Mary Bodfish
19 Feb 2018
Charles I was convinced that Kings ruled by divine right, was an inept politician and ran an expensive Court. He attempted to tax without consulting Parliament, which was not summoned between 1629 and 1640. There were three forces at this time: the King v Parliament, Anglicans v Puritans, and economic factors. Not all Parliamentarians were Puritans, but all Puritans were Parliamentarians. Generally the landed gentry supported the King and townsfolk supported Parliament. Birmingham and the Black Country produced swords and guns, and all went to Parliament. Thomas Parkes, an ironmaster of Smethwick, gave £20 to the cause. Thomas Levison, a Royalist and Roman Catholic, sent his suit of armour to be repaired by Mr Tanner, who refused to return it to him, and was struck by Levison with a stick.
Charles raised his standard on 22 August 1642 at Nottingham Castle, and then moved via Derby and Stafford on his way to Oxford. Charles spent two night with Colonel Levison near Wolverhampton and then moved on to Aston Hall to stay with Sir Thomas Holte. The Birmingham men captured the Royal baggage train and took it to Warwick Castle, held by Parliamentarians.
Prince Rupert, the King’s nephew aged 23, was appointed General of Horse. He was to meet the King at Solihull in early 1642 but on the way there had a skirmish at Kings Norton. The Parliamentarians said afterwards that they had killed 50 Royalists but this was propaganda and no burials were recorded in the parish registers. It is thought that the King passed through Solihull on the way to stay with Lord Leigh. On 23 October the Battler of Edgehill was fought with no winner, and the King continued towards London. Queen Henriette Maria, a Roman Catholic, had asked the ladies at Court to donate their jewellery to the cause, and she left England with it to raise cash in the Netherlands. She returned to Bridlington and stayed in York during the winter before moving south in spring 1643. She had 3,000 mercenary artillery men and 30 companies of horse.
Meanwhile Col. Levison had moved to garrison Dudley Castle from Wolverhampton. Sir William Brereton then took the town for Parliament; Lichfield already had a Puritan garrison. On 2 April 1643 Prince Rupert moved up the Stratford Road but was barred entry to Birmingham by a barricade at Deritend. This was outflanked by Lord Denby who pursued the Parliamentarians to Kemp’s Hill (now Cape Hill, Smethwick), where they stood their ground. In the ensuing skirmish Lord D00enby was killed, but his son was a Parliamentary horseman. Prince Rupert’s troops entered Birmingham to drink, rape and pillage; a third pf the town was destroyed by fire. Afterwards the King rebuked the Prince, who went on to take Lichfield.
The Queen proceeded through Burton-on-Trent and Walsall (Rushall Hall). To avoid Birmingham she then went via Smethwick and Harborne to Kings Norton, a royal manor, where she stayed one night in Bailiff’s House, now The Saracen’s Head. The Puritan Vicar was ‘roughed up’ by her troops, who stripped the lead from, the church roof. She then went to Stratford to met up with Prince Rupert.
Col. John Fox established Parliament’s Company of Horse. He took Edgbaston in October 1643 and his men then stripped the lead for ammunition from the church roof. After Sir Thomas Holte had asked for Royalist troops to protect Aston Hall, Fox advanced to arrive on Christmas Day. Over the following days the Hall was sacked and the church attacked; the Holte estates were confiscated. In May 1644 Col. Fox and 2nd Lord Denby besieged Dudley Castle, but after three weeks were repulsed by Royalists.
The marauding troops of both sides were causing much damage to buildings, and eating the produce from the fields. Farm lands were neglected and both sides demanded taxers. Robert Wilmot of Smethwick was responsible for Parliament’s Staffordshire money, and his accounts survive. At one point he had collected £54-1-4d but on counting it found he had only £22-11-0d. His integrity was believed and he was pardoned. On 14 June 1645 Sir Thomas Fairfax beat Prince Rupert at the Battle of Naseby, which marked the beginning of the end for the Royalists.
In 1646 Col. Levison ordered the demolition of St Edmund’s Church in Dudley to protect the castle. Sir William Brereton arrived from Lichfield, but his Shropshire Foot soldiers had not been paid for several weeks and refused to attack the Castle. Sir William went off to Birmingham to get some cash whilst his troops ‘rested’ in the ruined Dudley Priory. In the Castle Dorothy Beaumont, wife of the second-in-command, gave birth; but the baby died. She herself died a few weeks later, and Sir William – now returned – allowed safe passage to St Thomas’s Church at the far end of the town for the burial, though this was not recorded in the parish registers. Today there is a pub named The Grey Lady after Dorothy’s ghost was said to inhabit the ruined castle (it surrendered on 13 May 1646) and move between her grave and that of her baby. In the annual Dudley Pageant there is a coffin race.
As a postscript, Smethwick Old Church was built in 1728 with money from Dorothy Parkes, grand-daughter of Thomas, the ironmaster of Parliamentary swords. The Church Trustees, founded in 1732, still administer his funds. In the discussion after the talk, mention was made of the extreme Puritans meeting in the 1630s in Broughton Castle (near Banbury), headed by Lord Saye & Sele, and Lord Brooke of Warwick. The Greswolds of Solihull were also involved before they went to Connecticut and founded Sayebrook.