Sir
Nicholas Slanning (1 September 1606– July/August 1643) was a royalist army officer active in the West of England, during the Civil War. He should not be confused with his maternal grandfather, Nicholas Slanning (died 1583), or his son, Nicholas, who was granted a baronetcy by the restored monarchy .
Background
The Slanning family is first documented in 1538 and spanned nine generations until the extinction of the male line in 1700. It was granted or acquired land in
BickleighBickleigh is a small village on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Devon, England. It has a population of about 50 people. It is in the South Hams district, and is about seven miles north of Plymouth city centre...
,
WalkhamptonWalkhampton is a village and former civil parish on the western side of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. The village lies on the Black Brook, a tributary of the River Walkham, about south-east of Tavistock, near the villages of Horrabridge, Yelverton and Dousland. In 2001 the population...
, Maybury, and
RoboroughThe village of Roborough is situated to the north of Plymouth, South West England, lying in the South Hams, just outside of the city boundary.The Plymouth Argaum rugby club grounds are just east of the village. In the main street, long since bypassed by a modern dual carriageway, there is a very...
, all near
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
.
The
Sir Nicholas Slanning of
Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
fame was born in 1606 to Margaret, née Marler, and Gamaliel Slanning and inherited Maristow, Walkhampton, and Bickleigh in 1612. He married Gertrude, daughter of Sir James Bagge of Little Saltram in 1625. They had two sons and two daughters. He attended
Exeter College, OxfordExeter College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth oldest college of the University. The main entrance is on the east side of Turl Street...
and was admitted to the
Inner TempleThe Honourable Society of the Inner Temple is one of the four Inns of Court around the Royal Courts of Justice in London which may call members to the Bar and so entitle them to practise as barristers...
in 1628. However, he left the next year for the
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
“to learn the arts of war”.
Military activities
He returned and was knighted in 1632 and appointed to the Commission for Piracy in
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
and
CornwallCornwall is a county of England in the United Kingdom, forming the tip of the south-western peninsula of Great Britain. It is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Taken with the...
and
Vice-Admiral of the Southern ShoresThis is a list of people who have served as Vice-Admiral of Cornwall. This vice-admiralty jurisdiction was divided into North and South Cornwall between 1601 and 1715, with a separate vice-admiral for each; in addition, two members of the Godolphin family were vice-admiral for the Isles of Scilly...
of both counties. His maritime responsibilities were sufficiently well fulfilled for him to be appointed Governor of
Pendennis CastlePendennis Castle is a Henrician castle, also known as one of Henry VIII's Device Forts, in Cornwall, England, UK. It was built between 1540 and 1545 for King Henry VIII to guard the entrance to the River Fal on its west bank, near Falmouth. St Mawes Castle is its opposite number on the east bank...
guarding the entrance to
FalmouthFalmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.The name Falmouth comes from the river Fal but the origin of the river's name is unknown....
harbour, in 1635, in succession to
William KilligrewSir William Killigrew was an English court official under Charles I and Charles II.He was the son of Sir Robert Killigrew and Mary Woodhouse, of Kimberley, Norfolk, his wife. He was the elder brother to Thomas Killigrew...
.
In February 1639 he embarked with 13 guns and 100 officers bound for
CumberlandCumberland was a historic county of north west England, on the border with Scotland, from the twelfth century to 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
to participate in the abortive “
First Bishops' WarThe Bishops' Wars , a series of armed encounters and defiances between England and Scotland in 1639 and 1640, were part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
” . It is possible that the men and guns were for the defence of Carlisle, but Slanning headed for
YorkYork is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence....
to command a company in a regiment of foot “appointed to guard the King's person”, with the rank of Sergeant Major. He returned home following the ‘
pacification of BerwickThe Treaty of Berwick was signed on 18 June 1639 between England and Scotland. Archibald Johnston was involved in the negotiations before King Charles was forced to sign the treaty. The agreement, overall, officially ended the First Bishops' War even though both sides saw it only as a temporary...
’ in June and by March 1640 was
RecorderA Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...
to
Plympton St. MauricePlympton, or Plympton Maurice or Plympton St Maurice or Plympton Erle, in south-western Devon, England is an ancient stannary town: an important trading centre in the past for locally mined tin, and a former seaport...
.
Parliamentary activities
He was elected to represent the rotten borough of
Plympton ErlePlympton Erle, also spelt Plympton Earle, was a parliamentary borough in Devon. It elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-1295-1640:...
in the ‘
Short ParliamentThe Short Parliament of King Charles I is so called because it lasted only two months.After eleven years of attempting personal rule, Charles recalled Parliament in 1640, under the advice of Lord Wentworth, recently created Earl of Strafford...
’. He was also the Lieutenant-Colonel of a "
trayned bandTrainbands were companies of militia in England or the Americas, first organized in the 16th century and dissolved in the 18th. The term was used after this time to describe the London militia. In the early American colonies the trainband was the most basic tactical unit. However, no standard...
" of 157 men, two-thirds musketeers and the remainder
pikemenA pike is a pole weapon, a very long thrusting spear used two-handed and used extensively by infantry both for attacks on enemy foot soldiers and as a counter-measure against cavalry assaults. Unlike many similar weapons, the pike is not intended to be thrown...
.
Slanning and Sir Francis Bassett were given the responsibility for levies from the West of Cornwall for the ‘
Second Bishops' WarThe Bishops' Wars , a series of armed encounters and defiances between England and Scotland in 1639 and 1640, were part of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
’. After the
Treaty of RiponThe Treaty of Ripon was an agreement signed by Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Scottish Covenanters on 26 October 1640, in the aftermath of the Second Bishops' War...
he hurried back to stand for
ParliamentThe Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. The English Parliament traces its origins to the Anglo-Saxon Witenagemot. In 1066, William of Normandy brought a feudal system, by which he sought advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
.
In October 1640 he was elected for
PenrynPenryn was a parliamentary borough in Cornwall, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1553 until 1832, when its boundaries were extended and the constituency renamed by the Great Reform Act.-Franchise:...
to the ‘
Long ParliamentThe Long Parliament is the name of the English Parliament called by Charles I, 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...
’ (in a way which was to give rise to charges of bribery). His sympathies were soon apparent, since his was among the 59 names of the members posted for voting against the
Bill of AttainderA bill of attainder is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial.-Origin:...
of
StraffordEarl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I...
. Seven other Cornish MPs also voted against the Bill, including Godolphin, Trevanion, and Richard Arundel, who was later to marry Slanning's widow.
In June 1641 he returned to Cornwall to resume his governorship of
Pendennis CastlePendennis Castle is a Henrician castle, also known as one of Henry VIII's Device Forts, in Cornwall, England, UK. It was built between 1540 and 1545 for King Henry VIII to guard the entrance to the River Fal on its west bank, near Falmouth. St Mawes Castle is its opposite number on the east bank...
. but was back in London that winter, and in January 1642 was called to attend the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 646 members, who are known as "Members...
for sending letters to Francis Bassett in Cornwall for the arrest of the “Five Members”, should they try to embark from a Cornish port, a charge that Slanning denied. He was still in the House in February and supplied it with information concerning “four Scottish merchants lately arrived in Cornwall”, but probably left for Pendennis in April when many MPs withdrew. He was certainly in Cornwall when, on August 9, he was barred from the Commons and ordered to attend the House as a ‘delinquent’.
War against Parliament
On 25 August Hopton entered Cornwall after separating from the Marquis of Hertford following their failed attempts to secure
WiltshireWiltshire is a ceremonial county in the south west of England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers 3,485 km²...
,
DorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town has been Dorchester since at least 1305, situated in the south of the county at . Between its extreme points Dorset measures from east to west and north to south, and has an area of...
, and
SomersetSomerset is a county in South West England. The county town is Taunton, which is in the south of the county. The ceremonial county of Somerset borders the counties of Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west...
. He first visited Sir
Bevil GrenvileSir Bevil Grenville , Royalist soldier in the English Civil War, was born near Withiel, west of Bodmin, Cornwall and was a grandson of Sir Richard Grenville, Elizabethan sailor, explorer, and soldier...
at Stowe then, after brushing aside Bullers's Militia, headed for Pendennis on September 24 to confer with Slanning before appearing voluntarily before the
assizesAssize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...
at
TruroTruro is a city in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, and is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population of 20,920. It is the only city in the county, and the most southerly city in Great Britain...
.
After his successful defence of his actions, recruiting began and that October the famous five regiments of Cornish foot were formed under Colonel William Godolphin, Sir Bevill Grenvile, Sir Nicholas Slanning, Colonel
John TrevanionJohn Trevanion of Caerhayes in Cornwall was a royalist officer in the English civil war.A seventeenth century ode relating to four Cornish commanders included the distich:...
and Warwick, Lord Mohun. The first four of these were known as the 'wheels on
Charles's wainThe Plough or the Big Dipper is an asterism of seven stars that has been recognized as a distinct grouping in many cultures from time immemorial. The comprising stars are the seven brightest of the formal constellation Ursa Major.-Europe:...
'
A seventeenth century
odeOde is a lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode...
included the distich:
“Gone the four wheels of
CharlesCharles I, , the second son of James VI of Scotland and I of England, was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. Charles famously engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England...
's wain,
GrenvilleSir Bevil Grenville , Royalist soldier in the English Civil War, was born near Withiel, west of Bodmin, Cornwall and was a grandson of Sir Richard Grenville, Elizabethan sailor, explorer, and soldier...
,
GodolphinSidney Godolphin may refer to:* Sidney Godolphin , , Member of Parliament for fifty years* Sidney Godolphin , , English poet* Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin Sidney Godolphin may refer to:* Sidney Godolphin (colonel), (1652–1732), Member of Parliament for fifty years* Sidney Godolphin...
, Slanning, Trevannion slain”
Slanning's regiment of foot, known as "the Tinners", was formed in November 1642 .
He was released from his governorship of Pendennis Castle (succeeded by Sir John Arundell) in 1643.
Hopton first used them to make an unsuccessful attempt on
ExeterExeter is a city and district in Devon, England; it is the county town of Devon. Exeter is located approximately northeast of Plymouth, and southwest of Bristol, on the River Exe. The city has a population of 111,076 according to the 2001 Census....
then fell back on Plympton, took it, and invested Plymouth on December 1. Later that month they took
AlphingtonAlphington is a village in the southwest of Exeter in southwest England. The ward of Alphington has a population of 8250 according to the 2001 census, making it the third largest in Exeter, with the village itself accounting for about a quarter of this figure...
,
PowderhamPowderham 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
TopshamTopsham is a suburb of Exeter in the county of Devon, England, on the east side of the River Exe estuary between Exeter and Exmouth. Although village-sized, with a current population of around 5,023, it was designated a town by a 1300 royal charter, until the Exeter urban district was formed...
but failed to capture Exeter in a night attack. Their first field battle was
BraddockBraddock is a village and a civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 124. The village is situated about 7 miles west of Liskeard, and 5 miles south-east of Bodmin.-Parish Church:The ecclesiastical parishes of Braddock and Boconnoc...
(actually Pinnock) Down in January 1643 when Ruthin's forces were forced to flee back through
LiskeardLiskeard is an ancient stannary and market town at the head of the Looe valley in the ancient hundred of West Wivelshire in southeast Cornwall, England, United Kingdom....
and on to
SaltashSaltash is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a population of about 17,000. It lies in the southeast of Cornwall, facing Plymouth over the River Tamar. It was in the Caradon district until March 2009 and is known as "the gateway to Cornwall". Saltash means ash tree by the salt mill...
, while the
Earl of StamfordHenry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford , known as the Lord Grey of Groby from 1614 to 1628, was an English nobleman and military leader. He was the eldest son of Sir John Grey and Elizabeth Nevill...
withdrew from
LauncestonLaunceston is a town, an ancient borough, and a civil parish in the north of Cornwall, United Kingdom...
. Slanning's regiment, along with those of Grenville and Trevanion and half of the
horseCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
and dragoons, pursued Stamford while the rest followed up Ruthin.
Hopton, after some futile negotiations, invested Plymouth again and this led to Slanning's sole command in battle, but not until after the first ‘wheel’ was lost when the court poet Sydney Godolphin died of a wound received in a skirmish at
ChagfordChagford is a small town and civil parish on the northeast edge of Dartmoor, in Devon, England, close to the River Teign. It is located off the A382, about 4 miles or 6 km west of Moretonhampstead. The name Chagford is derived from the word chag, meaning gorse or broom, and the ford suffix...
. In February 1643 Slanning, in command of a detachment consisting of his and Trevanion's regiments, was attacked at
ModburyModbury is a village in the South Hams region of the English county of Devon. It is situated on the A379 road, which links it to Plymouth and Kingsbridge. The current population is approximately 1500 -Etymology:...
by Chudleigh. He was able to execute that most difficult of manoeuvres, a fighting withdrawal against superior forces, but at the cost of 250 killed or wounded, 1,000 muskets and five guns.
The Cornish forces now quit Devon and things remained quiet until the encounter battle of Polston Bridge, Launceston in April, when the arrival of Slanning's and Trevanion's regiments proved decisive. Two days later there was another encounter battle, the ‘Western Wonder’ of the
CavalierCavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War . Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I's cavalry, is often considered an archetypical Cavalier.-Early usage:...
balladA ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative and set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later North America, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, at Sourton Down, where in the middle of a violent thunderstorm, Chudleigh was able to hold the field and Hopton again retreated to Launceston.
Slanning and his men had a brief sojourn at Saltash before rejoining the rest in a rendezvous with Grenvile's foot. They brushed aside a small force at Week St. Mary on May 13 and at 5.00a.m. on the 16th attacked the forces on Stratton (now Stamford) Hill,
StrattonStratton is a small town situated near the coastal resort of Bude in north Cornwall, UK. It was also the name of one of ten ancient administrative shires of Cornwall - see "Hundreds of Cornwall"...
. This produced their most spectacular victory when, after ten hours of fighting uphill against twice their number of much better equipped enemy with a dug-in
batteryIn military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, they gained the position, killing 300 and capturing 1,700 with fourteen guns, £300 and plentiful provisions, at a cost of 80 men. Slanning and Trevanion commanded the westernmost of the four columns.
The army was about to lose its independence though, and received orders to rendezvous with
Prince Maurice'sPrince Maurice von Simmern KG , Count Palatine of the Rhine, was the fourth son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Princess Elizabeth, only daughter of James I, King of England and Scotland and Anne of Denmark....
men, whom they met at
ChardChard is a town and civil parish in the county Somerset, England, situated on the A30 road near the Devon border, south west of Yeovil. The parish has a population of approximately 12,000 and, at an altitude of , is the highest town in Somerset and also the southernmost...
in Somerset in June. This combined force now took
TauntonTaunton is the county town of Somerset, England. The town, including its suburbs, had an estimated population of 61,400 in 2001. It is the largest town in the shire county of Somerset....
,
BridgwaterBridgwater in Somerset, England, is a market town, the administrative centre of the Sedgemoor district, and the leading industrial town in the county.Bridgwater is located on the major communication routes through South West England....
,
Dunster CastleDunster Castle is the historical home of the Luttrell family located in the small town of Dunster, Somerset, England . Colonel Sir Walter Luttrell gave Dunster Castle and the greater part of its contents to the National Trust in 1976...
and
WellsWells is a small cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills.The name Wells derives from the three wells dedicated to Saint Andrew, one in the market place and two within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and cathedral....
. Their first contact with
WallerSir William Waller , was an English soldier during the English Civil War. He received his education at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and served in the Venetian army and in the Thirty Years' War...
was a
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
skirmish at
Chewton MendipChewton Mendip is a village and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England. It is situated north of Wells, south of Bristol on the Mendip Hills and is the source of the River Chew. The parish includes the hamlet of Bathway.- History :...
. He was driven out of
Monkton FarleighMonkton Farleigh is a small village in west Wiltshire, England, 3 miles from Bradford-on-Avon, and 5 miles from the city of Bath...
on July 3 and two days later followed the
pyrrhic victoryA Pyrrhic victory is a victory with devastating cost to the victor.-Origin:The phrase is named after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, whose army suffered irreplaceable casualties in defeating the Romans at Heraclea in 280 BC and Asculum in 279 BC during the Pyrrhic War...
of
LansdownThe English Civil War battle of Lansdowne was fought on 5 July, 1643, near Bath, southwest England. Although the Royalists under Lord Hopton forced the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller to retreat from their hilltop position, they suffered so many casualties themselves and were left so...
where the next ‘wheel’, Sir Bevill Grenvile, fell. The foot were now besieged in
DevizesDevizes is a small market town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, in the southern United Kingdom.-History:Devizes Castle was built by Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury in 1080 but the town is not mentioned in the Domesday Book...
but witnessed the destruction of Waller's forces at
Roundway DownThe Battle of Roundway Down was fought on 13 July, 1643, during the First English Civil War. A Royalist cavalry force under Lord Wilmot won a crushing victory over the Parliamentarians under Sir William Waller who were besieging Devizes in central Wiltshire, which was defended by Lord...
. The Western Royalists took Bath, and after joining
Prince RupertRupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, , soldier, inventor and amateur artist in mezzotint, was a younger son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Elizabeth Stuart, and the nephew of King Charles I of England, who created him Duke of...
on July 26 1643 they stormed
BristolBristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London, and east of Cardiff.With an estimated population of 416,400 for the unitary authority in mid-2007, and a surrounding urban area with an estimated 561,500 residents, it is England's sixth, and...
. The Western Army attacked the South Eastern defences at 3.00 a.m. in three tertia, one commanded by Slanning.
Bristol fell after some thirteen hours fighting, but so did the last two ‘wheels’: Slanning and Trevanion were both mortally wounded. Sir Nicholas Slanning, whose leg had been broken by a musket ball, died a few days later , quipping “that he had always despised bullets, having been so used to them, and almost thought they could not hurt him”, and professing “great joy and satisfaction in the losing of his life in the King's service to whom he had always dedicated it”.
No record remains of where Sir Nicholas Slanning was buried. The Sir Nicholas Slanning buried at St Mary the Virgin at Bickleigh, Devon was this Sir Nicholas's grandfather, but Slanning's body may have been returned there for burial since some of his arms reached Bickleigh and his helmet and gauntlet may still be seen, by arrangement, at the church.
Modern Celebration
The name of Sir Nicholas Slanning and his men lives on in the guise of "Sir Nicholas Slanning his regiment of foote", a part of
The Sealed KnotThe Sealed Knot is a British historical association dedicated to costumed reenactment of battles and events surrounding the English Civil War. It takes its name from the original Sealed Knot, a secret association aimed at the restoration of the monarchy, although the modern incarnation states that...
.
External links