Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 1st Baronet (22 July 1600 – 20 November 1657) was an English landowner and Member of Parliament who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

at various times between 1624 and 1643. He was initially a Parliamentarian but later 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 gove ...

leader during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. His name is sometimes spelt Cholmley.

Life

Cholmeley was born at

Thornton-le-Dale Thornton-le-Dale (also called Thornton Dale) is a village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, about east of Pickering, North Yorkshire, Pickering on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The area of the village encompasses ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, the son of Sir Richard Cholmeley and his first wife Susanna Legard, daughter of John Legard of Ganton, Yorkshire ( Legard baronets). He was educated at Beverley Free School and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

. In 1624 he was elected one of the members of parliament for

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and was re-elected in 1625 and 1626. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1626. In 1628 he was re-elected a member for Scarborough and sat until 1629, when King Charles I began to rule without parliament for eleven years. In 1622 he had married Elizabeth Twysden, daughter of Sir William Twysden, 1st Baronet of

East Peckham East Peckham is a village and civil parish in Kent, England on the River Medway. The parish covers the main village as well as Hale Street and Beltring. History The Domesday entry for East and West Peckham reads:- :'' The Archbishop himse ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and Anne Finch, by whom he had two sons: William, his eldest son and heir, and Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 4th Baronet, the last of the line. From 1636 he was

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), 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 colon ...

of the Pickering Lythe Trained Band and commanded it during the

First Bishops' War The First Bishops' War was a conflict that took place in Scotland in 1639 between a Scottish political movement known as the Covenanters and forces loyal to King Charles I, who at that time was the king of both Scotland and England. Military acti ...

. During the years when

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

ruled without Parliament, Cholmeley became, together with Sir John Hotham, one of the leaders of resistance among the

gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...

. He organised a number of petitions and protests, and in 1639 he refused to pay

ship money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs cou ...

. As a result, he was dismissed from all his posts and was summoned before the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

, the King reportedly telling Hotham and Cholmeley that if they interfered again he would hang them both. In April 1640 Cholmeley was again elected a member for Scarborough in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

. He was re-elected for Scarborough for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

in November 1640 and was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1641.George Edward Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage, Volume 2''
/ref> Initially, a Parliamentarian when the civil war broke out, Cholmeley was one of the parliamentary commissioners sent to negotiate with the King in May 1642; he raised a regiment for the Parliamentary army which fought at the

Battle of Edgehill The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill, Warwickshire, Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitution ...

and later joined Fairfax in his campaign against the royalist garrison at

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. However, when the Queen landed in Yorkshire, returning from the Netherlands where she had been attempting to raise money and troops, Cholmeley declared for the King, and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

put him in command of all maritime affairs along the northern half of the Yorkshire coast. He was disabled from sitting in parliament in 1643. After the Royalist defeat at the

Battle of Marston Moor The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639–1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters unde ...

, Cholmeley refused to flee the country, holding

for the king during its Great Siege, until he was forced to surrender, on very favourable terms, on 22 July 1645. His estates were sequestrated, but he later compounded for £850. Cholmeley spend time in exile, until returning to England in 1649. He wrote his memoirs before his death on 30 November 1657. It was addressed to his sons, and intended to "embalm the great virtues and perfections of their mother", who had died two years earlier.

References

;Attribution

Sources

*D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *J. Foster, ''Pedigrees of the County Families of Yorkshire'' * Major Robert Bell Turton, ''The History of the North York Militia, now known as the Fourth Battalion Alexandra Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment)'', Leeds: Whitehead, 1907/Stockton-on-Tees: Patrick & Shotton, 1973, ISBN 0-903169-07-X. , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cholmeley, Hugh, 1st Baronet 1600 births 1657 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Baronets in the Baronetage of England People from Yorkshire

Hugh Hugh is the English-language variant of the masculine given name , itself the Old French variant of '' Hugo (name)">Hugo'', a short form of Continental Germanic Germanic name">given names beginning in the element "mind, spirit" (Old English ). ...

English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English exiles Members of Gray's Inn People educated at Beverley Grammar School North York Militia officers Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War Cholmeley baronets