Edmund Ludlow
Edmund Ludlow | |
|---|---|
The Duke of Albemarle (as lord lieutenant) | |
| Member of parliament for Hindon | |
| In office 1659 – (rump parliament abolished) | |
| Member of parliament for Wiltshire | |
| In office 1646–1653 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1617 Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 1692 Vevey, Switzerland |
| Political party | Commonwealthsmen |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Thomas |
| Profession | politician, soldier |
| Military service | |
| Rank | Lieutenant-general of horse (1650-1655...1659-1660) Commander-in chief of the New Model Army in Ireland (1651-1652) Commander-in-chief of all forces in Ireland (1659-1660) |
| Battles/wars | Wars of the Three Kingdoms . First English Civil War . Second English Civil War . Irish Confederate Wars |
Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692) was an
Early life
Ludlow was born in Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, the son of Sir Henry Ludlow of Maiden Bradley and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Phelips of Montacute, Somerset.[1] He matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford in September 1634 and graduated in 1636.[1] He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1638.[1]
English Civil Wars
At the start of the
After a brief imprisonment in Oxford, he was exchanged soon afterwards, and engaged as major of
After serving as
Ludlow opposed negotiations with Charles I, and was one of the chief promoters of
Campaign in Ireland
After Oliver Cromwell returned from Ireland in June 1650, he appointed Ludlow as lieutenant-general of horse and second-in-command to Henry Ireton in Parliament's campaign there. Here he spared neither health nor money in the public service. He landed in Ireland in January 1651 and was involved in the Siege of Limerick (1650–51). After Ireton's death on 26 November 1651, Ludlow held the chief command, and had practically completed the conquest of the island when he resigned his authority to Fleetwood in October 1652.[2] Most of his campaigning in Ireland was against Irish guerrillas or "tories" and much of his operations consisted of hunting small bands and destroying foodstuff and crops. Ludlow is remembered for what he said of the Burren in County Clare during counter-guerilla operations there in 1651–52; "It is a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him."[3]
The Protectorate
Though disapproving of Cromwell's action in dissolving the Rump Parliament in April 1653, Ludlow maintained his employment. However, when Cromwell was declared Lord Protector after the failure of Barebone's Parliament he declined to acknowledge his authority.
According to his Memoirs he believed that Cromwell "had not appeared that he ever approved on any persons farther than he might make them subservient to his own ambitious designs; ...and that the generality of the people that had engaged with us having acted upon no higher principles than those of civil liberty, and that they might be governed by their own consent, it could not be just to treat them in another manner upon any pretenses whatsoever."[4]
On returning to England in October 1655 he was arrested, and on refusing to submit to the government was allowed to retire to Essex.[2] When examined by Cromwell, he was asked: "Pray then,' said he, 'what is it that you would have? May not every man be as good as he will? What can you desire more than you have? It were easy,' said I, 'to tell what we would have.' 'What is that, I pray? said he. 'That which we fought for," said I, 'that the nation might be governed by its own consent."[5]
After Oliver Cromwell's death, Ludlow was returned for Hindon, Wiltshire, in Richard's Parliament of 1659, but opposed the continuance of the Protectorate. He sat in the restored Rump Parliament, and was a member of its Council of State and of the Committee of Safety after its second expulsion, and a commissioner for the nomination of officers in the army.[1]
Opposition to the Restoration
The Wallingford House party, a strong faction in the army, "who had thus possessed themselves of the supreme power, were every day pressed from all parts, and especially from the city of London, to restore the Long Parliament, as the only means to satisfy the people, and to establish an equal and just government amongst us in the way of a Commonwealth...they were compelled at last to admit the debate of the restitution of the Long Parliament amongst other propositions that were under their consideration. They also restored some officers to their commands who had suffered for their affection to the Parliament..."[6] Edmund Ludlow, was still loyal to Henry Vane the Younger and other Long Parliament leaders.
In July 1659, Edmond Ludlow was appointed commander-in-chief by the restored Rump Parliament of all forces in Ireland; and made Lieutenant-General of the Horse. Upon Ludlow's departure from parliament, he pleaded with Sir Arthur Haslerig, Henry Vane the Younger, Mr. Henry Nevil, Mr. Scot, and Major Saloway to not put any unnecessary hardships upon those in the army.
In August 1659, King's party addressed themselves to Col. Lambert through his wife, endeavouring to persuade her to solicit her husband to be the instrument of the King's return, with large land offers of whatsoever terms he would demand. "She acquainted the colonel with their propositions; but he having resolved to play another part, discovered the whole intrigue to Henry Vane the Younger, who having communicated it to Sir. Arthur Haslerig, and knowing there had been some differences between the colonel and Sir. Arthur, he persuaded them to renew their former friendship, with promises on each part to unit their endeavours in the service of Parliament".[7] Ludlow and Lambert were more or less aligned and of the same party. Similar offers were apparently made to Col. Monk by the King's party at about this time.
Returning to England again in October 1659, he endeavoured to support the original republican cause by reconciling the army to the parliament.
Despite Ludlow's efforts of bringing these parties together, he was accused by some members of the Parliament of treason for having conspired with the Wallingford House party, who to these same members of Parliament seemed to be against the restoration of the original republic and only for their own continuance. Many of the generals and officers of the Wallingford House party also considered Ludlow as disloyal to their own cause and rights given his devotion to the "Old Commonwealth way". In the confusion, the Parliament recalled his commission and in December as Ludlow returned hastily to Ireland to suppress a movement in favour of the adverse party in the Long Parliament he found generals of the corresponding and opposing factions in command of all strategic points and himself almost without supporters. He came back to England in January 1660, and was met with an impeachment presented against him by parliament. His own republican faction allies had also been largely forced out of power and could not assist him.[8]
His influence and authority had now disappeared, and all chance of regaining them vanished with General
Exile after the Restoration
Ludlow took his seat in the
After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 opened up the prospect of a return, in 1689 Ludlow came back to England. He was however remembered only as a regicide, and an address from the House of Commons was presented to William III by Sir Edward Seymour requesting the king to issue a proclamation for his arrest. Ludlow escaped again, and returned to Vevey, where he died in 1692.[1]
Reputation and writings
A monument raised to Ludlow's memory by his widow is in the church of St Martin in Vevey. Over the door of the house in which he lived was placed the inscription "omne solum forti patria, quia patris". This is a Christianized version of a line by Ovid meaning "to the brave man every land is a fatherland because God his father made it". Ludlow married Elizabeth, daughter of William Thomas, of Wenvoe, Glamorganshire, but left no children.[1]
During his exile, Ludlow wrote an autobiography entitled A voyce from the watch tower. After his death, his manuscript was obtained by
In 1691–1693 four pamphlets were published in Ludlow's name. Like the Memoirs after them, they were a contribution to the Whig cause. Contemporaries variously attributed them to Slingsby Bethel, John Phillips (Milton's nephew), Thomas Percival, and John Toland.[1]
References
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17161. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource: . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ludlow, Edmund". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 112–113.
- Thomas Dineley", 1681, in the National Library of Ireland. Extracts from his journal, including his account of the Clare section of his journey, were published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, 6 (1867). These appear in an online in "The History and Topography of the County of Clare" by James Frost Part II. History of Thomond Chapter 28 Barony of Burren.
- ^ The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, Lieutenant-General of the Horse in the Army of the Commonwealth of England 1625–1672 Edited with Appendices of Letters and Illustrative Documents by C. A. Firth, M.A., in two volumes. v. II p. 7.
- ^ The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, v. II p. 11.
- ^ The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, v. II p. 74
- ^ The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, v. II p. 111-112
- ^ a b c The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, v. II
- ^ A True Narrative of the late proceedings in Parliament, Councell of State, General Councell of the Army and Committee of Safety
- ^ Answered in two pamphlets by E.D.: 'A true relation of the state of the case between the ever-honorable Parliament and the officers of the army'; and 'The Declaration of the officers of the army, opened, examined and condemned.'
- ^ John Raithby (ed. 1819), Statutes of the Realm: volume 5: 1628–80 (1819), pp. 226–234. Charles II, 1660: An Act of Free and Generall Pardon Indempnity and Oblivion, XXXIV. Persons excepted by Name who were concerned in the Murder of King Charles I, Date accessed: 18 February 2008.
- ISBN 0-14-100694-3, ch. 1–4.
External links
- Ludlow, Edmund (1894). . Vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Ludlow, Edmund (1894). . Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
