Colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...
John Penruddock (or Penruddocke, 1619–1655), of
Compton Chamberlayne
Compton Chamberlayne is a small village and civil parish in the Nadder Valley in south Wiltshire, England, about west of Salisbury. The Nadder forms the northern boundary of the parish; to the south are chalk hills. It is bisected by the A30 r ...
, was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...
during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
and the
English Interregnum. He is remembered as the leader of the
Penruddock uprising in 1655.
The
Sealed Knot
The Sealed Knot was a secret Royalist association which plotted for the Restoration of the Monarchy during the English Interregnum. The group was commissioned by King Charles II between November 1653 and February 1654 from his exile in Paris f ...
had planned an insurrection for March 1655. There were plans to seize
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
,
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
and
Winchester and to instigate smaller uprisings in
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...
and
Cheshire. As the
New Model Army garrison in Winchester was reinforced shortly before the uprising, plans to attack it were abandoned. No men answered the call in Cheshire, but elsewhere risings did take place. Due to a lack of support, however, the
Royalists
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...
disbanded without a fight at all the locations except the group from Salisbury.
Penruddock, along with
Sir Joseph Wagstaffe and Hugh Grove, organised and led the Royalist uprising in the West. On 11 March, Penruddock, with between three hundred and four hundred other Cavaliers, took Salisbury and raised the
Royal Standard
In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification.
Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, and ...
. The next morning, leading his followers out of Salisbury, Penruddock headed westwards through
Blandford
Blandford Forum ( ), commonly Blandford, is a market town in Dorset, England, sited by the River Stour about northwest of Poole. It was the administrative headquarters of North Dorset District until April 2019, when this was abolished and ...
,
Sherborne
Sherborne is a market town and civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish includes the hamlets of Nether Coombe and Lower Clatcombe. ...
and
Yeovil
Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somerset's southern border with ...
, hoping to pick up more supporters. By 14 March, his exhausted group had reached
South Molton
South Molton is a town in Devon, England. It is part of the North Devon local government district. The town is on the River Mole. According to the 2001 census the civil parish of South Molton had a population of 4,093, increasing to 5,108 at the ...
in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
, where, after a three-hour street fight, it was defeated by a single New Model Army troop of horse under Captain Unton Crook. Crook captured Penruddock and the other ringleaders, while most of the other Royalists either fled or were killed.
For his part in the rebellion, Penruddock, along with Hugh Grove and Francis Jones, was beheaded at
Exeter in May 1655. Some of the other Royalists who took part were also executed, while seventy were shipped to the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
and sold into
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. Wagstaffe escaped.
Penruddock was married to Arundel Freke, the daughter of John Freke, Esq., of
Shrewton
Shrewton is a village and civil parish on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, around west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. It lies on the A360 road between Stonehenge and Tilshead. It is close to the source of the River Till, which fl ...
,
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. They had two sons, George and Thomas, and four daughters, Elizabeth, Joan, Mary, and Anne. Penruddock succeeded his father, Sir John Penruddocke of Compton Chamberlayne, in 1648. His elder son, George, died in 1664, and he was thus succeeded in his estates by his younger son,
Thomas Penruddocke (c. 1648–1695), later
member of parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Wilton.
References
External links
*
* : Biography of
Henry Wansey who was in Salisbury at the time of the uprising
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penruddock, John
1619 births
1655 deaths
Cavaliers
People executed under the Interregnum (England) by decapitation
Executed people from Wiltshire