A History of Lancashire

by Henry Fishwick

From a letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of Commons, dated June 27, 1642, and signed by Ralph Ashton, John Moore, and Alexander Rigby, we learn that the High Sheriff had surprised the garrison at Preston and carried away all the powder in the magazine there, and that Lord Strange had taken away thirty barrels of powder and a great quantity of matches from Liverpool, and had also, with many armed forces, “repaired to a towne called Bury, about 20 miles distant from his own house.”[133] These proceedings alarmed the people of Manchester, who at once took up arms, and many volunteers from the surrounding districts were mustered and trained. These volunteers, together with the militia, numbered some 7,000 men, who were said to be well furnished with muskets and pikes, and when Alexander Rigby witnessed these training, they were dismissed with shouts of “For the King and Parliament!”

Whilst these warlike preparations were proceeding, it appears incredible that Lord Strange, with Thomas Tyldesley, of Myerscough, and a small retinue, should have paid a visit to Manchester; yet such was the case, the ostensible reason of this being to attend a banquet (on July 15)[134] in the house of Mr. Alexander Green, who lived in that town.

During the dinner, Captains John Holcroft and Thomas Birch, who were active Parliamentarians, entered the town with an armed force, and beat to arms. Lord Strange, with his small band of followers, turned out, and a riot ensued, in which a man called Richard Perceval, a weaver of Levenshulme, was killed. This is said to have been the first blood shed in Lancashire in these wars, but strictly speaking the great struggle had not yet commenced. After this, the people barricaded the chief approaches to the town with gates and earthworks, holding themselves ready to withstand an invading force. At the same time Lord Strange was busy mustering men in the royal cause on the moors near Bury, Ormskirk and Preston, in consequence of which he was deprived of his Lord–Lieutenancy of Chester and North Wales, and subsequently denounced as a rebel guilty of high treason. Amongst the King’s supporters, none were more zealous than the members of those old Lancashire families who had, on account of their adherence to the Roman Catholic religion, been deprived of the right to bear arms.

Manchester, although it may have had within its boundaries many stanch Royalists, was undoubtedly at this time an important stronghold of the rebels, and it was the first place in Lancashire which Lord Strange received instructions from the King to recover.

Manchester was ready for the attack, the town having been fortified in a rough–and–ready way.[135] On the night of Saturday, September 24, 1642, Lord Strange, accompanied by Lord Rivers, Sir Gilbert Gerrard, Lord Molyneux, Sir John Girlington, and others, with some 4,000 foot, 200 dragoons, and 100 light horse, marched to Manchester; they had also with them six or seven cannon, which were placed so as to rake the centre of Deansgate and on the lower end of the old Salford Bridge. The main body of the Royalists were stationed on the south side of the river, in the grounds of Sir Edward Mosley. On the Sunday, in the middle of sermon, people were called out of church to witness several “hot skirmishes,” which continued to break out during all that day and on the Monday, when the siege really commenced, and continued during the whole week, and for all that time (if we must credit the chronicler) the artillery kept up a continual fire upon the town, yet did “little or no harm,” save “killing one which stood gazing on the top of a stile.” During this siege, Lord Strange’s father died, and he then became Lord Derby. The command of the forces inside Manchester was given to Captain Bradshaw and Captain Radcliffe, who were assisted by Lieutenant–Colonel Rosworm; the inhabitants generally are said to have helped the soldiers, whilst some of the gentlemen were engaged night and day in making bullets. We are also told that the soldiers each day had prayers and singing of psalms at the street ends.

During the siege several attempts were made to force an entrance into the town; the troops in Salford made a vigorous attack on the old bridge, but were repulsed by Lieutenant–Colonel Rosworm, who maintained the post with thirty musketeers; another attack was directed against the head of Market Street Lane, but with no success. On the evening of the 27th Lord Strange sent a message to the townspeople, in which he offered to retire his troops if Manchester would give up its arms, and allow his force to march through the town, and give him £1,000 in money. To this a reply was sent to the effect that they were not conscious of any act committed by them which should “in the least kind divest” them of the “Royal protection, nor of any disobedience of his Majestie’s lawfull commands;” they expressed their wonder that Lord Strange should come to them in this hostile manner to take away their arms; and, being by no means assured of the safety of their persons and goods if they delivered up their arms, they were resolved to retain them in their own custody. This decided refusal to yield resulted in a lessened demand, Lord Strange declaring that he would be satisfied if they gave up a part of their arms; this also was refused, and the siege was renewed.

On the last day of September the Earl of Derby, having received orders to join the King’s army at Shewsbury, raised the siege, and after an exchange of prisoners withdrew his troops. It is impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty how many were slain during this siege, but a Parliamentary authority gives the numbers as being on his side only five or six, whilst the Royalists lost several officers and 200 common soldiers. Certainly one of the slain was Thomas Standish, of Duxbury, a captain of the trained band of Leyland; he was shot by a bullet fired from the church steeple.

This, the first victory on the Parliamentary side, brought forth a declaration of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament, in commendation of the inhabitants of the town of Manchester for their valiant resisting of the Earl of Derby, and at the same time assuring them that payment should be made for all disbursements or losses.

The Commons also ordered that a public thanksgiving to God for the deliverance of Manchester should be observed in all the churches and chapels in Lancashire. The fortifications were now strengthened, and Manchester became the recognised headquarters of the Parliamentary army in this county, and the Earl of Derby, on his return from Warwickshire, took up his position at Warrington, and at the same time garrisoned Wigan. The Manchester people now raised several troops in their immediate neighbourhood, which were occasionally employed to disarm any place which it was thought might be used against them; thus the town of Bury was disarmed, although it belonged to the Earl; and whilst accomplishing this feat, they took the surplice from the church there and put it on the back of one of the soldiers, and “caused him to rid in the cart the arms were caried in, to be matter of sport and laughter to the behoulders.” Probably out of a spirit of revenge, the Manchester people rased to the foundations the house of Sir Edward Mosley, called the Lodge, where the Earl of Derby was quartered during the siege. At the college they established a manufactory of gunpowder.

In December the Earl of Derby called a meeting of some of the leaders on his side, and they resolved to raise £8,700, to be assessed on the several hundreds of the county, and appointed collectors and treasurers for the same, and they also fixed the pay to be given to the forces raised; the rates were: captains of foot, 10s. a day; lieutenants, 4s.; “ancients” (i.e. standard–bearers), 3s. Horse soldiers received rather higher pay, varying from a captain’s 15s. a day to a trooper’s 2s. 6d. per diem, while sergeants were paid 1s. 6d., drummers 1s. 3d., corporals 1s., and common soldiers 9d.