Sir
Thomas
Lunsford 1619 -
1653
Sir Thomas
Lunsford, who originally formed our regiment, was every inch a
cavalier in the eyes of Parliament. This article will try to
show that this description was not at all true, and was based
on inuendo and hearsay.
Thomas Lunsford was born in 1610
(or thereabouts, his exact date of birth is not known).
Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon described him as of an ancient Sussex
family 'of a very small and decayed fortune, and of no good
education'. The poor education Clarendon attributed to
Lunsford having had to flee the country in 1637 'to avoid the
hand of justice for some riotous misdemeanours', involving
attempted murder. The Royalist Edward Sackville, fourth Earl
of Dorset, summed up Lunsford's reputation: 'A young outlaw
who neither fears God nor man, and who, having given himself
over to all lewdness and dissoluteness, only studies to
affront justice' taking 'a glory to be esteemed ..... a
swaggering ruffian than the issue of that ancient and honest
family'.
During his
self-imposed exile, Lunsford served in the French army.
Returning to England in 1639, he was pardoned by the King in
time for him to recruit a Somerset regiment with which he
served against the Scots. Sir John Coke, suffering from the
depredations of royal troops in June 1640, solicited
Lunsford's help, and found him to be 'a brave gentleman and
discreet'. This fact is important, because everything said
against Lunsford after this was based upon the alleged
incidents of his earlier life.
In late 1641, in
response to the King's refusal to implement the reforms to the
church that the Commons required, mobs started parading the
London streets and swarming about Westminster Hall shouting
'No Popery! No bishops! No popish Lords'. In direct response
to this, the King dismissed the Puritan Lieutenant of the
Tower of London and appointed Captain Thomas Lunsford to the
post. Clarendon, noting that Lunsford had 'the reputation of a
man of courage and a good officer of foot' whilst serving in
France, also said that at the time of his appointment to the
Tower he was 'little known' and 'utterly a stranger' to the
King. Shortly after Lunsford's acceptance, William Tomkins, MP
for Weobley, rose in the Commons with a motion 'that hee
understood that a verie dangerous person was to be made
Leiftenant of the Tower'. Lawrence Chambers gave evidence
against Lunsford's character, none of which was verifiable,
all of which was ammunition for the MPs opposed to the
appointment of a man clearly connected with the court through
George, Lord Digby:
Lawrence Chambers ... shrewed that
hee knew him ... in the Low cuntries wheere hee was soe given
to drinking and quarrelling that all sober and civill men
avoided his company, that hee was much indebted and afterwards
rann out of the Low cuntries in to France ... a debauched
quarrelsome man, verie desparate, and fitt to execute any
dangerous designe ... when hee received monie to pay his
souldiers, hee rann away from thence with the said
monie.
'Soe dangerous a person and unworthie of the
place' as Lunsford was, it was clear to some in the Commons
that a 'designe of the papists to ruine the true religion' was
afoot and Lunsford's appointment demonstrated that it was 'now
growing to a maturitie'.
On the 4th January 1642,
Lunsford attended the King in his attempt to arrest the Five
Parliament Ring-Leaders. This was the first time since his
return to England that he had carried out direct action
against Parliament. He accompanied the King on his march north
and was with him outside Hull when the King was refused
admittance.
By August 1642, Lunsford had joined the Marquis
of Hertford and Sir Ralph Hopton at Sherbourne. There his foot
regiment was forming under the command of his brother Henry.
After actions against the Earl of Bedford's Parliamentarian
army at Sherborne and Yeovil, Lunsford retired to South Wales
with the Marquis of Hertford and his regiment. Recruiting
further, he joined the King at Shrewsbury in time to take part
in the Edgehill campaign. In October 1642, Lunsford fought at
Edgehill, with his brothers Henry and Herbert, and was taken,
lamed, at Edgehill. Imprisoned, but not otherwise proceeded
against, not even for debts allegedly contracted whilst
Lieutenant of the Tower.
Lunsford was released in 1644 and
returned to the King's service. Associated with Arthur Aston
in the governorship of Oxford, he relieved Greenland House on
the 8th June 1644. He was appointed Governor of Monmouth in
December 1644, was defeated at Ludlow in May 1645 and again in
June 1645 at the mis-handled attempt to retake Stokesay
Castle. In October 1645, the town of Monmouth quickly fell but
the castle garrison endured a three day siege, surrendering on
the 24 October when mines were placed beneath the walls. From
Monmouth, Lunsford made his way to Hereford, where he was
taken prisoner in December 1645.
He had no difficulty in compounding at a
sixth in 1649 and went quietly off to America where he died in
1653.
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