Author: Andrew Polkey

Orders of the day, Volume 34, Issue 4, Aug/Sept 2002

Continuing an account of the Royalist memorials in the Lucy Chapel of Christ Church Cathedral in the city of Oxford, part1 of which appeared in “Orders of the Daye” for March/April 2002.

Oxford’s Cavalier Mausoleum (part 1) is available here

(5) SIR WILLIAM PENNYMAN

Born in 1607, William matriculated from Christ Church Oxford in 1623 aged 16 and in the same year was admitted to the Inner Temple. He became a member of the Council of the North, a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire, MP for Richmond in the Parliament of 1640 and a supporter of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. With his cousin James Pennyman, he brought a troop of horse to join Rupert’s regiment at the raising of the royal standard at Nottingham, together with a regiment of foot that was to serve the King throughout the war with loyalty and distinction. In April 1643 he was made Governor of Oxford, but soon fell victim to the virulent plague (Morbus Epidemus) – probably typhus – and by August, aged only 36, he was dead. His monument, translated from the Latin, is as follows:-

“Here is buried William Pennyman, Baronet, distinguished for his knightly rank, and fortune just as exalted, outstanding for his obedience and loyalty to the best and also most cruelly treated of princes, King Charles. Who, when of late the abominable rebellion began, immediately joined the Royalist party and, when his most serene king was otherwise unarmed, robbed of fleet, weaponry, fortresses and every warlike protection, and armed only with the bare title of royalty, was first to raise by his own efforts, and equip him with two companies, one of cavalry, the other of infantry, which he also commanded in person; and not long after given the command of the garrison of Oxford. In this task he performed so well that neither his predecessor ASHLEY (Sir Jacob Astley) nor his successor ASHTON (Sir Arthur Aston) (both men of warlike renown) could obscure his brilliance. At last, carried off by the plague fever in the prime of his life and distinctions, he died a premature death, leaving sadness and a sense of loss in the hearts of all whom, because of his charm and friendliness, he had deservedly held most dear. He died on 22nd August 1643, winning a tomb in the same House as that wherein he had first begun his education. He lies buried in this tomb who had deserved so well.

Anna his most dear wife, who with her rich inheritance brought to a family already honourable, the brilliance of the families of Byron and Conyers. She lived together with him in the closest union, without any differences, and when in the end her husband died, spurning the delays of so sad a separation, she seized the opportunity of a sickness and eagerly and fearlessly rejected the word of life so that she might even thus be restored to her husband. She died on the 13th July 1644 and was brought to the tomb of her most-loved husband on the 18th July.”

(6) SIR PETER WYCHE

Wyche came from a family of London merchants who had made their money in the East India trade. He was knighted in 1626 and became a gentleman of the Privy Council in 1628 and was then sent as England’s ambassador to the Ottoman Empire where he negotiated some valuable trading privileges. On his return to England in 1641 he was appointed Controller of the Royal Household in a vain attempt to reduce the King’s expenses, but he ended up having to lend Charles large sums of money.

His monument is perhaps the most extravagant in the collection, with its four weeping cherubs, though Pevsner, unimpressed, dismissed it as “a grisly cartouche”.

“To Peter Wyche, knight, son of Richard and grandson of Richard. He was born at Davenham in the county of Cheshire. He was ambassador for 12 years at the court of the Sultan of Turkey (the Sublime Porte), Controller of the Household, and member of the late King Charles’ Privy Council. When civil war began, he was parted from the company of the King his lord only by death in the year 1643.

And to his wife, a wise and devout lady, daughter of William Meredith, knight of Wrexham in the county of Denbigh. (The pair) were blessed with numerous progeny (of whom there survive only Jane, Countess of Bath, and Peter and Cyril, Knights). (They were) inseparable companions in life and almost death as well (for they were both carried off on the same day and hour, in the same place and of the same sickness) but (it was) only after a sad separation of 17 years (that) they were at last reunited in this tomb, that they might pass together into Heaven.

To his most dear parents, Cyril set this up.”

(7) LORD CHIEF JUSTICE BANKES

A north countryman from Keswick, Bankes was a successful lawyer and became Attorney General in 1634, having to try Hampden’s famous ship money case. He then became Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, then a privy councillor, and so followed his majesty from Westminster to York in 1642. He seems to have been respected by both parties in the Civil War; however though the King frequently consulted him, Banke’s advice was rarely followed.

Before hostilities in 1635, Bankes bought Corfe Castle in Dorset as a second home, and left it in the care of his wife Lady Mary, but following the outbreak of war the castle was besieged on two separate occasions by Parliamentarian troops. Lady Bankes organised and led the defenders and she herself hurled stones and hot embers on the enemy, killing or wounding 100 men in the process. The castle was finally taken when during a second siege in 1645/6, she was betrayed by a member of the garrison who let in the enemy at night. Her bravery and courage were recognised by the Roundheads and she was allowed to depart in safety. She outlived her husband John, dying shortly after the Restoration, and was buried at Ruislip church where their son Ralph raised a fitting memorial with an edifying inscription in English.

His father’s memorial however, was erected in 1654 and in Latin:

“In this spot in the hope of life to come, lie the remains of John Bankes, who was a student in the Queen’s College in this University, a most distinguished knight, Attorney General, Lord Chief Justice (Head Judge of the Common Bench), and a member of King Charles’ Privy Council. He displayed an outstanding measure of skill, integrity and loyalty. From Christ’s Church to Christ’s House he passed over in the month of December on 28th, in the year of our Lord 1644, his own age being 55.”

(8) LORD KEEPER LITTLETON

Perhaps the most professionally eminent of the Royalist dead buried here, Littleton was really a moderate who found the Civil War a great trial. He disapproved of the King’s attempt to seize the Five Members and would not affix the seal to the proclamation for their arrest. His epitaph refers to King Charles as “the blessed martyr”. It should be remembered that at the Restoration, Charles II decreed that 30th January – the date of his father’s execution – should be kept as a day of solemn fasting, and that till as late as 1858, special church services took place on that day to commemorate a King who many believed had died to uphold the doctrines of the Anglican Church.

Another commemorative memorial to Littleton can be seen at the Inner Temple Church, London, where there is an armorial brass in memory of him as Lord Keeper, and also Treasurer of the Inn during 1634-38. The Lucy chapel monument, again in Latin, reads as follows:

“Sacred to his memory.
Here lies Edward Littleton, Baron of Mountslowe, in the County of Shropshire, keeper of the Great Seal of England, eldest son of Edward Littleton of Henley in the same country, knight. He was sprung from the ancient line of Thomas Littleton, knight of the Bath, who, under Edward IV, was a judge who successfully codified the Municipal Laws (? Charters) of England (which hitherto had never been edited) in a handbook – a work to be revered for all generations to come."

To return to our Edward Littleton (whose fame was no less than that of his forebears) – his education brought no little honour to this royal college. From here he was called to the Inner Temple, where he both earned and gained all the highest distinctions. In Parliament and at the Bar he was most deservedly respected. When the madness of Civil War broke out, he clung with all his heart and soul to the cause of the blessed martyr Charles I. In the abominable siege of this city (Oxford) he was an energetic champion of the King’s authority and assumed the military cloak as Troop leader (literally, champion of a thousand), as suited to Mars (God of War) as once he was Mercury (God of Eloquence). Where he had lain the foundations that foreshadowed his glory to come, here at last, growing old amid the clash of arms, he breathed out his noble soul in the year of our lord 1645. That most eloquent and excellent man, Doctor Hammond, Public Orator of the University of Oxford, pronounced the funeral oration.

Anna Littleton, his only daughter and heir, widow of Thomas Littleton, Baronet, in due devotion had this memorial set up 1683.”

The author acknowledges the help of Jim Godfrey, Canon’s Verger of Christ Church Cathedral, and the translations of J Eggleshaw in the preparation of this article.