The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood (36 page)

ROYALTY

Charles II
(1630–85). King of England, Scotland and Ireland. Eldest son of Charles I, deposed by Parliament and executed outside his Banqueting House in Whitehall on 30 January 1649. Left England in 1646 for exile in France and The Hague in the Netherlands. After the death of Cromwell, the monarchy was restored and he was crowned Charles II on 23 April 1661 in Westminster Abbey. Married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza on 21 May 1662 in two ceremonies in Portsmouth. As she was a Catholic, the first was according to Roman rites and held in secret, but the second was a public Anglican service. She was unable to provide an heir and had to suffer a licentious husband who fathered an acknowledged fourteen illegitimate children, some by the queen's lady of the bedchamber,
Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland.
Charles suffered an apoplectic fit and died four days later, probably from uraemia, at the Palace of Whitehall, having been received into the Catholic Church the previous evening.

James II of England and VII of Scotland
(1633–1701). Second surviving son of Charles I. Created Duke of York January 1644. After the
Restoration, placed in charge of fire-fighting operations during the Great Fire of London in September 1666. Converted to Catholicism in 1668/9 although he still attended Anglican services until 1676. On death of his elder brother
Charles II
, he was crowned king on 23 April 1685. Faced a number of rebellions but in June 1688 the Protestant William, Prince of Orange, was invited to invade England. He landed on 5 November and on 11 December James fled, reputedly throwing the Great Seal of England into the River Thames. He landed in Ireland in 1689 with a small army, assisted by French troops, but was defeated by William III at the Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690. He died of a haemorrhage at the Chateau de Saint-German-en-laye in the Île de France, now in the western suburbs of Paris, on 16 September 1701.

James Scott, First Duke of Monmouth and First Duke of Buccleuch
(1649–85). Illegitimate son of
Charles II
and his mistress Lucy Walter. Fought in Second and Third Dutch wars. Exiled after claims that he was implicated in the Rye House plots. In 1685 led a rebellion to depose his Catholic uncle
James II
but was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor, in Somerset, on 6 July 1685 – the last pitched battle to be fought on English soil. Beheaded for treason by five blows of the headsman's axe on Tower Hill on 15 July 1688.

THE ROYAL COURT

Palmer, Barbara, First Duchess of Cleveland
(1640–1709). Married Roger Palmer, First Earl of Castlemaine but separated in 1662 after the birth of their first son. From 1660, mistress of
Charles II
who acknowledged his responsibility for five children by her, some born while she was lady of the bedchamber to the queen, Catherine of Braganza, after 1662. Converted to Catholicism in 1663. Ambitious, ruthless intriguer at court who was far from averse to meddling in politics. Cousin of
George Villiers
,
Second Duke of Buckingham.
As a result of the 1673 Test Act, which effectively banned Catholics from public office, she lost her position as lady of the bedchamber and Charles dropped her as his favourite mistress, taking Louise de Keroualle as her successor. In 1705 her husband died and she married Major General Robert Fielding, whom she later prosecuted for bigamy.

Villiers, George, Second Duke of Buckingham
(1628–87). Son of First Duke of Buckingham, favourite of James I and Charles I, who was assassinated by stabbing in a Portsmouth tavern in August 1628 when his son was just seven months old. After Restoration, Buckingham was effectively debarred from reaching high office by the lord chancellor and chief minister,
Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon
, who despised him as a schemer and conspirator. Always with ties to the radical nonconformist movement and associating with known rebels, the duke was accused of treasonable intrigues in 1667 and of casting the king's horoscope – predicting the monarch's death had been treason since Tudor times. His arrest was ordered on 26 February, but he evaded capture until surrendering on 27 June and was sent to the Tower. Buckingham was free by 19 July and restored to favour. However, his affair with the Countess of Shrewsbury led to a duel with her husband in January 1668 in which the Earl of Shrewsbury was fatally wounded. The comfortable installation of the widow in his own house caused great public offence. In January 1674 Buckingham was attacked in Parliament. The Lords complained that Buckingham continued his affair with the countess and that their son had been buried in Westminster Abbey under the title of Earl of Coventry. The duke and his mistress were forced to apologise and offer sureties totalling £10,000 not to continue to cohabit. In the Commons, he came under fire as the promoter both of a French alliance and of popery in England and the House petitioned the king to remove Buckingham not only from his presence but from royal employment for ever. Charles promptly agreed. After the accession of
James II
, the old intriguer returned briefly to public life, but because of ill-health and his financial troubles, retired to his small estate at Helmsley, Yorkshire. He lived there quietly for eighteen months and died on 16 April 1687, supposedly from a chill caught while out hunting, at the home of one of his tenants in Kirkbymoorside.

CHARLES II'S GOVERNMENT

Bennet, Henry, First Earl of Arlington
(1618–85). Second son of Sir John Bennet, of Harlington, Middlesex. Fought in Civil War as a Royalist volunteer in a skirmish at Andover, Hampshire in 1644. In exile,
appointed secretary to James, Duke of York, and later served in a diplomatic post in Madrid. Returned to London in April 1661 and appointed keeper of the king's privy purse. Replaced Sir Edward Nicholas as secretary of state in October 1662 and was appointed postmaster general, 1666–77. Created First Earl of Arlington, 14 March 1665. Rival to
George Villiers
,
Second Duke of Buckingham.
Sold his secretaryship to Sir Joseph Williamson for £6,000 in September 1674 and became lord chamberlain of the royal household. He hid his Catholic beliefs during his lifetime, only calling for a priest on his deathbed while stipulating that his conversion should be kept secret until after his death.

Hyde, Edward, First Earl of Clarendon
(1608–74). Appointed chancellor of the Exchequer by Charles I in 1645 and guardian to the Prince of Wales (later
Charles II)
, accompanying him when he fled to the Channel Island of Jersey in 1646. While in exile, appointed lord chancellor in 1658 and negotiated with Presbyterians in England who supported the return of Charles as king. Hyde played a major role in the creation in the ‘Declaration of Breda' in 1660 – the manifesto for the restoration of the monarchy. On the restoration, appointed first lord of the Treasury and continued as lord chancellor, in practice, the chief minister of Charles II's government. His daughter Anne married
James
,
Duke of York.
Created First Earl of Clarendon, 1661. In late 1660s, fell out of royal favour after the disasters of the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665–7. Due to the enmity and machinations of
Buckingham
and Charles's mistress,
Barbara
,
Duchess of Cleveland
, dismissed from office in 1667 and fled to France. Died, Rouen in Upper Normandy, 9 December 1674. His body was later taken to England and buried in a private ceremony in Westminster Abbey.

Osborne, Thomas, First Earl of Danby
(1651–1712). Ally of
Buckingham
in his attacks on
Clarendon
in 1667. Joint treasurer of the navy with Sir Thomas Lyttleton in 1668 and later sole treasurer. Appointed lord treasurer of England in June 1673 and created First Earl of Danby in 1674. Notorious for his detestation of all things Catholic and his opposition to any kind of religious toleration. His political enemy, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, First Earl of Shaftesbury, did not mince his words in his verdict on Danby, calling him an ‘inveterate liar, proud, ambitious, revengeful, false, prodigal and covetous to the highest degree'.
Impeached by Parliament for his corruption and embezzlement in the Treasury, assuming royal powers in matters of peace and war and concealing Titus Oates's ‘Popish Plot' and spent nearly five years in the Tower of London. While there, probably instigated the plot to cause the downfall of his political rival
Buckingham
. In June 1688 one of the Protestant lords who signed the invitation to the Protestant William of Orange to invade England and claim the crown. Created Marquis of Carmarthen, April 1689. Impeached unsuccessfully in 1695 for accepting a bribe of more than £5,000 to procure a new charter for the East India Company. Died at Easton Neston, Northamptonshire on 26 July 1712.

Williamson, Sir Joseph
(1633–1701). Son of an impoverished Anglican clergyman, the vicar of Bridekirk, near Cockermouth, Cumberland. In December 1661 appointed keeper of the king's library at the Palace of Whitehall and the State Paper Office and became secretary of state, together with
Bennet
in 1662. His responsibilities included leading the intelligence-gathering activity of
Charles II's
government, together with interception of the mail at the General Post Office. Appointed clerk to the Privy Council in January 1672 and knighted. Dismissed as secretary of state in 1679 after ordering a search of Catherine of Braganza's official residence at Somerset House in the Strand, London, without the king's permission. Died at Cobham, Kent on 3 October 1701, aged sixty-eight.

THE GOVERNMENT AND JUDICIARY OF IRELAND

Aungier, Francis
, later
First Earl of Longford
(
c.
1632–1700). Grandson of a Master of the Rolls in Ireland. Governor of West Meath and Longford, 1661 and Carrickfergus, 1678–84. Vice-treasurer of Ireland, 1670–78. Master of Ordnance 1679–84. Irish Privy Council 1660–87. MP for Surrey, 1660 and for Arundel, Sussex, 1661. Created viscount 1675 and Earl of Longford 1677.

Barry, Sir James, First Baron Santry
(1603–73). Lord chief justice of the court of King's Bench. Eldest of three sons of Alderman Richard Barry, mayor of Dublin and later MP three times for the city. Appointed recorder of Dublin, sergeant-at-law, second baron of the Exchequer
and in November 1660, lord chief justice. Knighted 1634 and created Baron Santry on 18 February 1661.

Boyle, Sir Roger, First Earl of Orrery
(1621–79). President of the province of Munster from 1660 until the post was abolished in 1672. Governor of Co. Clare, 1661–72. Knighted 1 April 1628. Created Baron Broghill in February 1628 and Earl of Orrery, September 1660. MP for Arundel, Sussex, 1660 and 1661.
Arlington
thought him ‘a deceitful and vain man who loved to appear in business [but] dealt so much underhand that he had not much credit with any side'.
Ormond
found his ‘vanity, ostentation and itch to popularity' very irksome, together with his ‘peevish, malicious jealousy'.

Orrery was manifestly a dangerous opponent and, in alliance with
Buckingham
, he secured
Ormond's
dismissal as lord lieutenant of Ireland in 1669. He died of gout in October 1679 and was buried at Youghal, Co. Cork.

Butler, James, First Duke of Ormond
(1610–88). Eldest son of Thomas Butler, Viscount Thurles, a member of the major Anglo-Norman settler families in Ireland. Fought the Irish Confederation rebels and negotiated a ceasefire in September 1643. Lord lieutenant of Ireland 1644–49; routed by parliamentary forces at Battle of Rathmines, near Dublin, 2 August 1649. Exiled in Europe from 1650 but after the Restoration reappointed lord lieutenant of Ireland in February 1662–9 and again 1677–85. Died at Kingston Lacey, Dorset, aged seventy-seven, leaving debts estimated at between £100,000 and £150,000.

Clarges, Sir Thomas
(? 1618–95). Member of Irish Privy Council from 1663 but predominantly an English parliamentarian. Son of John Clarges, a farrier of Drury Lane, Westminster. Apprenticed to an Oxford apothecary and served in that capacity with the Royalist army during the Civil Wars. MP for Westminster (1660), Southwark (by-election 1666), Christchurch (1679) and University of Oxford (1689). Knighted: 8 May 1660.

Gilbert Burnet, later Bishop of Salisbury, said Clarges was ‘an honest but haughty man who valued himself on his frugality in managing the public money . . . After he was become very rich, he seemed to take care that nobody else should grow as rich as he was.' Clarges died of apoplexy on 4 October 1695, leaving property in four counties and in St James's
and Westminster: Clarges Street in Mayfair is named after him.

Domville, Sir William
(1609–89). Of Leighlinstown, Co. Dublin. Knighted and appointed attorney general for Ireland at the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, a post held until 1686. MP for Dublin City in the Irish House of Commons.

Lane, Sir George
(
c.
1620–1683). Secretary of state for Ireland 1665–78. MP for Roscommon in the Irish House of Commons 1662–6; sworn a member of the Irish Privy Council November 1664. Created Viscount Lanesborough in the Irish peerage 31 July 1676.

Temple, Sir John
(1632–1705). Solicitor general for Ireland from 10 July 1660. Second son of Sir John Temple, Master of the Rolls in Ireland. MP for Carlow in the Irish House of Commons in 1661. Knighted 15 August 1663. Appointed attorney general for Ireland, 1690.

Notes