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Bishop Compton and the Revolution of 1688

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

David H. Hosford
David H. Hosford
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, Rutgers University, N. J.
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Extract

Recently the revolution of 1688 has again become a fashionable topic. Renewed research and reinterpretation have provided valuable new insights into the role of William of Orange as well as the larger European setting of the event. The danger exists, however, that the pendulum of historical interpretation will swing too far in discounting the significance of the domestic scene. While much of the glory and simplicity of the traditional Whig approach have evaporated under close scrutiny, the fact still remains that the movement against James n was basically English in origin. In this connexion the need clearly emerges for reexamination and further investigation into the part played by those prominent in promoting the conspiracy. The point is nicely illustrated by the case of Henry Compton, bishop of London, whose importance to the revolutionary cause in the last few months before Torbay has never been fully appreciated.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , July 1972 , pp. 209 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

page 209 note 1 Compton was a younger son of the second earl of Northampton.

page 209 note 2 Carpenter, Edward, The Protestant Bishop, Being the Life of Henry Compton, 1632–1713, Bishop of London, London 1956, 100Google Scholar.

page 210 note 1 Some controversy exists as to whether bishop Compton or bishop Lloyd of St. Asaph was responsible for publication of the petition. Canon Carpenter deals with this point quite convincingly, and suggests that Compton may have acted in concert or consultation with Henry Sidney: Carpenter, op. cit., 117. See also Hart, A. Tindal, William Lloyd, 1627–1717, Bishop, Politician, Author, and Prophet, London 1952, 100Google Scholar. The opposing viewpoint is perhaps best summarised in Carswell, John, The Descent on New York 1969, 139Google Scholar.

page 211 note 1 William never accepted the suggestion that he should bring only a small army, but apparently he gave assurances that at least limited direct assistance would be made available to those involved in the plans for the north even if he were forced to land eke-where. [Earl of Danby's draft of instructions for a messenger to William of Orange, 20 November 1688.] Browning, Andrew, Thomas Osbome, Earl of Danby and Duke of Glasgow 1944, ii. 139Google Scholar. See also Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop Bumet's History of His Own London 1833, iii. 303–5Google Scholar, 335–6. It should be noted, however, that Professor Kenyon's suggestion that William opted for a landing point in the west for political reasons-essentially to maintain his freedom of action-does not seem convincing in light of the evidence available. Furthermore, such a view discounts too heavily the importance to William of his English allies. Kenyon, J. P., The Nobility in the Revolution of 1688, 1963, 12Google Scholar, 16.

page 211 note 2 Burnet, op. cit., iii. 278–9.

page 211 note 3 The memoirs of the duchess of Marlborough also contain a suggestion to this effect: An Account of the Conduct of the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough, London 1742, 17Google Scholar.

page 211 note 4 Burnet, op. cit., iii. 282. Anne's conversations with Clarendon in the autumn reveal that she was totally out of sympathy with her father: The Correspondence of Henry Earl of Clarendon … with the Diary of Lord Clarendonfrom 1687 to 1690, ed. Samuel Weller Singer, London 1828, ii. 189, igi, 194, 199. See also Princess Anne to William of Orange, 18 November, 1688: The Letters and Diplomatic Instructions of Queen Anne, ed. Brown, Beatrice Curtis, London 1935, 43–4Google Scholar.

page 212 note 1 Carpenter, op. cit., 33–4.

page 212 note 2 Printed in Dalrymple, John, Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, London 1771Google Scholar, ii. App., Pt. 1. 228–31.

page 212 note 3 Carpenter, op. cit., 125–6; Browning, op. cit., i. 390.

page 213 note 1 The letter in question was written by George London to Thomas Coke, 18 August. It is printed in HMC 23, Cowper, iii. 179. By kind permission of the Marquess of Lothian, the original was examined among the Cowper MSS. at Melbourne Hall, Packet A. Quite probably the missive dates from the reign of queen Anne despite its suggestive contents. Moreover, Thomas Coke, the recipient, was fourteen years of age in 1688 and safely ensconced with a tuto r in Holland. Receipt from M. Chauvin, Rotterdam, 16 May 1688. Cowper MSS., Packet 98.

page 213 note 2 Newsletter, 29 September 1688: Letters Written during the Tears 1686, 1687, 1688, and Addressed to John Ellis, Esq., ed. Dover, Lord, London 1831, ii. 224Google Scholar; Clarendon's Diary, ed. Singer, ii. 188, 191; The Autobiography of Sir John Bramston, ed. Braybrooke, Lord, London 1845, 317Google Scholar, 320.

page 213 note 3 Dr. Williams's Library, Roger Morrice MS. Q,. ‘The Entring Book, Being an Historical Register of Occurrences from April, Anno 1667, t o April, 1691', ii. 374–5. [Hereinafter cited as Morrice, Entring Book.] Morrice is a particularly full and valuable source of information about the revolution in the north.

page 213 note 4 Earl of Danby to countess of Danby, 2 October 1688: Browning, op. cit., ii. 136–7; Same to earl of Chesterfield, n.d. Letters of Philip, Second Earl of Chesterfield, London 1835, 336–7Google Scholar. Liaison between William and his English friends was not very good toward the end. See Pinkham, Lucile, William III and the Respectable Revolution, Cambridge Mass. 954Google Scholar. 139–40.

page 214 note 1 See the response of the earl of Chesterfield when approached by Danby in September: earl of Chesterfield to earl of Danby, misdated 1689: Letters ofChesterfield, 338–9.

page 214 note 2 Bolingbroke was among those peers who had been prepared to stand bail for the seven bishops. Presumably Compton had had contact with him in that connexion: bishop of London to [archbishop of Canterbury, 12 June 1688]. Gutch, John, Collectanea Curiosa, Oxford 1781, i. 356–7Google Scholar.

page 214 note 3 Kent Archives Office, Sackville MSS., U 269, A 7/13. Accounts of Charles, earl of Dorset, entry for 17 September 1688.

page 214 note 4 Conduct of the Duchess, of Marlborough, 18.

page 214 note 5 Although disrupted by William's descent in the west, the plans and coordinated strategy developed for the rising at Nottingham are indicated in a number of sources. Deposition of Lieutenant John Gorman made before Lord Preston, [18 November 1688]: BM. Add. MS. 41, 805, fols. 232–33; Lord Preston to earl of Middleton, 19 November 1688: HMC 6, 7th Rep., App. I, Sir F. Graham, 349. See also newsletter [? November 1688]: Bodleian, MS. Don. C 39, fol. 11.

page 215 note 1 Rutland sent a thousand pounds to Sir Scrope Howe, his son-in-law, after the rising at Nottingham got under way: Morrice, Entring Book, ii. 374.

page 215 note 2 Colonel J. Cutts to [Dykvelt], undated: HMC 7, 8th Rep., Pt. I, Denbigh, 560a.

page 215 note 3 Delamer was, for instance, among a number of peers and gentry receiving letters from William of Orange in mid-summer, but nothing is known of the contents. Quite possibly these notes represented nothing more than a bit of subtle advance politicking on the part of the prince: Richard Steele, Memoirs of the Life of the Most Noble Thomas, Late Marquess of Wharton, London 1715,21. However, the wording used by Morrice indicates that Delamer had been brought into the scheme before Compton saw him in late September. Reference should also be made to ‘His Lordship's Advice to His Children', dated 20 September 1688: Works of the Right Honourable Henry, Late Lord Delamer and Earl of Warrington, London 1694, 1–35Google Scholar.

page 215 note 4 Earl of Danby to countess of Danby, 2 October 1688; earl of Devonshire to earl of Danby, 1 October 1688: Browning, op. cit., ii. 136–7.

page 215 note 5 Copies and Extracts of Some Letters Written to andfrom the Earl of Danby (now Duke of Leeds) in the Tears 1676, 1677, and 1678, London 1710, vi–viiGoogle Scholar.

page 216 note 1 Morrice, Entring Book, ii. 303.

page 216 note 2 Morrice makes no comment on this point, but such an interpretation fits with the general content of Devonshire's note to the earl of Danby, 1 October 1688: Browning, op. cit., ii. 137. Compton's brother-in-law Cholmley, incidentally, was suspected of supporting William's venture. Earl of Middleton to duke ofNewcastle, 30 October 1688: PRO, SP 44/97, fol. 8.

page 216 note 3 Memoirs of Sir John Reresby, ed. Browning, Andrew, Glasgow 1936, 514–15Google Scholar.

page 216 note 4 Burnet, op. cit., iii. 283–4.

page 217 note 1 Wharton may well have met the bishop in the north at the very end of September, but there is no evidence of subsequent contact. See earl of Danby to countess of Danby, 2 October 1688: Browning, op. cit., ii. 136–7. Possibly Lord Lovelace communicated with Compton and the other conspirators after his trip to Holland in late September: Narcissus Luttrell, Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs, Oxford, 1857, i. 461, 464.Google Scholar

page 217 note 2 Earl of Balcarras, An Account of the Affairs of Scotland Relating to the Revolution in 1688, Edinburgh 1754, 15; Memoirs of Thomas, Earl of Ailesbury, ed. William Edward Buckley, London 1890, i. 179–80.

page 217 note 3 Copies and Extracts of Some Letters Written to andfrom the Earl of Danby, vi-vii.

page 217 note 4 Although Grey de Ruthin was a young man who had yet to establish a political reputation, his close ties and dependence on Viscount Hatton place him on the Tory side of the fence at the outset. See, for instance, Roger Jones to Viscount Hatton, 28 November 1688: BM. Add. MS. 29,563, fol. 342.

page 218 note 1 [Roger Kenyon], ‘A Diary or memory where my Lord Derby has been each day …', HMC 35, Kenyon, 198–202.

page 218 note 2 Ibid., 200. For indications of Derby's dependence upon the duke of Ormond at the time of the revolution see two letters from Derby to Ormond dated 19 December 1688: BM. Add. MS. 33,589, fols. 302–4. See also the note by Lord Dartmouth in Burnet, op. cit., iii. 407.

page 218 note 3 Dr. [Thomas] Smith to Sir William Haward, 16 December 1688: Letters Written Eminent Persons in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, London 1813, i. 51–2Google Scholar; fragment, [16 December 1688]: Afrthur] C[harlett] to Reverend Sir, 16 December 1688: Bodleian, MS. Eng. Hist. C6, fols. 126, 127. Compton actually commanded the troop of gentlemen guarding princess Anne during the march south from Nottingham. ‘The Names of those Gentlemen who listed themselves under the Comand [sic] of the … Bishop of London …': Northamptonshire Record Office, Isham MS. IL 3982.