[THE STORY OF ADMIRAL BENBOW.]
BY JOHN CAMPBELL.
Admiral Benbow was descended from the ancient and honourable family of the Benbows in the county of Salop; a family that suffered for their loyalty to the cause of Charles I.
When the Civil War broke out, the king, relying upon the loyalty of the inhabitants of this county, repaired in person to Shrewsbury, on September 20th, 1642; whereupon the Lords Newport and Littleton, with many of the gentry of the county, came in and offered His Majesty their services; among these were Thomas Benbow and John Benbow, Esquires, both men of estates, and both colonels in the king's service, of whom the latter was the father of our admiral.
After the execution of Charles I. his followers retired into the country and lived as privately as they could. But though their interests were much reduced and their fortunes in a great measure ruined, their spirits remained unbroken, and when the time came they acted as cheerfully for the service of King Charles II. as if they had never suffered in the cause of his father. When, therefore, Charles II. marched from Scotland towards Worcester, the two Benbows, among other gentlemen of the county of Salop, went to attend him; and after fighting bravely in his support were both taken prisoners by the parliamentary forces.
After the battle of Worcester, which was fought September 3rd, 1651, a court martial was appointed to sit at Chester, whereby ten gentlemen, of the first families in England, were sentenced to death for complicity with His Majesty, and five of them were executed. They then proceeded to try Sir Timothy Featherstonhaugh, Colonel Thomas Benbow and the Earl of Derby for being in his service. They were all condemned, and, in order to strike the greater terror in different parts of the county, the Earl of Derby was adjudged to suffer death on October 15th, at Bolton; Sir Timothy to be beheaded on the 17th, at Chester; and Colonel Thomas Benbow to be shot on the 19th, at Shrewsbury; all these sentences were severally put in execution.
As for Colonel John Benbow, he made his escape after a short imprisonment, and lived privately in his own county till after the Restoration, when he was far advanced in years; and yet was so hard pressed for a livelihood that he was glad to accept a small office belonging to the ordnance in the Tower, which brought him an income just sufficient to keep him and his family from starving. He was found in this situation when, a little before the breaking out of the first Dutch war, Charles II. came to the Tower to examine the magazines. The king, whose memory was as quick as his eye, knew him at first sight, and immediately came up and embraced him. "My old friend, Colonel Benbow," said he, "what do you here?" "I have," returned the colonel, "a place of fourscore pounds a year, in which I serve Your Majesty as cheerfully as if it brought me in four thousand." "Alas!" said the king, "is that all that could be found for an old friend at Worcester? Colonel Legge, bring this gentleman to me to-morrow, and I will provide for him and his family as it becomes me." But the poor old colonel did not live to receive, or so much as to claim, the effects of this gracious promise; for his feelings so overcame him, that, sitting down on a bench, he breathed his last before the king was well out of the Tower. Thus both brothers fell martyrs to the royal cause, one in grief, and the other in joy.
John, the subject of this sketch, who was then about fifteen, had been bred to the sea; probably in some lowly capacity, although even in Charles II.'s reign he was owner and commander of a ship called the Benbow frigate, and made as respectable a figure as any man concerned in the trade to the Mediterranean. He was always considered by the merchants as a bold, brave, and active commander; one who took care of his seamen, and was therefore cheerfully obeyed by them, though he maintained strict discipline.