Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (6 August 158425 July 1643) was an English nobleman who joined the Royalist side in 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 r ...

after some delay and became lieutenant-general of the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Huntingdon, Cambridge and Norfolk. He was killed in a

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while en ...

incident after being captured by Parliamentary forces.

Family

He was the second son of Sir Henry Pierrepont of

Holme Pierrepont Holme Pierrepont is a hamlet and civil parish located south-east of the city of Nottingham in Nottinghamshire, England. It is in the Gamston ward of the Rushcliffe local authority in the East Midlands region. The population of the civil parish ...

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 Frances Cavendish,Grace Pierrepont
ThePeerage.com, Retrieved 27 December 2008 daughter of the Rt. Hon. Sir William Cavendish and Elizabeth Hardwick. His sister became

Grace, Lady Manners Grace, Lady Manners ( – ) was an England, English noblewoman who lived at Haddon Hall near Bakewell, Derbyshire. She founded Bakewell's Lady Manners School in 1636. Biography Grace Pierrepont was the daughter of Sir Henry Pierrepont (politici ...

Haddon Hall Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire, a former seat of the Dukes of Rutland. It is the home of Lord Edward Manners (brother of the incumbent Duke) and his family. In form a medieval manor house, ...

. He married Gertrude Talbot, daughter of Henry Talbot (1554–1596) (Henry was the son of

George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, 6th Earl of Waterford, 12th Baron Talbot, KG, Earl Marshal (c. 1522/1528 – 18 November 1590) was an English magnate and military commander. He also held the subsidiary titles of 15th Baron Strange of ...

), and Elizabeth Reyner (born 1556) on 8 January 1601 in Overton Longueville,

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

. The earl had five sons, the eldest of whom was his heir Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester. Others included Francis Pierrepont (died 1659), a colonel in the parliamentary army and afterwards a member of the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septe ...

, and William Pierrepont (1608–1679), father-in-law of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare, and of Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle. Robert also had a daughter, Lady Frances (born 1615) who married Philip Rolleston, Esquire. In 1633 he bought Thoresby Park, where his son Henry built the first Thoresby Hall in 1670.

Education

He became an undergraduate of

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, ...

, in 1596 and was a benefactor in the rebuilding of the college's Front Quad.

Life

He was Member of Parliament for

in 1601, became a JP for Nottinghamshire in 1608 and was appointed

High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire This is a list of the High Sheriffs of the English county of Nottinghamshire. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the High Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuri ...

in 1615. He was created Baron Pierrepont and Viscount Newark in 1627, being made Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull the following year. He remained neutral on the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, declaring, in what was later taken to be a prophetic curse: He eventually became a

Royalist 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 gov ...

, joining King Charles, and was appointed lieutenant-general of royal forces in the counties of Lincoln,

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cr ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. Whilst defending Gainsborough he was taken prisoner, and was killed on 25 July 1643, aged 58, while being conveyed to Hull by boat along the River Trent. Royalist forces fired at his captors from the river bank, accidentally killing the Earl whose body was cut in two by a cannonball. He was succeeded in his peerage by his son Henry. The author

Frances Catherine Barnard Frances Catherine Barnard ( pen name, Mrs. Alfred Barnard; 7 May 1796 – 30 January 1869) was an English writer, poet, and playwright. She was the author of various dramatic works and tales. Active in the 1800s, her work was published in England a ...

was a descendant.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingston-upon-Hull, Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Cavaliers

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War 1584 births 1643 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford English MPs 1601 High Sheriffs of Nottinghamshire Deaths by firearm in England People killed in the English Civil War Military personnel killed by friendly fire 16th-century English nobility 17th-century English nobility Earls of Kingston-upon-Hull