Civil War in Barbados - 1645–1647

Topic: Gullah History
Politics on Barbados during the Civil War in England was driven by attempts of the proprietor, the younger James Hay, to gain control of the island from its trustees and creditors.  These were countered by the planters, who resisted his attempts to raise the money he needed.

In June 1643, the governor, Philip Bell, offered to yield his share of rents collected on the island if the assembly would pay him a salary.  This made him their representative, not Hay’s.  In April of the following year, the trustees agreed to stop demanding past-due taxes and confirm titles, if the Barbados assembly would accept a new rent schedule. [1]

The tides of the war began changing in England in the summer of 1645, when Parliament formed the New Model Army. [2]  Francis Willoughby had raised a regiment in 1643 that was stationed in Lincolnshire, [3] where Richard Ligon had lost his money. [C4]  He was typical of the nobility who found it hard to take orders from others.  Oliver Cromwell complained about the behavior of his men.  As a member of the House of Lords, he opposed the formation of the army and became a leader of the Presbyterians, [5] who were suspected of covertly supporting Charles I. [6]

1645 was the year Brazilians rebelled against the Dutch, and the price of sugar soared. [7]  This also was when John Winthrop and Constant Silvester became active in supplying the island with necessities. [8]

In July, the newly organized army took back Bridgewater.  Humphrey Walrond was one of the men the general, Thomas Fairfax, demanded be ceded.  His property was sequestered, and by October he was in jail. [9]

By July, the planters on Barbados were saying they would not pay rents until Hay came to island and negotiated with them directly. [10]  Charles heard a rumor that Hay was planning an alliance with Robert Rich, commander of Parliament’s navy, and regranted the Caribbean islands to John Ley. [11]  Bell persuaded the Barbados assembly to assert its neutrality. [12]  Ligon was later told “some of them of the better sort” vowed not to use the words “Roundhead or Cavalier” in public. [13]

Ley arrived in Barbados in August to assert his position, then moved on to the Leeward Islands also owned by Hay.  Parliament responded by abandoning Rich’s claim on behalf of the heirs of William Courteen in favor of Hay. [14]

Things remained at an impasse on Barbados.  In England, Fairfax moved towards Exeter in October 1645, but rain stopped his advance. [15]  He settled to the east and blocked the supply of goods to the city from that direction. [16]  George Goring’s royalist troops were pillaging to the west. [17]

Things were looking grim for Charles by the end of the year.  He ordered his son to leave Exeter; he had sent the fifteen-year boy there in September as symbolic commander of his troops. [18]

Fairfax finally prevailed in April 1646, when Exeter surrendered.  Everyone was allowed to leave the garrison and city if they took an oath not to fight again.  In addition, those who actively supported Charles had to send a plea to Parliament.  The usual fine was the value of two years’ income from their properties. [19]

Charles was captured in Nottinghamshire in May, [20] and Parliament was able to address the petitions from men whose property had been seized.  Thomas Modyford filed his appeal in May 1646, and received his fine that August. [21]  In June, Walrond was free and his fine was accessed. [22]

Hay’s problems became more severe in January 1647, when Parliament issued a demand for a loan.  He was too far in debt to contribute.  On the 23rd, he sold his lease to Willoughby.  [23]  In July, Willoughby was elected speaker of the House of Lords in July.  Two months later, the New Model Army arrived in London and arrested him. [24]  When he was released in December, he fled to the Netherlands. [25]

By then, Modyford was in Barbados as an agent for Thomas Kendall.  The latter was born in Cornwall in 1609, [26] and had married Modyford’s sister by 1636 when their oldest son was born. [27]  In 1639, Kendall was elected bailiff in 1939, when his father-in-law’s father-in-law, Robert Walker, was mayor. [28]  In the interim, he had been in Lisbon where he was involved in trade with Brazil. [29]  He apparently spent the war years in London, where he was associated with the London Merchant Adventurers, who sold unfinished cloth to the Netherlands. [30]

Kendall probably saw the profits being made in trade with the Caribbean, but did not quite trust Modyford’s commercial instincts.  He sent Ligon and another partner with him [31] when Modyford set said in June. [32]

End Notes
1.  J. H. Bennett.  “The English Caribbees in the Period of the Civil War, 1642-1646.”  The William and Mary Quarterly 24(3):359–377:July1967.  371.

2.  “New Model Army.”  Wikipedia website.  The ordinance establishing the army was passed on 6 January 1645, but it took time to get units organized.

3.  “Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham.”  Wikipedia website.

4.  The drainage program is mentioned in the post for 7 November 2021.  Ligon’s loss is mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022.

5.  “Francis Willoughby.”  Depredations committed by armies on both sides until the New Model Army. [33]

6.  “New Model Army.”
7.  This is discussed in the post for 17 January 2022.
8.  They are discussed in the post for 27 March 2022.
9.  “Humphrey Walrond.”  Wikipedia website.
10.  Bennett.  372.

11.  Bennett.  373.  Ley was the Earl of Marlborough.  As mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022, Rich also was head of the Commission of Plantations.

12.  Bennett.  373.

13.  Richard Ligon.  A True and Exact History of the Island of Barbadoes.  London: Peter Parker, 1673.  57.

14.  Bennett.  373.

15.  Eugene A. Andriette.  Devon and Exeter in the Civil War.  Newton Abbot, Devon: David and Charles, 1971.  155.  Exeter is shown on the map with the post for 3 April 2022.

16.  Andriette.  131.
17.  Andriette.  136.  Goring is mentioned in the post for 3 April 2022.
18.  Andriette.  134.
19.  Andriette.  166.
20.  “Timeline of the English Civil War.”  Wikipedia website.

21.  Jane Stevenson.  “Richard Ligon and the Theatre of Empire.”  285–309 in Shaping the Stuart World, 1603 - 1714: The Atlantic Connection, edited by Allan I. MacInnes and Arthur H. Williamson.  Leiden: Brill, 2006.  289.

22.  “Francis Willoughby.”

23.  Bennett.  377.  Robert H. Schomburgk says the imprisoned Charles agreed to the transfer. [34]

24.  “Francis Willoughby.”  Schomburgk says Willoughby was “suspected of being connected with the intrigues of the Earl of Suffolk, Lord Hundesden, Lord Maynard, the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Barkley, and the Earl of Middlesex.” [35]

25.  Willoughby escaped to Holland in March 1647. [36]

26.  John. P. Ferris.  “Kendall, Thomas (1609-66), of Chiswick, Mdx.”  In The House of Commons, 1660-1690, edited by Basil Duke Henning.  London: Secker and Warburg for the History of Parliament Trust, 1983.

27.  “Grace Modyford.”  Ancestry website.

28.  Richard Izacke.  Antiquities of the City of Exeter.  London: E. Tyler and R. Holt for Richard Marriot, 1677.  See the post for 3 April 2022 for more on Walker, and the importance of these offices.

29.  Bennett.  81.

30.  “Company of Merchant Adventurers of London.”  Marine Lives website.  They specialized in the “export of English cloth, especially undyed, white, broadcloth.”

31.  Ligon.  22.  “Upon this Plantation I lived with these two partners a while, but with Colonel Modyford three years: for the other went for England, and left Colonel Modyford to manage the employment alone: and I to give what assistance I could for the benefit of both: which I did partly at their requests and partly at the instance of Mr. Thomas Kendall who reposed much confidence in me, in case Colonel Modyford should miscarry in the voyage.”

The original is: “Upon this Plantation I lived with thefe two partners a while, But with Colonel Modiford three years: for the other went for England, and left Colonel Modiford to manage the imployment alone: and I to give what affiftance I could for the benefit of both: which I did partly
at their requefts and partly at the inftance of Mr. Thomas Kendal who repofed much confidence in me, in cafe Colonel Modiford thould mif-carry in the Voyage.”

32.  Ligon.  1.
33.  “New Model Army.”
34.  Robert H. Schomburgk.  The History of Barbados.  London: Longman, 1848.  269.
35.  Schomburgk.  269.
36.  Schomburgk.  269.