Edward Rossiter

Colonel Sir Edward Rossiter, 1 January 1618 to 9 January 1669, was an English landowner, soldier and politician from Lincolnshire. He fought for the Parliamentarians in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and was an MP at various times between 1646 and 1660.

When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, Rossiter joined the Eastern Association army, then transferred to the New Model Army in April 1645. He also played a prominent role in the civil administration of the East Midlands, and was nominated MP for Grimsby in March 1646. He commanded the guard at Holdenby House, where Charles I was held from February to June 1647, before being dismissed by the Army Council in August.

Restored to the army during the 1648 Second English Civil War, he suppressed Royalist revolts in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. One of the MPs excluded from the Commons by Pride's Purge in December 1648, Rossiter opposed the Execution of Charles I in January 1649, unlike his grandfather Sir John Bourchier.

During The Protectorate, he was elected for Lincolnshire in 1654, 1656 and 1659, but prevented from taking his seat as a suspected Royalist. In return for supporting the Restoration of Charles II, he was knighted in May 1660 and appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire. However, he retired from politics and died of cancer in January 1669.

Personal details

Edward Rossiter was born on 1 January 1618, second son of Richard (died before 1620) and Elizabeth Rossiter of Somerby by Bigby, Lincolnshire. He had two brothers, Richard (1616-1636) and John (before 1620-after 1634). His mother was a daughter of Sir John Bourchier (1595-1660), a devout Puritan who acted as a judge at the trial of Charles I in 1649. Following the 1660 Restoration, he escaped execution as a regicide by dying of illness while awaiting trial.

Although he was the younger son of a younger son, when his elder brother Richard died in 1636, Rossiter became heir to Somerby. In 1646, he married Jane Samwell (1615-before 1660) of Gayton Manor, Northamptonshire; they had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth (ca 1650 to 1706).

He married again in 1660, this time to Arabella Holles, daughter of John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare and niece of Denzil Holles, one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 was a key point on the road to civil war. At his death in 1669 they had five children still living, John, Edward, Horatio, Richard and Vere; the last may have been disabled in some way as a legal guardian was appointed for her in 1689.

Career

The Rossiters ranked as middle to lower members of the Lincolnshire gentry, with an estimated annual income of £1,000 in 1640 compared to £5,000 to £8,000 for the upper levels. After his father died in 1620, Elizabeth apparently took her children to live with their grandfather in Yorkshire, as Rossiter was educated at Kirton and Beverley Grammar School, before attending Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in 1636.

First English Civil War

When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, Rossiter joined the Parliamentarian army as captain in a regiment of cavalry raised by the Earl of Lincoln. The unit was restricted to service in Lincolnshire until April 1643, when Rossiter was promoted Colonel and transferred to the Eastern Association army, commanded by Lord Willoughby. At the beginning of 1643, Royalists based in Newark captured Gainsborough, which was retaken on 16 July by the Eastern Association. On 28th, Rossiter was with a detachment led by Oliver Cromwell which repulsed a relief force outside Gainsborough, although the Parliamentarian garrison surrendered a few days later.

Newark was a key strategic position linking the Royalist capital of Oxford with their armies in the north, and Rossiter spent the next two years based in Melton Mowbray as part of the Parliamentarian blockade. In March 1644, he was part of a force commanded by Sir John Meldrum defeated outside Newark by Prince Rupert. While this ensured Royalists held the town until the end of the war, the capture of Lincoln in May meant Parliament controlled the surrounding areas.

Near Melton Mowbray on 25 February 1645, Rossiter intercepted Royalist cavalry under Sir Marmaduke Langdale, on their way to lift the siege of Pontefract Castle. After a short struggle, his men retreated and although Rossiter occupied the bridge near Doncaster, he was too late to stop Langdale crossing. In April, his unit was transferred to the New Model Army as the 5th Regiment of Horse, although its main purpose remained securing Lincolnshire. His regiment arrived on the morning of the Battle of Naseby in June, a victory that reduced the Royalist presence in the region to a few scattered garrisons, chiefly Oxford and Newark.

He played a prominent part in the administration of the Eastern Association, such as raising funds to support its army, carrying out directives from London and sharing information. On 6 October 1645, he passed on letters containing details of Royalist attempts to win support from the Irish Confederacy. Claims Charles wanted to employ Irish Catholics in England had been a recurring element in Parliamentarian propaganda and they were published as proof he could not be trusted. Another was negotiating with Royalists who wanted to surrender; when Prince Rupert and his brother Maurice were dismissed by Charles in October, they applied to Rossiter for passes to leave England, a request quickly granted by Parliament.

In March 1646, he was nominated MP for Great Grimsby in place of Gervase Holles, excluded Royalist cousin of Denzil Holles. Now close to defeat, Charles left Oxford in disguise on 27 April and joined the Scots Covenanter army outside Newark, which surrendered the next day. Despite furious objections from the English, the Scots withdrew north to Newcastle, taking the king with them.

Second English Civil War

Parliament went to war to achieve a political settlement with the king, not remove him, but arguments over the terms divided mostly Presbyterian moderates in Parliament from radicals within the New Model. At the end of January 1647 the Committee of Both Kingdoms that had governed England and Scotland since February 1644 was dissolved and replaced by the Derby House Committee, led by Holles and dominated by moderate MPs, including Rossiter. They paid the Scots £400,000 to return to Scotland and hand over Charles, who was escorted to Holdenby House, near Holmby in Northamptonshire, where Rossiter's regiment formed part of his guard.

Divisions between Parliament and the Army Council were exacerbated by financial issues and by March 1647, the New Model was owed more than £3 million in unpaid wages. Parliament ordered it to Ireland, stating only those who agreed would be paid; when their representatives demanded full payment for all in advance, it was disbanded, but the Army Council refused to comply. In early June, troops from the New Model removed Charles from Holdenbury House; viewed by the Army Council as unreliable, Rossiter was dismissed in August.

When the Second English Civil War broke out in April 1648, the New Model faced multiple risings throughout England and South Wales, as well as a Scottish invasion. This left them short of men and on 6 June, Rossiter was recalled and sent to Lincoln to secure the Midlands. The Parliamentarian garrison of Pontefract defected to the Royalists and were joined by other insurgents, who sent a force of around 1,000 men into Lincolnshire to seize provisions. They were pursued by Rossiter, who defeated them near Willoughby on 5 July. John Lambert, Parliamentarian commander in the north, left Rossiter to oversee the siege of Pontefract, while he supervised the campaign that ended with the Battle of Preston in August.

The Second Civil War was notably more brutal than the first and captured Royalists previously released on parole were often executed. Prisoners taken at Willoughby included Sir Philip Monckton and Gilbert Byron, youngest brother of the Royalist general Sir John Byron; Rossiter reportedly persuaded Sir Thomas Fairfax to set them free.

Inter-regnum and Restoration

Moderates like Holles grew increasingly desperate to reach agreement with Charles, who refused meaningful concessions, leading Cromwell and his supporters to conclude further talks were pointless. As one of the MPs who backed Holles and voted in favour of continuing negotiations, Rossiter was among those excluded by Pride's Purge on 6 December 1648. Unlike his grandfather, he opposed the Execution of Charles I in January 1649 and spent much of the 1649 to 1660 Interregnum in obscurity. Although elected MP for Lincolnshire in 1654, 1656 and 1659, he was prevented from sitting as a suspected Royalist. This had some merit, as he was allegedly involved in co-ordinating the 1659 Booth's Uprising.

He supported the Restoration of Charles II and in April 1660 was elected for Lincolnshire in the Convention Parliament. Part of the delegation sent to welcome Charles on his arrival in England, he was knighted on 27 May and appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Lincolnshire in August. However, he did not stand for re-election in 1661 and died of cancer at home in Somerby on 9 January 1669.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rossiter, Edward
1618 births
1669 deaths
People from West Lindsey District
English army officers
Roundheads
English MPs 1640–1648
English MPs 1654–1655
English MPs 1656–1658
English MPs 1659
English MPs 1660
English Presbyterians of the Interregnum (England)
Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Members of the Parliament of England for Great Grimsby
Deputy Lieutenants of Lincolnshire
Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War
Deaths from cancer in England