Richard was born to Richard and Beatrice (nee Gilderson) in 1617, the year that William Shakespeare died. His mother died when he could barely walk and his father remarried the widow Alice Hare in 1623.
Charles the 1st (1600-1649) was a closet Catholic. A Scot (and thus King of England and of Scotland - the countries were not yet joined) he married Henrietta Maria of France, a devout catholic, and the scene was set for trouble both Protestant England and Protestant Scotland.
Charles attempted to change certain church rituals in the late 1630s to move them closer to those of Rome. This caused uproar, and in Scotland led, in 1639, to what was called The Bishops War with England
Charles could not raise an army to serve abroad (and Scotland was abroad) without Parliament voting him the money, and Parliament would not, but he had residual Royal powers that empowered him to impress an army, as his father had (see Henry Ginn in the Thirty Years War - post of 19th July 2012 ) in 1625.
The problem with impressment was that money would be short, he could not recruit the Trained Bands (what passed for a "regular army" in England) and the men impressed were generally those chosen by each parish "the drunks, rogues and rascals" allegedly.
So long ago that I have lost the note book, I discovered that Richard Ginn of Ware was impressed for the English Army in 1639.
The English army raised numbered about 15,000 men plus a few smaller units and in general were led by inadequate officers. The conscripts were largely untrained, and because many of them were not from the Trained Bands (and thus could not get access to their arsenals) they were poorly armed, often with only bows and arrows. Many as it happened sympathised with the Scots and were thus unruly and morale low. By contrast the Scots were led by professionals and their clansmen used to fighting - mostly each other !
It is said that the Bishops War was setting the scene for, even the beginning of, the English Civil War that officially kicked off in 1642, the Scots and Parliamentary English against Charles the 1st and his Royalists.
So with a quick bout of training the English army marched to Berwick upon Tweed on the Scottish borders, where they were met by Charles the 1st who immediately declared he had made peace with the Scots, not wishing to risk immediate defeat. Thus was the calibre of this man, which obviously impressed itself on Richard Ginn.
Richard returned to Ware and in about 1641 he married a Jane, the marriage entry is lost.
Now Jane Ginn was a bit of a scold, a lively piece, she turns up in the Hertfordshire Quarter Sessions records a couple of times, mostly commenting on the morals (or lack of them) of other women of her acquaintance !
But she and Richard settled in Ware and had a son, also Richard in January 1643 who died shortly afterwards. At this point they were childless. Then things turned a bit lively, even for Jane.
The English Civil War kicked off in the summer of 1642 when Charles the 1st raised his standard at Oxford, and after a slow start he began to gather a large army.
It is difficult to tell this story in the context of a blog post, but the Eastern counties of England (including Hertfordshire) and, crucially London, declared for Parliament. The Eastern counties clubbed together and formed the Eastern Association, which with London by and large supplied most of the men and money for the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War.
So what you had initially were, on the Royalist side a lot of aristocracy and gentry who had weapons and knew how to use them, (some like Prince Rupert being professional soldiers) against a Parliamentary mish mash of minor gentry, yeomen's sons and tradesmen who had scarcely wielded much more than a pen or a pitchfork in their lives.
After a series of actions which were indecisive or went badly for Parliament, the parliamentary side began to sort themselves out.
The Eastern Association raised an army under the Earl of Manchester. Other generals, Waller, the Earl of Essex and, in time, Oliver Cromwell also were put in charge of armies or serious commands. At various times Parliament could have three armies in the field all over England, together with troops for garrisons in major towns or strategic points.
Sir John Norwich of Brampton in Northants was born in 1613. He was scarcely older than Richard. He was made a Colonel of Horse by Parliament in 1642, and in the summer of 1643 this guy turned up in Hertford marketplace, I know it well, and raised his standard to enlist a regiment of volunteers to be known as Sir John Norwich's Regiment of Horse.
Many of the men that joined up came from Hertford and Ware (you can trace their names in the Muster) and Richard here was of course one of the men that enlisted **
Norwich managed to recruit three troops, each of about 90 men, thus about just short of 300 men all told. I even know the arrangement which was as follows
Colonel's Sir John Norwich's Troop - Sir John Norwich assisted by Lieutenant Nicholas Deane and Cornet John Edwin. There were three corporals, a trumpeter or two and 113 men in total in this troop.
Captain Thomas Brudnall's Troop - Captain Thomas Brudnall assisted by Lieutenant John Holmes and Cornet Joseph Barber. There were three corporals, a couple of trumpeters and 88 men in total in this troop. By early 1645 Brudnall was a Major in the regiment. In late early 1645 the Cromwellian Association say that Brudnall was replaced by Oliver Ingoldsby of the Buckinghamshire Ingoldsbys. Oliver's mother was a Cromwell and he was a cousin of the Oliver Cromwell and brother of Richard Ingoldsby one of those who signed the Execution Warrant for Charles the 1st. Oliver became a Major under Norwich, joined the New Model Army (below) in spring 1645 and was killed at the siege of Pendennis Castle in 1646.
Captain Thomas Moulson's Troop - Captain Thomas Moulson assisted by Lieutenant Simon Ayloffe and Cornet Robert Fitzwilliams. There were three corporals, a couple of trumpeters and a total of 71 men in this troop.
Each troop was divided into three squadrons of about 25- 30 men and each squadron was given a Corporal (an officer - but - the term was in development - "non commissioned") to manage it. The Corporal scouted ahead, managed the squadron and its duties each day, arranged for it's food and lodging each night. Richard Ginn was made a Corporal of one of the squadrons of Captain Moulson's Troop.
Moulson's Troop had a square red flag (cornet) emblazoned with a white scroll and it's motto "Pro patria lacerata pugno" the literally pugnacious - "A torn fist for my country"
The Parliamentary forces were effectively divided into three groups. Firstly there were the field armies - the men that we would call "the regulars" the men who marched all over the country fighting the main battles. Then there were the auxiliaries, the men who joined units that were to fight outside their county of origin, but usually used for garrison duty or on patrol. Then there were the Trained Bands or the Militia, the "home guard" if you like, they were often part time and only required for defence in their home county and there was often a lot of trouble if they were asked to serve elsewhere.
Norwich's men were initially (until August 1644) in the auxiliary forces. Due to the amazing survival of a booklet from 1652 ** which is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford no less (and has Richard's name in it) I know that that the Regiment were embodied and started active service on 17th October 1643. The pay list survives for the year ending on the quarter day 25th March 1644 and the troops were on active service for every day and the accounts of the cost of the Regiment show that the principal weapon (they each also had a sword and a brace of pistols slung either side of the front of their horse) was a harquebus, a form of matchlock carbine, below.
We know that when the Royalists took Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, Norwich's Regiment were ordered to garrison Hitchin and patrol the area to guard the approach to Hertfordshire and London. Norwich used the opportunity to recruit Buckinghamshire men and those from Bedfordshire and later Northants, his home county, to form further units which were brigaded with the Hertfordshire men. At times he commanded 500 Horse.
Richard Ginn and his mates were later used to garrison and patrol the approach to Godmanchester.
Things get interesting in the summer of 1644, because Parliament ordered Norwich to take his regiment to Abingdon in Oxfordshire, which was close to the Royalist centre of power at Oxford and which changed hands between the Cavaliers and Parliament several times during the First English Civil War (1642-6). Norwich refused - he said that his men were under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Association and, specifically, were part of the Eastern Association Army and thus under the orders of the Earl of Manchester (below).
By 1644 the divisions in the Parliamentary faction were beginning to show. There were the moderates like Manchester who felt that the King was the King and Parliament would at some point have to come to terms with him. On the other side were the Puritans and Oliver Cromwell who felt that there was no chance of coming to terms with Charles, he would either have to be deposed or killed, likely both.
So when Norwich refused an order he created a rift. Parliament said "fair enough" and ordered Norwich's regiment into the field army of the Earl of Manchester in August 1644.
It is impossible to tell this story in the context of a blog post, and interested readers will have to explore further, but as part of the Eastern Association Army it is clear that Sir John Norwich's Horse were at the the stand off at Donnington Castle in the Autumn of 1644 and the Second Battle of Newbury where they charged under the command of Oliver Cromwell, Cromwell being Manchester's subordinate at that battle.
The Second Battle of Newbury was not a great triumph for Parliament. They outnumbered the Royalists but made a mess of the use of the terrain and Cromwell's charge, for once, failed. The three Parliamentary army generals quarrelling and competing , Manchester, Waller and the Earl of Essex, sealed the fate of the battle and ultimately led to the creation of the New Model Army (below).
The rifts between the Parliamentarian factions boiled over after Newbury and the Cromwellian supporters won. It was decided that all of the aristocratic leaders like the Earls of Manchester and Essex were out and the men who believed in the War "they know for what they fight and the fight for what they know" were in. The exiting motley of armies with different commanders were to be reformed with the best men as the New Model Army, highly trained and motivated and in uniform regiments and under one man, Fairfax.
So in April 1645 all of the Eastern Association Army regiments were "reduced" some men likely went home, but most went into the New Model Army which was now the only field army, or went into garrison duty. Officers apart, it is impossible to find out what happened to any individual.
I do not believe that Richard joined the New Model, because although he was clearly away from Ware for three years, save for short periods mostly in the winter when the records suggest he was billeted in Hertfordshire, he was back home in Ware at the end of 1646, or at least I think he was. Whilst the First Civil War ended in 1646, the New Model continued as a unit, it was not disbanded.
A more plausible scenario is that he stayed with Sir John Norwich. Contemporaries of Sir John suggested he was a fine soldier and very popular. I have been unable to locate a portrait. The Naseby Battlefield Project tell me that Norwich was effectively demoted because of his loyalty to Manchester. In April 1645 he was made the Commander of Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire, his home county (below)
We know that Norwich was allocated some troopers and infantry to garrison the Castle - did Richard follow him ? The Royalists with their main army advanced towards Rockingham and subsequently Naseby in June 1645 and some of the Parliamentary troopers of various units fell back piecemeal on Rockingham and with "his own troop" Norwich is said to in total have accumulated 500 cavalry in his garrison.
Mike Ingram of the Naseby Battlefield Project tells me that research that his group have been doing, including metal detecting cavalry pistol balls and studying contemporary accounts (his work written up in 2018) suggests that Sir John Norwich and his 500 men played a significant role both before and at the end of the Battle of Naseby.
The New Model Army turned up at Naseby in June 1645. Norwich had bravely taken his 500 cavalry, leaving his foot to garrison Rockingham/ to shadow and harass the Royal Army. The New Model crushed the royalist army at Naseby, and Charles 1st gathered his remaining cavalry including those of Prince Rupert, raised his standard and made a stand on and around Moot Hill (below)
The cavalry of the New Model were engaged elsewhere or their horses blown, but Sir John Norwich and his men engaged the King's cavalry including his Lifeguards here, there are spent cavalry pistol balls all around. Standards were taken. Naseby was won and the First English Civil War effectively over.
Was Richard at Naseby ? We will never know. I think it likely.
Richard would seem to have been back in Ware in 1646, at least by the end of that year. He had had a daughter Elizabeth in May 1644 and apart from short visits would not have seen home much. But the army paid him 17s 6d a week which was not bad.
He and Jane continued to have children, at least another four and then all settled down.
I sadly have no idea what Richard did for a living, a workman of some kind possibly a Brazier. He had one hearth in 1663, so likely lived in a cottage he did not own. Jane died in 1680 and Richard in 1683 aged 65.
Richard and Jane had six children
Richard - there were two - the first died in infancy and the second was born in 1649 and is untraced. He may have died in infancy, the register in the second half of the 1650s is lost.
James - died infancy
Sarah - born in 1654 - she is untraced
Jane - she sadly died of the plague in the Great Plague of 1665 - she was 17. Her burial entry is marked "P" for The Pest.
Elizabeth - born in 1644 is untraced
** Richard's service is mentioned in Musters recorded in Alan Thomson's "The impact of the First Civil War on Hertfordshire 1642-7" (Hertfordshire Record Publications) and SP28 130 Part II (National Archives) and in a remarkable booklet by William Bagwell in 1652 (published on the order of Oliver Cromwell) which dealt with alleged non payments from the Hertfordshire Committee towards the payment of the wages of Norwich's regiment in 1643/4,
Acknowledgements: I am indebted for information supplied by the Cromwellian Association and, in particular, that provided by Mike Ingram of the Naseby Battlefield Project.
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