We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from Part 1 - 1600–1689
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 May 2017
Civil War and change
At the start of the Civil War, in 1642, Whitby was a Royalist port which served the Royalist general, the Earl of Newcastle, until his departure from Scarborough, and Whitby's capture by Lord Fairfax and Sir William Constable. Of the period between 1641 and 1650, with its brief glimpse of the development of factoring by the masters of colliers, there is little information from the systematic record of community or port. As in so many parishes, the parish register is deficient until the election of a Civil ‘Register’, William Jones, in 1653. The Port Books are once again scrappy, as in most ports at this difficult time.
Town and people
Although there is little local information for the 1640s, Whitby was caught up quite seriously in the events of the Civil War. Sir Hugh Cholmley, the lord of the manor, was governor of Scarborough castle, first for Parliament, then after a meeting with the Queen, for Charles I. His deputy was his younger cousin, Browne Bushell, erstwhile master of John. Cholmley enabled the Earl of Newcastle to escape from Scarborough in 1644, and in 1645 finally yielded up the castle and went into exile, having previously made Bushell master of a King's ship.
Gaskin gives an account, culled largely from John Vicars's Parliamentary Chronicle, of the fall of Whitby. Vicars described Whitby as a haven-port in the farthest part of Yorkshire, with a very strong garrison of the earl of Newcastle, but he also told of the willing surrender of the town. Most important to this study is the presence of forty vessels in the harbour, greater and lesser. Some may have been of the Royalist navy, and others from other outports, but they are still indicative of a busy harbour, despite the war.
Lady Cholmley was permitted to live in Abbey House during her husband's exile, although the Cholmleys were not re-united as a family until 1652, when Sir Hugh returned from exile on payment of punitive Royalist compositions or fines.
It is from accounts of these events that some scant evidence of the town's fate during this period may be gleaned, and augmented by similarly scant probate evidence. The plague of the mid-1640s arrived in Whitby.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
