Edward Rodes
Encyclopedia
Sir Edward Rodes of Great Houghton, Yorkshire, served as sheriff of Yorkshire and colonel of horse under Cromwell; he was also a member of Cromwell's privy council, sheriff of Perthshire, and represented Perth in the parliaments of 1656-8 and 1659-1660. Sir Edward's sister Elizabeth was third wife and widow of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
.
Earl of Stratford (his sister Elizabeth was Stafford's third wife and widow), there was a wide difference in the political and religious views of each. Few entered more eagerly into the objects contemplated by the Long Parliament
, when affairs were advancing to a crisis; and it was for the most part to Sir Edward Rodes, and his two friends the Hothams, that the scheme, for maintaining the peace of Yorkshire (the Treaty of Neutrality
), arranged by the two great parties at Rothwell on 29 September, before the war began, was frustrated. Sir Edward's zeal that may have be quickened by personal injury—One of the stipulations at the treaty was that reparation should be made to "Sir Edward Rodes for the injury done him"—for at the beginning of September, 1643, an attack was made on his house at Great Houghton, by a party of royalists under the command of Captain Grey, when, according to the diurnals of the time, all the outhouses were burnt, his goods plundered to the amount of £600, his lady uncivilly treated, some of his servants wounded, and one slain.
Later during the First Civil War
Rodes was taken into custody by Parliament, and with the Hothams committed to the Tower of London
, but as nothing could be proved against him he was liberated,
(Sir John Hotham and his son, John Hotham the younger
, were beheaded for treason after they were found guilty of conspiring to hand Hull over the Royalists).
During the Second Civil War
, Royalists gained control of Pontefract Castle
and started to plunder and capture prominent local Parliamentarians. To counter the threat, the Parliamentary committee of the militia of Yorkshire appointed Sir Edward with Sir Henry Cholmley to levy troops and advance on Pontefract Castle
. They were ordered to invest
the castle, but if their forces were insufficiently strong to besiege of the castle, then they to endeavour to keep in the garrison in the castle and to protect and preserve the surrounding countryside. It seems that Cholmley took overall command while Rodes commanded the cavalry, as Sir Rodes was ordered by Oliver Cromwell
to pursue the Duke of Hamilton
, the commander of the combined English Royalist and Scottish Coventer armies after his defeat by Cromwell and his New Model Army at the Battle of Preston
.
At the end of August on his return from Scotland Cromwell took overall command for the sieges of Scarborough and Pontefract (at which point Rodes came under his direct command again). Cromwell reinforced the besiegers at Pontefract so that the Parliamentarians now had five thousand men and Sir Edward's squadrons besieging the castle.
That the siege of Pontefract Castle was ineffective was highlighted when on 31 October Colonel Thomas Rainsborough
was killed at Doncaster, by a party of Cavaliers who sallied out of Pontefract, to capture him, but when he shouted for his guard and attempted to defend himself with a pistol, they cut him down and returned to the castle. Rainsborough was on his way to take command of the siege which was proving to be a difficult fortress to subdue as it was "[...] one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom". Cromwell took direct command of the siege and fully invested the castle with lines of circumvallation. Cromwell had to leave on other business and so General Lambert took command on 4 December. The Royalist garrison finally surrendered on 24 March 1649.
During the Interregnum Rodes served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire
in 1650, and was commissioned as a colonel of horse under Cromwell in 1654; he was also a member of Cromwell's privy council.It would seem that Rodes was much in Scotland during the protectorate, for he was sheriff of Perthshire, and represented Perth in the parliaments of 1656-8 and 1659–1660 and at the same time that his son was returned for Liolithgow, Stirling, and Clackmannan.
After the restoration he was allowed to live quietly at Great Houghton, which became an asylum to the ejected ministers, who refused to comply with the Act of Uniformity 1662
.
Rodes was still living at Great Houghton when Sir William Dugdale's
visited, but died soon after.
Francis Rodes married secondly, Mary, daughter of Francis Charlton, esq. of Appley, in Shropshire, with whom he had, with other issue, a son, Godfrey (Sir), of Great Houghton, knighted at Havering, 13 July, 1615, who married four wives, and left, with other issue, including a daughter, Elizabeth, the third wife and widow of the ill-fated Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford, and a son and successor, Sir Edward Rodes of Great Houghton.
Edward Rodes married Mary (or Margaret), the daughter of Sir Hammond Whichcote and Millicent Markham in 1629. They had a number of children, but only one son, William married and had children. William had two sons Godfrey (d. unmarried 1709) and William Rodes, esq. of Great Houghton, the last male heir of this branch of the family, who died unmarried in 1740, leaving his two sisters, his co-heirs.
"Old Ballads". It is either about a house in Scotland that the family owned or about the 1642 Cavalier attack on the house in Great Houghton.
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
.
Biography
Notwithstanding the near connection which subsisted between Sir Edward Rodes and theEarl of Stratford (his sister Elizabeth was Stafford's third wife and widow), there was a wide difference in the political and religious views of each. Few entered more eagerly into the objects contemplated by the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
, when affairs were advancing to a crisis; and it was for the most part to Sir Edward Rodes, and his two friends the Hothams, that the scheme, for maintaining the peace of Yorkshire (the Treaty of Neutrality
Treaty of Neutrality (Yorkshire)
The Treaty of Neutrality signed on 29 September 1642 by Lord Fairfax for Parliament and Henry Bellasis for the Royalists, the two Knights of the Shire who represented Yorkshire in Parliament, with the support and agreement of other gentlemen of the county, in the hope of avoiding civil war in...
), arranged by the two great parties at Rothwell on 29 September, before the war began, was frustrated. Sir Edward's zeal that may have be quickened by personal injury—One of the stipulations at the treaty was that reparation should be made to "Sir Edward Rodes for the injury done him"—for at the beginning of September, 1643, an attack was made on his house at Great Houghton, by a party of royalists under the command of Captain Grey, when, according to the diurnals of the time, all the outhouses were burnt, his goods plundered to the amount of £600, his lady uncivilly treated, some of his servants wounded, and one slain.
Later during the First Civil War
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...
Rodes was taken into custody by Parliament, and with the Hothams committed to the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, but as nothing could be proved against him he was liberated,
(Sir John Hotham and his son, John Hotham the younger
John Hotham the younger
Sir John Hotham the younger was the eldest son of John Hotham and an English Member of Parliament during the civil war....
, were beheaded for treason after they were found guilty of conspiring to hand Hull over the Royalists).
During the Second Civil War
Second English Civil War
The Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and also include the First English Civil War and the...
, Royalists gained control of Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
and started to plunder and capture prominent local Parliamentarians. To counter the threat, the Parliamentary committee of the militia of Yorkshire appointed Sir Edward with Sir Henry Cholmley to levy troops and advance on Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle
Pontefract Castle is a castle in the town of Pontefract, in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It was the site of the demise of Richard II of England, and later the place of a series of famous sieges during the English Civil War-History:...
. They were ordered to invest
Investment (military)
Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy fort with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.A circumvallation is a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards the enemy fort...
the castle, but if their forces were insufficiently strong to besiege of the castle, then they to endeavour to keep in the garrison in the castle and to protect and preserve the surrounding countryside. It seems that Cholmley took overall command while Rodes commanded the cavalry, as Sir Rodes was ordered by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
to pursue the Duke of Hamilton
James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton
General Sir James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton KG was a Scottish nobleman and influential Civil war military leader.-Young Arran:...
, the commander of the combined English Royalist and Scottish Coventer armies after his defeat by Cromwell and his New Model Army at the Battle of Preston
Battle of Preston (1648)
The Battle of Preston , fought largely at Walton-le-Dale near Preston in Lancashire, resulted in a victory by the troops of Oliver Cromwell over the Royalists and Scots commanded by the Duke of Hamilton...
.
At the end of August on his return from Scotland Cromwell took overall command for the sieges of Scarborough and Pontefract (at which point Rodes came under his direct command again). Cromwell reinforced the besiegers at Pontefract so that the Parliamentarians now had five thousand men and Sir Edward's squadrons besieging the castle.
That the siege of Pontefract Castle was ineffective was highlighted when on 31 October Colonel Thomas Rainsborough
Thomas Rainsborough
Thomas Rainsborough , or Rainborough or Raineborough or Rainborowe or Rainbow or Rainborow, was a prominent figure in the English Civil War, and was the leading spokesman of the Levellers in the Putney Debates.-Life:He was the son of William Rainsborough, a captain and Vice-Admiral in the Royal...
was killed at Doncaster, by a party of Cavaliers who sallied out of Pontefract, to capture him, but when he shouted for his guard and attempted to defend himself with a pistol, they cut him down and returned to the castle. Rainsborough was on his way to take command of the siege which was proving to be a difficult fortress to subdue as it was "[...] one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom". Cromwell took direct command of the siege and fully invested the castle with lines of circumvallation. Cromwell had to leave on other business and so General Lambert took command on 4 December. The Royalist garrison finally surrendered on 24 March 1649.
During the Interregnum Rodes served as High Sheriff of Yorkshire
High Sheriff of Yorkshire
The High Sheriff of Yorkshire was an ancient High Sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. A list of the sheriffs from the Norman conquest onwards can be found below...
in 1650, and was commissioned as a colonel of horse under Cromwell in 1654; he was also a member of Cromwell's privy council.It would seem that Rodes was much in Scotland during the protectorate, for he was sheriff of Perthshire, and represented Perth in the parliaments of 1656-8 and 1659–1660 and at the same time that his son was returned for Liolithgow, Stirling, and Clackmannan.
After the restoration he was allowed to live quietly at Great Houghton, which became an asylum to the ejected ministers, who refused to comply with the Act of Uniformity 1662
Act of Uniformity 1662
The Act of Uniformity was an Act of the Parliament of England, 13&14 Ch.2 c. 4 ,The '16 Charles II c. 2' nomenclature is reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter...
.
Rodes was still living at Great Houghton when Sir William Dugdale's
William Dugdale
Sir William Dugdale was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject.-Life:...
visited, but died soon after.
Family
Edward Rode's grandfather was Francis Rodes, of Stavely Woodthorpe, one of the justices of the Common Pleas in the time of Elizabeth. This gentleman built Barlborough Hall in 1683, but died at his residence at Stavely Woodthorpe a few years after its completion. He married first Elizabeth, daughter of Brian Sandford, esq. of Thorp Salvine, in Yorkshire, and had, with her daughters and two sons:- 1) John, his heir, b. 1562.
- 2) Peter, of Hickleton.
Francis Rodes married secondly, Mary, daughter of Francis Charlton, esq. of Appley, in Shropshire, with whom he had, with other issue, a son, Godfrey (Sir), of Great Houghton, knighted at Havering, 13 July, 1615, who married four wives, and left, with other issue, including a daughter, Elizabeth, the third wife and widow of the ill-fated Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford, and a son and successor, Sir Edward Rodes of Great Houghton.
Edward Rodes married Mary (or Margaret), the daughter of Sir Hammond Whichcote and Millicent Markham in 1629. They had a number of children, but only one son, William married and had children. William had two sons Godfrey (d. unmarried 1709) and William Rodes, esq. of Great Houghton, the last male heir of this branch of the family, who died unmarried in 1740, leaving his two sisters, his co-heirs.
Cultural influence
Edward Rodes's house is mentioned in Sir Walter Scott'sWalter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
"Old Ballads". It is either about a house in Scotland that the family owned or about the 1642 Cavalier attack on the house in Great Houghton.