Sir Edward Massey () was an English soldier and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

at various times between 1646 and 1674. He fought for the

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cause for the first and second

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 ...

s before changing allegiance and fighting for King Charles II during the Third Civil War. During the

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, he was active in the Royalist cause. After the Restoration, he was knighted and was active in public life, as a member of parliament and occasionally in military and administrative affairs.

Early life

Edward Massey was the fifth son of John Massey of Coddington,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

and his wife Anne Grosvenor, daughter of Richard Grosvenor of Eaton, Cheshire. He may have been a London apprentice before serving in the Dutch army against the armies of

Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...

, who ruled the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands ( Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the ...

(see

Dutch Revolt The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Ref ...

). In 1639, he appears as a captain of pioneers in the army raised by

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...

to fight against the Scots. At the outbreak of the

, he was with the King at York, but he soon joined the Parliamentary army.

Parliamentary soldier

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under the Earl of Stamford, Massey became deputy governor of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

, where he remained till towards the end of the First Civil War, becoming governor early in 1643. He conducted minor operations against numerous small bodies of Royalists, and conducted the defence of Gloucester against the King's main army, in August 1643, with great steadiness and ability, receiving the thanks of parliament and a grant of £1,000 for his services. In 1644, Massey continued to keep the field and to disperse the local Royalists, and on several occasions, he measured swords with

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist caval ...

. In May 1644, he was made general of the forces of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Wester ...

. In 1645, he was defeated by Rupert at the Battle of

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, he later took the offensive against Lord Goring and the western Royalists, advanced to the relief of Taunton, and in the autumn cooperated effectively with

Sir Thomas Fairfax Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 161212 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented comman ...

and the

New Model Army The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...

in the Langport campaign. After taking part in the desultory operations that closed the first war, he was elected

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for Wootton Bassett.

Royalist soldier

Massey then began to take an active part in politics on the

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side, and was one of the generals who was impeached by the army on the grounds that they were attempting to revive the Civil War in the Presbyterian interests. He fled England in June 1647 and, though he resumed his seat in the house in 1648, he was again excluded by

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

, and after a short imprisonment escaped to

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. Thence, taking the side of Royalists openly and definitely. Like many other Presbyterians, he accompanied Charles II to

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. He fought against Cromwell's army at the bridge of

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

and Inverkeithing, and commanded the advanced guard of the Royalist army in the invasion of England in 1651. It was hoped that Massey's influence would win over the towns of the Severn valley to the cause of the King, and the march of the army on

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

was partly inspired by this expectation. At the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell d ...

, he was seriously wounded, and when Massey realised that his wounds were dangerously slowing King Charles II down during his escape, he persuaded Charles to continue without him, although the king was reluctant to leave him. Massey was arrested and imprisoned in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

. He again managed to escape to

. While negotiating with the English Presbyterians for the restoration of Charles, he visited England twice, in 1654 and 1656. He was arrested in England for his part in Booth's Uprising in 1659, but was able to escape for the third time. After his escape, while hiding in London, he encouraged the discontent that led to the soldier's mutiny over pay on 1 February 1660.

Restoration

In 1660, Massey was elected MP for

in the Convention Parliament, and was active in preparing for Charles's return. He was awarded a knighthood on 27 May 1660 and a grant of £3,000. In 1661, he was re-elected MP for Gloucester in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. The rest of his life was spent in politics, and occasionally in military and administrative business. He was unmarried, and died in 1674 at Abbeyleix in Ireland, where he had been granted the manor . cites: Grey, ii. 119, 385-6; Portland mss. BL Loan 29/83, Strettell to Harley, 5 Dec. 1674. He was a close friend of the leading judge Sir

Jerome Alexander Sir Jerome Alexander (c.1585–1670) was an English-born barrister, judge and politician, who spent much of his career in Ireland (after he had been professionally ruined in England), and became a substantial Irish landowner. He was a noted bene ...

, another Englishman who had settled in Ireland; Alexander at his death in 1670 left Massey a number of valuables, such as "my cane with the silver head of a

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct specie ...

".Ball, F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921'' London John Murray 1926 Vol.1 pp.279-86

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