Nathaniel Rich (soldier)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Nathaniel Rich
St. Mary's Church, Putney, location of the 1647 Putney Debates; Rich was a leading participant
Captain of Deal Castle
In office
1648–1653
Member of Parliament
for Cirencester
In office
February 1648 [a] – March 1660
Personal details
Bornc. 1622
Puritan radical and soldier
Military service
AllegianceParliamentarians
RankColonel
Battles/wars

Colonel Nathaniel Rich (c. 1620–1622 to 1701–1702) was a member of the

Puritan gentlemen who were inspired by the ideals of the English Revolution".[1]

Initially a close associate of

Fifth Monarchists, a radical religious group that opposed Cromwell's appointment as Lord Protector
in 1653.

Although Rich was removed from the army and lost much of his influence as a result, he remained a committed republican and opposed the Stuart Restoration in May 1660. Since he had not participated in the Execution of Charles I, he was pardoned under the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, but arrested in January 1661 during the short-lived uprising led by his fellow Fifth Monarchist, Thomas Venner. Released in 1665, he lived quietly on his estate in Essex until his death sometime between October 1700 and March 1702, one of the few senior officers of the New Model to survive into the 18th century.

Personal details

Nathaniel Rich was born in Felsted, Essex, eldest son of Robert Rich (died c. 1630) and Elizabeth Dutton; the precise birthdate is unknown but was probably sometime between 1620 and 1622.[2][b] A junior member of the powerful and well connected Rich family, he was related to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, commander of the Parliamentarian navy from 1643 to 1649,[3] as well as his younger brother Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, executed by Parliament in March 1649.[4]

In January 1644, he married Elizabeth (c. 1625–1655), daughter of Sir Edmund Hampden and cousin of John Hampden, the Parliamentarian leader killed at the Battle of Chalgrove Field in 1643.[5] They had three children, Nathaniel (before 1648, after 1702), Robert (1648–1699), and a daughter, of whom little is known. In 1663, Lady Elizabeth Kerr became his second wife; they had no children and his will left her a life interest in his lands, which reverted to his son Nathaniel on her death. His younger son Robert married Mary Rich, a distant cousin, and in 1677 inherited the title and estates of his father-in-law, Sir Charles Rich.[1]

Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Oliver Cromwell, whom Rich served with in the Eastern Association and New Model Army; the two were close associates until 1654

His father died when he was young. Further, in 1636, Rich inherited the manor of

Puritan Earl of Warwick.[7] In 1637 he graduated from St Catharine's College, Cambridge, then known for its Puritan teachings,[8] and in August 1639 started training as a lawyer at Gray's Inn in London.[9]

With this background, it was natural for him to support

lieutenant-colonel by the time it took part in the decisive Battle of Marston Moor in July 1644.[1]

In the recriminations that followed the alleged failure to follow up victory at Marston Moor and the botched

MPs for Cirencester, although they did not formally take their seats until February 1649.[1]

Nathaniel Rich (soldier) is located in Kent
Dover
Dover
London
London
Maidstone
Maidstone
Walmer
Walmer
Deal
Deal
Sandown
Sandown
class=notpageimage|
Rich's Kent campaign, 1648

In the power struggle between the army and Parliament that followed victory, Rich was initially viewed as a moderate and discouraged petitioning by the

Grandees", they were denounced by the Agitators as insufficient, leading to the October to November 1647 Putney Debates in which the two sides sought to reach internal agreement. Rich was a prominent participant in these talks and like most of the Grandees opposed Agitator demands for "One man, one vote".[1]

After a series of disturbances in the City of London, in January 1648, Rich's regiment was based in the Royal Mews to guard Parliament and put down a pro-Royalist riot in April, just after the outbreak of the Second English Civil War. On 1 June, he joined the army under Fairfax sent to suppress the rising in Kent and took part in the storming of Maidstone. He was then detached to relieve the port of Dover, before going on to retake Walmer Castle, Deal, and Sandown Castle from the Royalists, a process he completed with great efficiency by the end of August.[1] Following its recapture, he was appointed Governor or Captain of Deal Castle, a position he retained until 1653.[16]

The Interregnum

Attitudes hardened after the Royalist defeat in the Second Civil War and a significant group, including Cromwell, now concluded further negotiations with Charles were pointless and thus he had to be removed. In December 1648,

High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I and refused to sit on it, while he did not take his seat in Parliament until February 1649, after the king's execution in January.[1][e]

Eltham Palace; Rich acquired substantial parts of its park and woodlands between 1651 and 1653

Despite avoiding active participation in Charles' trial and execution, Rich remained loyal to Cromwell, and in December 1650 put down a Royalist rising in

Barebones Parliament" in July 1653, but broke with Cromwell when he dissolved this body in December and became Lord Protector.[1]

Along with several officers from his regiment, Rich was associated with the "Petition of the three colonels", a document widely circulated within the New Model attacking Cromwell's assumption of power, and he was dismissed from the army in 1654.[20] He was arrested and brought before the English Council of State in 1655 for describing The Protectorate as an illegitimate government and justifying the right of individuals to take up arms against it. Released in early 1656, he was among the MPs excluded from the Second Protectorate Parliament in July 1656.[1] It has been suggested he was viewed as a serious threat to the state, given his military connections and the influence of the Rich family in Essex and Suffolk, with several of the MPs who were permitted to take their seats linked to him or his relative, the Earl of Warwick.[21]

Cromwell's death in September 1658 and the succession of his son Richard led to a power struggle between the army and the Third Protectorate Parliament, which was dominated by crypto-Royalists and moderate Presbyterians similar to those excluded in December 1648. In April 1659, a group of senior officers known as the Wallingford House party compelled Richard Cromwell to resign and reinstate the surviving members of the Rump.[22] Among them was Rich, who was re-appointed colonel of his regiment and offered the post of Ambassador to the Dutch Republic, a position he refused.[1] As the political chaos continued into 1660, the military commander in Scotland, General George Monck, marched his troops into England in February and forced Parliament to re-admit those MPs excluded in 1648. Realising Monck intended to restore the monarchy, Rich supported John Lambert's attempt to maintain the Commonwealth by force, but his troops refused to follow him; Sir Richard Ingoldsby was appointed colonel in his stead and he was placed under arrest.[23]

Restoration

Following the May 1660 Stuart Restoration, Rich lost the lands he had acquired in Eltham and High Easter, but was exempted from other legal penalties under the Indemnity and Oblivion Act. Despite this, he was re-arrested on 10 January 1661 during the short-lived rising by his fellow Fifth Monarchist Thomas Venner, and held in Portsmouth. In August 1663, he married Lady Elizabeth Kerr, daughter of the Earl of Ancram and thanks to her lobbying and the support of his custodian, Charles Berkeley, 1st Earl of Falmouth, he was finally set free in 1665. He spent the rest of his life living quietly in Stondon, where he died sometime between drawing up his will in October 1700 and it being proved in March 1702.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ Parliament suspended April 1653, reseated May 1659
  2. Cambridge University
    in 1637, at a time when most did so at the age of 15 to 16
  3. ^ The reason given was his youth, but his support for Cromwell's attack on Manchester and Essex is the more likely explanation [1]
  4. ^ This did not imply support for his execution, for which the numbers at this time were substantially lower.
  5. ^ The official record suggests this was because polling had been disrupted by Royalist sympathisers, but Rich, Fairfax and others may have delayed doing so because in 1647 the Long Parliament re-affirmed the Self-denying Ordinance, and also required all MPs to subscribe to the Presbyterian-backed Solemn League and Covenant.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Gentles 2004.
  2. ^ Roberts 2017.
  3. ^ Kelsey 2004.
  4. ^ Smut 2004.
  5. ^ Russell 2008.
  6. ^ Powell 1956, p. 242.
  7. ^ Webster 1997, p. 33.
  8. ^ Jones 2010, p. 93.
  9. ^ Foster 1889, p. 223.
  10. ^ Graham 2009, p. 889.
  11. ^ Firth 1894, pp. 40–43.
  12. ^ Hamilton 1890, p. 155.
  13. ^ '28 February 1645', Journal of the House of Commons, Vol. 4, 1644-1646 (London, 1802), pp. 64-65. (British History Online accessed 28 May 2016).
  14. ^ Firth 1891, p. xx.
  15. ^ Firth 1891, pp. xli, 148.
  16. ^ Reece 2013, p. 147.
  17. ^ Gentles 1992, p. 148.
  18. ^ Gentles 1992, pp. 420–421.
  19. ^ Gentles 1992, p. 436.
  20. ^ Taft 1978, pp. 36–38.
  21. ^ Farr 2020, pp. 20, 72.
  22. ^ Worden 2010, pp. 82–83.
  23. ^ Farr 2020, p. 227.

Sources

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nathaniel_Rich_(soldier)&oldid=1218013829"