David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark
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| Battles/wars | Thirty Years' War Wars of the Three Kingdoms |
| Relations | Patrick Leslie, 1st Lord Lindores (father) |
David Leslie, 1st Lord Newark (c. 1600 – c. 1682) was a Scottish military officer and peer. During the
Early life
David Leslie was the fifth son of Sir Patrick Leslie, 1st Lord Lindores, and Jean, daughter of Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney.[1]
Thirty Years War
David Leslie was one of the Scots who transferred from Swedish to Russian service under Alexander Leslie of Auchintoul (not to be confused with Leven) in 1632 to participate in the Smolensk War and was mentioned by name in Leslie of Auchintoul's testimonial.[2] David Leslie re-appeared in the Swedish army in 1634 where he served as a colonel and thereafter Field Marshal Johan Banér's adjutant-general with whom he participated in the Battle of Wittstock in 1636.
Return to Scotland
Leslie petitioned to leave Swedish service in August 1640 after being wounded in battle. The Swedish Riksråd (Royal Council) records show that he and Colonel James Lumsden asked to return to Scotland at the same time. The seriousness of Leslie's wounds is questionable and it is likely that they were summoned home to support Alexander Leslie's Army of the Covenant, then participating in the Bishops' Wars against Charles I. Both these officers were rewarded with a severance deal which included 200 muskets and 200 suits of armour each. Leslie also received a valuable gold chain as an indication of his loyal service to the Swedish Crown.[3] The Stuart ambassador in Hamburg, Sir Thomas Roe, informed London of Leslie's departure with Colonel Lumsden and 24 other Scottish officers from that city. They arrived in Scotland after the Bishops' Wars had effectively ended.
Civil War
After the parliaments of Scotland and England agreed the
In 1645 Leslie was sent back to Scotland to deal with the Royalists there during the
Leslie returned to England and was present at the
On his return to Scotland he reduced several of the Highland clans that supported the cause of the king.[1]
In 1647 Leslie besieged
In 1648 he refused to take part in the English expedition of the "engagers", the enterprise not having the sanction of the Kirk.[1]
Leslie then laid siege to the
In 1650, after Montrose had made another attempt at a Royalist uprising, he was captured by Neil Macleod of Assynt. Macleod, who had fought with Montrose at the siege of
Royalist from 1650
By 1650, the Scottish Covenanter government had grown disillusioned with the English Parliament, and instead backed Charles II in the hope that, in return for their support against his English enemies, he would impose their political and religious agenda on Great Britain. Leslie accordingly now found himself fighting for the King. When the Parliamentarian army under Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland in July 1650 Leslie commanded the Scottish forces. By refusing battle, Leslie withstood Cromwell's attempts to attack Edinburgh and when the English were forced to retreat in August 1650 he pursued them down the east coast, eventually trapping 11,000 English soldiers south of Dunbar. Although the Scottish army had twice as many men, divisions within the Committee of Estates and Kirk instructing Leslie gave Cromwell the opportunity to inflict a decisive defeat on the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar on 3 September 1650. Leslie escaped with a tiny remnant of his army which then joined Charles II's Royalist forces in the Stirling area.
Leslie led the Royalist army on another invasion of England in 1651, where he was again defeated by Cromwell, at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651. After his capture he was sent to the Tower of London.
Released from captivity on the
Family
His son
His cousin was
His daughter Mary Leslie married Alexander Kinloch, son of Sir Francis Kinloch, 1st Baronet of Gilmerton.[7]
See also
- Clan Leslie
- Newark Castle, Fife
- Scotland and the Thirty Years' War
- Susanna Montgomery, Countess of EglintonA granddaughter
- John Nevay chaplain
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Chisholm 1911, p. 459.
- ^ Reproduced in the Earl of Stirling's Register of Royal Letters, Vol II, pp.579–580; quoted in D. Fedosov, The Caledonian Connection; Scotland Russia Ties Middle Ages to early Twentieth Century. A concise biographical list (Aberdeen, 1996), p.68
- ^ Alexia Grosjean, An Unofficial Alliance: Scotland and Sweden, 1569–1654 (Leiden, 2003), p.182
- ^ Steve Murdoch and Alexia Grosjean, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War, 1618–1648 (London, 2014), pp.128–134
- ^ National Archives of Scotland, PA7/23/48. 'The Humble Desire of Lieutenant General David Leslie (with sentence noted on the reverse) quoted in Alexia Grosjean and Steve Murdoch, The Scotland, Scandinavia and Northern European Biographical Database, ID Number 2916
- ^ Brown 1904, p. 115.
- ^ Grant's Old and New Edinburgh vol.6 p.343
References
- Brown, Cornelius (1904), History of Newark-on-Trent; being the life story of an ancient town, vol. II, Newark: Whiles
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Newark, David Leslie, Lord", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 19 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 459–460
Further reading
- . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XVII (9th ed.). 1884. p. 371.
- Henderson, Thomas Finlayson (1893). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 33. pp. 86–89.
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