London for Cobham where he presumably lived on property belonging to his wife.
The only job Winstanley could get was herding other men's cows as a hired laborer. He was horrified by the poverty he found, and by his own poverty and the powerlessness of the poor in face of eviction by landlords or speculative land purchasers. The law gave no protection once one lost one's holding in the land and became dependent on wage labor, and he had a thing against wage labor.
His pamphlets have inspired commune-ists for 400 years, and confounded Cromwell and Fairfax.
An 18th century etching of a "Lady"'s home in Epping Forest is at the end of these lovely pictures -- all of which make me happy to be living in my own home today:
"... I on shore to my wife, and there to my great trouble find my wife out of order, and she took me downstairs and there alone did tell me her falling out with both her mayds and particularly Mary, and how Mary had to her teeth told her she would tell me of something that should stop her mouth and words of that sense. ..."
Yesterday was Michelmas: if Mary is going to quit, or if Elizabeth is going to fire her, now is the time. Or they basically agree to spending another 3 months together.
Today is Michaelmas ... could this be why the Exchequer men were in church, and somewhat busy? It's a day for paying bills and collecting debts.
There are traditionally four “quarter days” in a year (Lady Day (25 March), Midsummer (24 June), Michaelmas (29 September) and Christmas (25 December)). They are three months apart, on religious festivals, and close to solstices or equinoxes. They were the dates on which servants were hired, rents due or leases begun. It used to be said that harvest had to be completed by Michaelmas, marking the end of the productive season. It was the time at which new servants were hired, land was exchanged, and debts paid.
And shortly Pepys will hear from some desperate seamen who need their back pay. He sounds almost casual about not getting money for his tallys today, but I bet he was in reality very worried.
Ewell village is on the spring line between the chalk of the North Downs and London Clay, and there are springs which form the source of the Hogsmill River. It is now part of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, in the northeast quarter of Surrey, 10 miles from Greater London.
Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement have been found around Ewell on Stane Street, the Roman road from London to Chichester.
Ewell is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as a royal manor, and it remained in the hands of the monarch until granted to Merton Priory in 1158.
In Tudor times, Ewell lost some of its land when Henry VIII had Nonsuch Palace built. Construction started in 1538 and was finished by the Earl of Arundel in 1556 and sold by his son-in-law, Lord Lumley, to Queen Elizabeth in 1592.
Nonsuch Palace declined in favor in the 17th century and was demolished between 1682 and 1688. Much of the surrounding parkland survives as Nonsuch Park.
"29. To Erith to quicken the Sale of the Prizes lying there, by orders, to the Commissioners who lay on board, til they should be disposed of, 5000 pounds being proportiond for my quarters: ..."
On September 25, 1665, Sandwich visited with John Evelyn. From Evelyn's Diary: "25th September, 1665. My Lord Admiral being come from the fleet to Greenwich, I went thence with him to the Cock-pit, to consult with the Duke of Albemarle. I was peremptory that, unless we had ^10,000 immediately, the prisoners would starve, and it was proposed it should be raised out of the East India prizes now taken by Lord Sandwich.
"They being but two of the commission, and so not empowered to determine, sent an express to his Majesty and Council, to know what they should do. …”
Monck and Sandwich knew they couldn't make distribution decisions alone. Presumably the OK came back from Court by return of express – but Evelyn only got half what he asked for.
"I lie there at Mr. Glanvill’s house, there being none there but a mayde servant and a young man; being in some pain, partly from not knowing what to do in this business, having a mind to be at a certainty in my profit, and partly through his having Jacke sicke still, and his blackemore now also fallen sicke."
"... then the thoughts of its being The King’s House altered our resolution, and so put them at his friend’s, Mr. Glanvill’s, and there they are safe."
Like many of Charles II’s ‘Big Ideas’, The King’s House at Greenwich Palace had run into financial difficulties. It was a building site for years. When Pepys visited on 24 August 1665 looking at the proposed Navy Board offices for the duration of the plague, the building was not finished, so it was not a secure place to leave valuable merchandise.
The King’s Head, Greenwich, “the great musique house” -- Sir Thomas Rutherford of Hunthill, 2nd Baron Rutherford and his mistress may have lived there during the plague. Pepys appears to have enjoyed their food. An L&M annotation for 21 August, 1663 notes the Inn may have had an organ. Beginning in 1649 "the Puritans removed organs from places of worship (so that in 1660 there were more in taverns than in churches) and closed the playhouses.”
“That would explain needing local warehouses so they have somewhere secure into which they can off-load the goods.”
-- not that Erith, Kent and Blackwall are in any way “close” or convenient … I hope they had found something better, although the East Indiamen would be able to use the Blackwall wharfs so maybe this is for the other captured ships:
In 1652 the East India Company sold Blackwall Yard, and the shipwright Henry Johnson became the owner of the premises. Johnson extended the yard northwards and eastwards, altering its physical appearance as the demands of the business grew.
It was as an anchorage that spurred Blackwall's development. The moorings were protected by Blackwall Rock, a reef about 300ft long and 150ft wide, which provided shelter for ships anchored offshore. From the 15th century, Blackwall was the place where travelers wishing to avoid the long journey around the Isle of Dogs embarked and disembarked, and it also became a victualling point for outward-bound vessels.
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 29 June 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
“Everyone hastes out of town, which causes that there is no sale for goods, and merchants pay ill.” – Sir William Turner, London, to M. Pocquelin of Paris, June 29, 1665 -- The Great Plague, Lloyd and Dorothy Moote, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, page 158.
About Tuesday 15 August 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
“Ye miserable conditions of St. Giles Cripplegate, which is one of your particulars, is more to be pittied than any parish in or about London, where all have liberty least the sicke and poore should be famished within dores, the parish not being able to relieve their necessityes.” – John Tillison to Dean Sancroft, August 15, 1665 -- The Great Plague, Lloyd and Dorothy Moote, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, pages 131.
About Tuesday 3 October 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
“Nor have I yet been wanting in giving notice to the Greate-ones at Court, from post to post-day (long before this as having prospect sufficient of what is befallen us) in a style more zealous and peremptory, than perhaps becomes me; …”
The paper I found on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch PoWs and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, exploring whether or these functions were government, public/private or totally privatized functions.
Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing's paper is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
They say that, from Dover and other prisons the directives of Charles II’s Council to receive PoWs went unquestioned, except at Winchester where authorities tried to refuse to take PoWs when the Great Plague was at its height in September 1665.
So ‘the Greate-Ones' were not deaf to Evelyn’s pleas.
At smaller coastal towns, PoWs needed to be moved directly inland, for example from Harwich to Colchester Castle, or from Southwold to Sudbury. Dover Castle and its associated forts, and Landguard Fort in Suffolk formed part of the national coastal defenses and were thus under military jurisdiction.
The most significant reason for the miserable conditions was the desperate lack of money that afflicted the government. The revenue granted by Parliament to Charles II following the Restoration, although sufficient for peacetime purposes, was totally inadequate for a war economy. We are seeing just the beginnings of this now -- worse is to come.
The Plague was an additional disruption during the second war. Evelyn’s diary and correspondence with Pepys and others are full of his desperate attempts to raise money to feed, clothe and care for PoWs, when the condition of the English sick and wounded in the commissioners’ care was no less critical, and English unpaid seamen were starving to death in the streets.
It was not until the wars at the end of the 18th century that purpose-built state accommodation for PoWs began to be constructed.
About Tuesday 3 October 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
“… having since I saw you contracted with my Lord Culpeper (fourty miles from this place,) for Leeds-Castle, where I am repairing, and fitting things for their safty, …”
I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch PoWs and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, exploring whether or these functions were government, public/private or totally privatized functions.
The paper by Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
My take is: Civil prisons, while nominally institutions of the Crown, were run on private-enterprise lines. County gaols, such as Winchester and Colchester Castle, were run by sheriffs, and municipal prisons by the town authorities.
London prisons may have remote landlords (ecclesiastical or other foundations) who leased them to sub-contractors. The Tower and the Marshalsea Prison were under direct Crown control and were used for officers and special prisoners.
Since the Middle Ages the running of a prison had usually been sub-contracted to a gaoler or keeper, who needed it to be a profitable enterprise. For the inmates, the resulting fee-taking regime was often harsh. For everything but the most basic subsistence, money was demanded from prisoners, not only by the gaoler but also by their underlings (turnkeys).
Civil prisons are an example of the hybrid public/private culture. Finding room in them for PoWs was possible because of a drop in civil indictments.
When hundreds of PoWs were taken after a sea-fight in the second war, attention turned to places in London where the captured troops from the last battles of the Civil War had been held. Among these were the artillery ground at Tothill Fields in Westminster, the Mews prison on the site of the old royal stables, and Chelsea College.
In June 1665 the High Sheriff of Kent was summoned by warrant to allow prisoners to be received into the county gaols of Canterbury, Maidstone and Rochester, and to provide other places for them ‘if these be not sufficient’.
This was soon the case and, with Chelsea College also full, Evelyn was charged with finding more accommodation. High Sheriffs were told to help him by providing guards. Evelyn had to search for facilities where the government writ did not automatically run, necessitating negotiation.
His search took him to Lord Culpeper, owner of Leeds Castle, Kent, which he leased. This privately-owned Jacobean country house occupied the site of an earlier castle, but the moat survived, making it secure for PoWs.
Improvised gaols like Chelsea College and Leeds Castle had no prison organization so Evelyn had to appoint marshals to secure the PoWs, and to supply them with straw and basic needs, and sutlers for their provisioning.
About Eastland
San Diego Sarah • Link
from L&M Companion:
Capt. George Cocke (1617-76). Baltic merchant and navy contractor, of London and Greenwich; a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (which played an important part in trade to Scandinavia). Cocke's wife was Anna Maria Solomons of Danzig (where he lived in 1656 as an agent of the Eastland Company). He was an influential member of the Eastland Company, dealt extensively in hemp and owned a tannery in Limerick.
About Sunday 1 October 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Resolve that it is not convenient for H.M's service that the Great Ships should take the sea this winter; that the Hambro' Fleet be not sent away till we be assured that the Dutch are harbored; and that 15 sail of men of war will be enough to go to Norway, to await the Dutch East-India fleet."
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"He did discourse to us of the Dutch fleete being abroad, eighty-five of them still, and are now at the Texell, he believes, in expectation of our Eastland ships coming home with masts and hempe, and our loaden Hambrough ships going to Hambrough."
Not convenient for the English fleet to sail -- I'm sure Pepys agreed with that! So only 15 ships are to sail and stop the 85 ship Dutch fleet from capturing the English merchantmen coming from the 'Eastland' with needed masts and hemp. And the merchantmen bound for Hamburg can't sail until it's safe.
L&M Companion -- Capt. George Cocke, 1617-1676. Baltic merchant ... a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (which played an important part in trade to Scandinavia). He was an influential member of the Eastland Company, dealt extensively in hemp ...
The boys are taking care of each other. And it's a hell of a gamble. I see no alternative.
Meanwhile, in France:
Philip VI, King of Spain died on September 17, 1665. Ignoring the fact that his daughter renounced her claim to the Spanish kingdom (which includes some of the rebellious Netherlands) when she married Louis XIV, Louis finds spurious legal reasons to argue that parts of the Spanish Netherlands should devolve to Queen Marie Therese anyways. Which may account for Pepys/Sandwich's worries: "... and seems to believe that the Dutch will call for the protection of the King of France and come under his power, ..."
And Sandwich thinks "and the King some little designs of his owne," -- implying a side deal with his cousin Louis? Or that Charles wants more than his legal share of the prize goods?
So many tangle webs. No wonder Pepys is pocketing as much money as he can, as fast as he can. Anything could happen. Conspiracy theories reign.
About Saturday 30 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
I found a paper on the housing, care and feeding of Dutch prisoners-of-war and the sick in all three Anglo-Dutch Wars, and the question was whether or not these functions were governmental or privatized functions.
The entire paper by Gijs Rommelse and Roger Downing is at https://www.tandfonline.com/eprin…
I only wanted to know if Greenwich Palace was officially being used as a prison or hospital. So far as I can tell it was not, so Pepys’ petitioners are ordinary seamen squatting at Greenwich, who are not allowed back on their ships because of fear of the plague.
Plus, as noted above, it was a Quarter Day near enough. Payment was due.
About Cobham, Surrey
San Diego Sarah • Link
Gerard Winstanley was a founder of the Diggers movement, and prolific pamphleteer. He married the daughter of a London surgeon, who owned some property in Cobham.
Winstanley set himself up in business before the civil war started. He had possibilities of trade with his native Lancashire, which presumably he was relying on. But the civil war disrupted trade links between London and Lancashire and like many other people, Winstanley was ruined in the early 1640s. In 1660 he left London for Cobham where he presumably lived on property belonging to his wife.
The only job Winstanley could get was herding other men's cows as a hired laborer. He was horrified by the poverty he found, and by his own poverty and the powerlessness of the poor in face of eviction by landlords or speculative land purchasers. The law gave no protection once one lost one's holding in the land and became dependent on wage labor, and he had a thing against wage labor.
His pamphlets have inspired commune-ists for 400 years, and confounded Cromwell and Fairfax.
Gerard Winstanley lived until 1676 in Cobham.
For more on his life see http://www.diggers.org/rexroth_di…
About Waltham (Epping) Forest
San Diego Sarah • Link
An 18th century etching of a "Lady"'s home in Epping Forest is at the end of these lovely pictures -- all of which make me happy to be living in my own home today:
http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/…
About Cobham, Surrey
San Diego Sarah • Link
There were hop farms in Cobham ... some delightful etchings from the 18th century remind me how happy I am to live today!
http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/…
About Saturday 30 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... I on shore to my wife, and there to my great trouble find my wife out of order, and she took me downstairs and there alone did tell me her falling out with both her mayds and particularly Mary, and how Mary had to her teeth told her she would tell me of something that should stop her mouth and words of that sense. ..."
Yesterday was Michelmas: if Mary is going to quit, or if Elizabeth is going to fire her, now is the time. Or they basically agree to spending another 3 months together.
About Friday 29 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
Today is Michaelmas ... could this be why the Exchequer men were in church, and somewhat busy? It's a day for paying bills and collecting debts.
There are traditionally four “quarter days” in a year (Lady Day (25 March), Midsummer (24 June), Michaelmas (29 September) and Christmas (25 December)). They are three months apart, on religious festivals, and close to solstices or equinoxes. They were the dates on which servants were hired, rents due or leases begun. It used to be said that harvest had to be completed by Michaelmas, marking the end of the productive season. It was the time at which new servants were hired, land was exchanged, and debts paid.
And shortly Pepys will hear from some desperate seamen who need their back pay. He sounds almost casual about not getting money for his tallys today, but I bet he was in reality very worried.
After all, the fleet must go out again soon ...
About Ewell, Surrey
San Diego Sarah • Link
Ewell village is on the spring line between the chalk of the North Downs and London Clay, and there are springs which form the source of the Hogsmill River. It is now part of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, in the northeast quarter of Surrey, 10 miles from Greater London.
Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement have been found around Ewell on Stane Street, the Roman road from London to Chichester.
Ewell is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as a royal manor, and it remained in the hands of the monarch until granted to Merton Priory in 1158.
In Tudor times, Ewell lost some of its land when Henry VIII had Nonsuch Palace built. Construction started in 1538 and was finished by the Earl of Arundel in 1556 and sold by his son-in-law, Lord Lumley, to Queen Elizabeth in 1592.
Nonsuch Palace declined in favor in the 17th century and was demolished between 1682 and 1688. Much of the surrounding parkland survives as Nonsuch Park.
Gleaned from a history of Ewell, which includes a picture of the current entrance to Nonsuch Park, https://www.exploringsurreyspast.…
About Friday 29 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
"29. To Erith to quicken the Sale of the Prizes lying there, by orders, to the Commissioners who lay on board, til they should be disposed of, 5000 pounds being proportiond for my quarters: ..."
On September 25, 1665, Sandwich visited with John Evelyn. From Evelyn's Diary:
"25th September, 1665. My Lord Admiral being come from the fleet to Greenwich, I went thence with him to the Cock-pit, to consult with the Duke of Albemarle. I was peremptory that, unless we had ^10,000 immediately, the prisoners would starve, and it was proposed it should be raised out of the East India prizes now taken by Lord Sandwich.
"They being but two of the commission, and so not empowered to determine, sent an express to his Majesty and Council, to know what they should do. …”
Monck and Sandwich knew they couldn't make distribution decisions alone. Presumably the OK came back from Court by return of express – but Evelyn only got half what he asked for.
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
About Wednesday 27 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I lie there at Mr. Glanvill’s house, there being none there but a mayde servant and a young man; being in some pain, partly from not knowing what to do in this business, having a mind to be at a certainty in my profit, and partly through his having Jacke sicke still, and his blackemore now also fallen sicke."
Guarding the goods, at risk to his life.
About Wednesday 27 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
"... then the thoughts of its being The King’s House altered our resolution, and so put them at his friend’s, Mr. Glanvill’s, and there they are safe."
Like many of Charles II’s ‘Big Ideas’, The King’s House at Greenwich Palace had run into financial difficulties. It was a building site for years. When Pepys visited on 24 August 1665 looking at the proposed Navy Board offices for the duration of the plague, the building was not finished, so it was not a secure place to leave valuable merchandise.
About Wednesday 27 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
Sir Robert Needham is related to John Evelyn, so Jane Myddleton is a “niece” and hence socializing with Mary Browne Evelyn.
About King's Head (Greenwich)
San Diego Sarah • Link
The King’s Head, Greenwich, “the great musique house” -- Sir Thomas Rutherford of Hunthill, 2nd Baron Rutherford and his mistress may have lived there during the plague. Pepys appears to have enjoyed their food. An L&M annotation for 21 August, 1663 notes the Inn may have had an organ. Beginning in 1649 "the Puritans removed organs from places of worship (so that in 1660 there were more in taverns than in churches) and closed the playhouses.”
About Mrs Clerke's home (Greenwich)
San Diego Sarah • Link
Mrs. Clerke's home in Greenwich, where Will Hewer also stayed for the duration of the plague. Pepys’ room had a fireplace.
About Tuesday 26 September 1665
San Diego Sarah • Link
“That would explain needing local warehouses so they have somewhere secure into which they can off-load the goods.”
-- not that Erith, Kent and Blackwall are in any way “close” or convenient … I hope they had found something better, although the East Indiamen would be able to use the Blackwall wharfs so maybe this is for the other captured ships:
https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/…
Friday 22 September 1665
“… and to Blackwall, there to look after the storehouses in order to the laying of goods out of the East India ships when they shall be unloaden.”
Compiled from https://www.british-history.ac.uk…...
In 1652 the East India Company sold Blackwall Yard, and the shipwright Henry Johnson became the owner of the premises. Johnson extended the yard northwards and eastwards, altering its physical appearance as the demands of the business grew.
It was as an anchorage that spurred Blackwall's development. The moorings were protected by Blackwall Rock, a reef about 300ft long and 150ft wide, which provided shelter for ships anchored offshore. From the 15th century, Blackwall was the place where travelers wishing to avoid the long journey around the Isle of Dogs embarked and disembarked, and it also became a victualling point for outward-bound vessels.