Robert Hammond (English army officer)
Encyclopedia
Robert Hammond was an officer in the New Model Army
under Oliver Cromwell
during the First English Civil War
and a politician who sat in the House of Commons
in 1654. He is best known for his year-long role in keeping Charles I of England
in custody.
, Surrey
, and grandson of John Hammond. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford on 20 May 1636 aged 15, but left the university without taking a degree.
regiment of cuirassiers.
In June 1644 Hammond, then serving under Edward Massie
, distinguished himself at the capture of Tewkesbury
. In the following October a quarrel between Hammond and Major Grey led to a duel
in the streets of Gloucester
, in which Grey lost his life. Hammond was tried by court-martial
, and unanimously acquitted (28 November 1644), on the ground that he had acted in self-defence. Hammond was in 1645 appointed to the command of a regiment of foot in the New Model Army
. At the battle of Naseby
Hammond's regiment formed part of the reserve. He took part in the storming of Bristol
and Dartmouth
and in the battle of Torrington
, and captured Powderham Castle
and St. Michael's Mount. In October 1645, during the siege of Basing House
, Hammond was taken prisoner by the garrison, and when that garrison was captured Oliver Cromwell
sent him up to London, to give the House of Commons an account of the victory. The commons voted him £200 to recoup his losses as a prisoner.
commander-in-chief, the greater part of the army would follow him. He signed the vindication of the officers presented to parliament on 27 April 1647, and the letter of the officers to the city on 10 June. He was also one of those appointed to treat with the parliamentary commissioners on behalf of the army on 1 July 1647.
Further on into the summer of 1647 Hammond apparently doubted whether the army was justified in using force against the parliament; he sought and obtained retirement from active military service. On 3 September 1647 Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
, who since 1642 had been governor of the Isle of Wight
, announced to the House of Lords that Thomas Fairfax
, by his authority as commander-in-chief, had commissioned Colonel Hammond to be governor of that island, desired the lords to accept his own resignation, and asked them to pass an ordinance appointing Hammond (which was done on 6 September). In 1648 events rendered weighty the debating point whether Hammond derived his authority from army or parliament. Tt was then argued by Henry Ireton
and the army leaders that the ordinance was a rubber-stamp. The office itself was at this time a sinecure. Hammond was succeeded by his lieutenant-colonel Isaac Ewer
in 1647, who had transferred into the New Model Army in April 1645.
fled from Hampton Court on 11 November 1647, apparently with the intention of crossing to the Isle of Wight and Hammond, for safety and as a staging post to leaving the country. Hammond had been introduced to the King earlier, at an audience where he made such protestations of loyalty that Charles came to believe him sympathetic. According to Anthony Wood
, it was Henry Hammond
, Robert Hammond's uncle, who brought him to the king. The actual circumstances of the escape are known largely through the later accounts of the royalist proponents of the plan. John Ashburnham (on his own account) met Hammond as he was going down to his new post, and heard that he went there "because he found the army was going to break all promises with the king, and that he would have nothing to do with such perfidious actions".
On 13 November 1647 Hammond learnt from Sir John Berkeley and Ashburnham that the king had fled from Hampton Court to save his life from the Levellers
, and intended to put himself under Hammond's protection. Hammond said that he was undone, and between his duty to the king and his obligations to the army would be confounded. Finally, he gave a vague promise to act with honour. Ashburnham took Hammond to the king on the mainland, and the king came to the Isle of Wight.
Hammond at once wrote to the parliament announcing what had happened; and called the gentlemen of the island together, requiring their co-operation for the defence of his majesty's person. Parliament then drew up a series of instructions to Hammond, ordering him to set a guard over Charles and keep him on the island; a second set of instructions came, on the occasion of the Treaty of Newport
, dated 17 August 1648. He was also ordered by the commons to send up Ashburnham, Berkeley, and William Legge
as prisoners, and obeyed under protest, obeyed. Thus instead of becoming the king's protector, Hammond found himself his gaoler. His relations with the king were at first pleasant, but after the king's rejection of the 'Four Bills' tendered him by parliament at the end of December 1647, he was more closely confined, and the position of the governor became difficult. Rumours spread of angry scenes; Thomas Herbert complained that Hammond searched the king's cabinet for papers. In the king's secret correspondence in the summer of 1648, he wrote of Hammond's incivility. In May 1648 two of the gentlemen attending the king, Osborne and Dowcett, were accused of a plot to abet his escape, and were arrested. Osborne asserted that Hammond's second in command, Major Rolph, had plotted against the king's life, and that the governor was cognizant of it. He had begged to be relieved from his task.
In November 1648 the breach between the army and the parliament involved Hammond. Cromwell, Ireton, and other representatives fo the Council of Officers wrote, arguing that his obedience was due to the army rather than to the parliament, and that he should take their side in the struggle. On 21 November he received a letter from Fairfax, ordering him to come to St. Albans, and informing him that Colonel Ewer had been sent to guard the king during his absence. This was followed by the appearance of Ewer himself, with instructions to secure the person of the king in Carisbrooke Castle
till it should be seen what answer the parliament would make to the army's remonstrance. Hammond felt bound to obey the commander-in-chief, and set out for St. Albans; but he announced his intention of opposing Ewer by force, if necessary, and left the king in charge of Major Rolph and two other officers, with injunctions to resist any attempt to remove Charles from the island. The House of Lords commanded Hammond not to leave his post, but he had already started, and when he tried to return was detained and put under guard until the king had been seized and carried to Hurst Castle
.
Hammond's custody of the king had lasted from 13 November 1647 to 29 November 1648, and parliament voted him a pension.
. In 1654, he was elected Member of Parliament
for Reading
for the First Protectorate Parliament
. When Cromwell became Lord Protector he brought Hammond again into employment, and in August 1654 Hammond was appointed a member of the Irish council. He went over at once to Dublin, and began reorganising the judicial system, but was seized with a fever, and died early in October 1654. Simon Ford
of Reading is said to have published a book on his death.
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
under 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....
during the First English 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...
and a politician who sat in the House of Commons
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
in 1654. He is best known for his year-long role in keeping Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
in custody.
Early life
Hammond was the second son of Robert Hammond of ChertseyChertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, and grandson of John Hammond. He matriculated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford on 20 May 1636 aged 15, but left the university without taking a degree.
Service in the Civil War
Royalist pamphleteers state that Hammond began his military career under Sir Simon Harcourt. In the summer of 1642 he was a lieutenant in the list of the army destined for Ireland; on 6 July he obtained a commission as captain of a foot company of two hundred men, to be levied for the parliament in London and the adjoining counties, and on 11 March 1643 was appointed a captain in Essex'sRobert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
regiment of cuirassiers.
In June 1644 Hammond, then serving under Edward Massie
Edward Massie
Sir Edward Massie , English Parliamentary soldier in the English Civil War, was the son of John Massie of Coddington, Cheshire.-Life:...
, distinguished himself at the capture of Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury
Tewkesbury is a town in Gloucestershire, England. It stands at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon, and also minor tributaries the Swilgate and Carrant Brook...
. In the following October a quarrel between Hammond and Major Grey led to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
in the streets of Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, in which Grey lost his life. Hammond was tried by court-martial
Court-martial
A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
, and unanimously acquitted (28 November 1644), on the ground that he had acted in self-defence. Hammond was in 1645 appointed to the command of a regiment of foot in the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
. At the battle of Naseby
Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On 14 June 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell.-The Campaign:...
Hammond's regiment formed part of the reserve. He took part in the storming of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and Dartmouth
Dartmouth, Devon
Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...
and in the battle of Torrington
Battle of Torrington
The Battle of Torrington was a battle of the south-western campaign of the First English Civil War, marking the end of Royalist resistance in the west country.-Prelude:...
, and captured Powderham Castle
Powderham Castle
Powderham Castle is located south of Exeter, Devon, England. The Powderham Estate, in which it is set, runs down to the western shores of the estuary of the River Exe between the villages of Kenton and Starcross....
and St. Michael's Mount. In October 1645, during the siege of Basing House
Siege of Basing House
The siege of Basing House near Basingstoke in Hampshire, was a Parliamentarian victory late in the First English Civil War. Whereas the title of the event may suggest a single siege, there were in fact three major engagements...
, Hammond was taken prisoner by the garrison, and when that garrison was captured 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....
sent him up to London, to give the House of Commons an account of the victory. The commons voted him £200 to recoup his losses as a prisoner.
Post-war period
After the close of the war in England Hammond was offered the command of a force destined for the relief of Dublin, but played hard to get. In the struggle between army and parliament over the summer of 1647, Hammond was initially with the army. On 1 April 1647 he appeared at the bar of the House of Commons to answer for his conduct in permitting the circulation of the army's petition in his regiment. Only four hundred of his regiment were willing to serve in Ireland, though Hammond himself had declared his conviction that were Philip SkipponPhilip Skippon
Philip Skippon was an English soldier, who fought in the English Civil War.-To 1638:...
commander-in-chief, the greater part of the army would follow him. He signed the vindication of the officers presented to parliament on 27 April 1647, and the letter of the officers to the city on 10 June. He was also one of those appointed to treat with the parliamentary commissioners on behalf of the army on 1 July 1647.
Further on into the summer of 1647 Hammond apparently doubted whether the army was justified in using force against the parliament; he sought and obtained retirement from active military service. On 3 September 1647 Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke and 1st Earl of Montgomery KG was an English courtier and politician active during the reigns of James I and Charles I...
, who since 1642 had been governor of the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
, announced to the House of Lords that Thomas Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War...
, by his authority as commander-in-chief, had commissioned Colonel Hammond to be governor of that island, desired the lords to accept his own resignation, and asked them to pass an ordinance appointing Hammond (which was done on 6 September). In 1648 events rendered weighty the debating point whether Hammond derived his authority from army or parliament. Tt was then argued by Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton
Henry Ireton was an English general in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War. He was the son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell.-Early life:...
and the army leaders that the ordinance was a rubber-stamp. The office itself was at this time a sinecure. Hammond was succeeded by his lieutenant-colonel Isaac Ewer
Isaac Ewer
Isaac Ewer was an English soldier and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England.-Biography:He was probably born in Essex; in his will he describes himself as of Hatfield Broad Oak and before the Civil War was "but a serving-man"....
in 1647, who had transferred into the New Model Army in April 1645.
Custodian to the King
Charles I of EnglandCharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
fled from Hampton Court on 11 November 1647, apparently with the intention of crossing to the Isle of Wight and Hammond, for safety and as a staging post to leaving the country. Hammond had been introduced to the King earlier, at an audience where he made such protestations of loyalty that Charles came to believe him sympathetic. According to Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:Anthony Wood was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , BCL of Oxford, where Anthony was born...
, it was Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond was an English churchman.-Early life:He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the youngest son of John Hammond, physician. He was educated at Eton College, and from age 13 at Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming demy or scholar in 1619. On 11 December 1622 he graduated B.A....
, Robert Hammond's uncle, who brought him to the king. The actual circumstances of the escape are known largely through the later accounts of the royalist proponents of the plan. John Ashburnham (on his own account) met Hammond as he was going down to his new post, and heard that he went there "because he found the army was going to break all promises with the king, and that he would have nothing to do with such perfidious actions".
On 13 November 1647 Hammond learnt from Sir John Berkeley and Ashburnham that the king had fled from Hampton Court to save his life from the Levellers
Levellers
The Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...
, and intended to put himself under Hammond's protection. Hammond said that he was undone, and between his duty to the king and his obligations to the army would be confounded. Finally, he gave a vague promise to act with honour. Ashburnham took Hammond to the king on the mainland, and the king came to the Isle of Wight.
Hammond at once wrote to the parliament announcing what had happened; and called the gentlemen of the island together, requiring their co-operation for the defence of his majesty's person. Parliament then drew up a series of instructions to Hammond, ordering him to set a guard over Charles and keep him on the island; a second set of instructions came, on the occasion of the Treaty of Newport
Treaty of Newport
The Treaty of Newport was a failed treaty between Parliament and King Charles I of England, intended to bring an end to the hostilities of the English Civil War...
, dated 17 August 1648. He was also ordered by the commons to send up Ashburnham, Berkeley, and William Legge
William Legge (MP)
William Legge was an English royalist army officer, a close associate of Prince Rupert of the Rhine.-Life:He was the eldest son of Edward Legge, who was vice-president of Munster by the influence of his kinsman Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devonshire, by Mary, daughter of Percy Walsh of Moy valley,...
as prisoners, and obeyed under protest, obeyed. Thus instead of becoming the king's protector, Hammond found himself his gaoler. His relations with the king were at first pleasant, but after the king's rejection of the 'Four Bills' tendered him by parliament at the end of December 1647, he was more closely confined, and the position of the governor became difficult. Rumours spread of angry scenes; Thomas Herbert complained that Hammond searched the king's cabinet for papers. In the king's secret correspondence in the summer of 1648, he wrote of Hammond's incivility. In May 1648 two of the gentlemen attending the king, Osborne and Dowcett, were accused of a plot to abet his escape, and were arrested. Osborne asserted that Hammond's second in command, Major Rolph, had plotted against the king's life, and that the governor was cognizant of it. He had begged to be relieved from his task.
In November 1648 the breach between the army and the parliament involved Hammond. Cromwell, Ireton, and other representatives fo the Council of Officers wrote, arguing that his obedience was due to the army rather than to the parliament, and that he should take their side in the struggle. On 21 November he received a letter from Fairfax, ordering him to come to St. Albans, and informing him that Colonel Ewer had been sent to guard the king during his absence. This was followed by the appearance of Ewer himself, with instructions to secure the person of the king in Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle
Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke, near Newport, Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial.-Early history:...
till it should be seen what answer the parliament would make to the army's remonstrance. Hammond felt bound to obey the commander-in-chief, and set out for St. Albans; but he announced his intention of opposing Ewer by force, if necessary, and left the king in charge of Major Rolph and two other officers, with injunctions to resist any attempt to remove Charles from the island. The House of Lords commanded Hammond not to leave his post, but he had already started, and when he tried to return was detained and put under guard until the king had been seized and carried to Hurst Castle
Hurst Castle
Hurst Castle on the south coast of England is one of Henry VIII's Device Forts, built at the end of a long shingle barrier beach at the west end of the Solent to guard the approaches to Southampton. Hurst Castle was sited at the narrow entrance to the Solent where the ebb and flow of the tides...
.
Hammond's custody of the king had lasted from 13 November 1647 to 29 November 1648, and parliament voted him a pension.
Later life
During the earlier part of the Commonwealth Hammond took no part at all in public affairs, but his friendship with Cromwell seems to have been only temporarily interrupted. On 22 July 1651 he wrote to Cromwell to intercede for the life of Christopher LoveChristopher Love
Christopher Love was a Welsh Protestant preacher and advocate of Presbyterianism at the time of the English Civil War. In 1651 he was executed by the government, after it was discovered that he had been in correspondence with the exiled Stuart court...
. In 1654, he was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Reading
Reading (UK Parliament constituency)
Reading was a parliamentary borough, and later a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire....
for the First Protectorate Parliament
First Protectorate Parliament
The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....
. When Cromwell became Lord Protector he brought Hammond again into employment, and in August 1654 Hammond was appointed a member of the Irish council. He went over at once to Dublin, and began reorganising the judicial system, but was seized with a fever, and died early in October 1654. Simon Ford
Simon Ford
Simon Gary Ford is an English-born Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a defender for Football League One side Chesterfield....
of Reading is said to have published a book on his death.