William Rous ( fl. 1631–1645) was a 17th-century English privateer in the service of the

Providence Island Company The Providence Company or Providence Island Company was an English chartered company founded in 1629 by a group of Puritans including Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick in order to establish the Providence Island colony on Providence Island and Mosq ...

. He was later enlisted by William Jackson to accompany him on his expedition to the West Indies.

Biography

A step-nephew of

John Pym John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...

, William Rous was a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in the local militia in the

Providence Island colony The Providence Island colony was established in 1630 by English Puritans on what is now the Departments of Colombia, Colombian Department of Archipelago_of_San_Andrés,_Providencia_and_Santa_Catalina, San Andrés and Providencia ...

and later became commander of the local garrison Fort Henry. In 1634, while still in second-in-command under Captain William Rudyerd, he was involved in a dispute with the principal smith Thomas Forman and, losing his temper, he struck Forman in the presence of the Governor Philip Bell. Rous was thereafter suspended both from the council table, his offices in militia training and his duties at Fort Henry until he acknowledged his fault. Being dismissed from office would have meant humiliation and disgrace to him as a

gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

, however agreeing to make public confession of guilt would have caused him even deeper humiliation. Matters were further complicated when Bell attempted to return him to his seat without making a public apology. The

overruled Bell, adding that he had ''"acted in an undue manner"'', although his suspension was not to include his training the militia.Newton, Arthur Percival. ''The Colonising Activities of the English Puritans: The Last Phase of the Elizabethan Struggle with Spain''. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1914. (pg. 157) In 1636, he was given a privateering commission and letter of marque by the PIC. In command of the ''Blessing'', and accompanied by a

pinnace Pinnace may refer to: * Pinnace (ship's boat), a small vessel used as a tender to larger vessels among other things * Full-rigged pinnace The full-rigged pinnace was the larger of two types of vessel called a pinnace in use from the sixteenth c ...

, he and the ''Expectation'' had planned to attack

Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...

. However, when the ''Expectation'' was becalmed, he instead entered the harbor alone on October 20, 1636. The Spanish had been warned of his attack and were prepared for him when he arrived. Losing several men, Rous and the others surrendered after a brief fight and taken overland to Cartagena where he and his crew were imprisoned. Transported to San Lucar, Spain, he was eventually released due to the efforts of the English ambassador. In 1642, he left England to join William Jackson as an officer in his privateering expedition to the West Indies. Including privateers such as

Samuel Axe Samuel Axe was an English privateer in Dutch service during the early 17th century. Serving with English forces in the Netherlands during the Dutch War of Independence, Axe traveled to the British Providence Island colony in the western Caribbe ...

and

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continen ...

, Rous spent the next three years raiding Spanish settlements throughout the Caribbean, including participating the conquest of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in 1644.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rous, William English sailors English privateers 1631 births 1645 deaths