North Wales in British Civil Wars

The History Group which met on the 16th May was indeed fortunate to have as its speaker a local historian, Charles Cordell who has been a career soldier in the British Army and Diplomat in the Middle East for 35 years and now pursues his interest as a writer of historical fiction about the British Civil Wars which he admits has become his passion.

He is the author of a series of novels of historical fiction about the Civil War called the Divided Kingdom starting with God’s Vindictive Wrath and is about to publish a second book in June called the Keys of Hell and Death.

The writer has been fascinated by the 17th Century and in particular the circumstances which led to the British Civil Wars. The period was one of change and unrest including the Golden Age of art, science and culture but was also a time of religious persecution, war, famine and plague.

In an overview of the 1640s we learned how the population had grown but had become malnourished as there was not enough food due to harsh winters and dry springs and with the price of grain so high that it was unaffordable.

It was not surprising that the country would be divided between the Puritan ideals of the Parliamentarians and the old order of the Royalist cause. There was a struggle for power between King Charles 1 and Parliament who objected to the heavy burden of taxes imposed by the Monarch. Government was breaking down and the Church was not providing the answers.

The second part of this talk concentrated on North Wales which was an hierarchical society mainly with communities loyal to their local lord or manor. People were very poor, food was scarce and mainly dependent on what could be grown locally. The whole of Wales apart from Pembrokeshire was high church and loyal to the King. There was no chapel movement until much later.

Wales was important to King Charles as it represented a source of manpower to fight for him and was ‘the nursery of the King’s Armies’. Men would leave their homes willingly as they knew they would be fed, clothed and paid for fighting.

The ports of Conwy and Chester were important strategically as soldiers could be brought over from Ireland to fight in England although many of the Irish soldiers (as they were called) were not rewarded in the end, some being drowned as they were regarded as dangerous Papists.

By 1645 Wales was growing weary of supplying soldiers for the wars. At the Battle of Naseby one third of the foot soldiers had been Welsh and the King was struggling to find enough men to fight the Parliamentarians. By 1646 Chester and Caernarfon had fallen but Conwy was holding out and this is where we learn about Archbishop John Williams of Conwy and his activities.

At the beginning of the English Civil War John Williams who had been appointed Archbishop of York asked for a safe conduct from Charles to return to Conwy, his home town, to protect the castle for the Royalists. The King agreed and John Williams took in valuables such as silver from local landowners. He repaired the walls of the castle and banked up the town walls with earth to strengthen the defences.

Sir John Owen

However in 1644 he was removed as Governor of the Castle and Sir John Owen, a prominent Royalist was appointed in his place and John Williams retired to Cochwillian, a manor house near Bangor.

Then in 1646 at a secret meeting with Parliamentarians he changed sides and helped the Parliamentarians take the town of Conwy. Sir John Owen held the Castle from August to November when he had to admit defeat but was allowed to march out of the castle with honour and all the soldiers were paid ten shillings each.

Charles Cordell rounded up his talk by saying that if he had to pick a hero in the Civil Wars it would be a certain Corporal Rowland Humphrey from Denbighshire who had fought many battles in the Royalist Cause despite suffering many horrendous wounds. He petitioned King Charles II for support as an invalid for his wife and family and received £3 per annum.

The King as we know was finally defeated and was tried convicted and executed for high treason in January 1649.

Charles Cordell was thanked by the Chairman Kevin Slattery for his most interesting talk.