The Men of the Regiment

From their creation in 1573, it was intended that the trained bands should be recruited from the ranks of artisans and minor gentry or their sons, men whom the state felt it could trust to own and train with the latest weapons. This appears to have been the case with the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands.

Many of the men had trades which were common to each of the companies (coopers, tailors, smiths, brewers, victuallers, shoemakers, skinners, butchers, etc), but there were some that reflected the nature of the employment within the locality. The maritime companies of Whitechapel, Limehouse and Wapping, for example, included men who were chandlers, pulleymakers, ropemakers, sawyers and nailmakers, the clothmaking centres of Shoreditch and Spitalfields produced large numbers of silkthrusters, weavers and spinners, and the areas of pasture land in Bethnal Green and Hackney provided market gardeners, husbandmen and several yeomen. There were also those from across the Hamlets who were involved in more specialised occupations: pewterers, gunsmiths, a cabinetmaker and a spectacle maker, and even a gentleman from Ratcliffe, Cleere Garter, who served in the ranks. Many of them were married with children and aged in their thirties and forties by the time of the Civil War, probably older on average than the soldiers who served in regular regiments of foot.

The regiment's company commanders included three brewers (Colonel Francis Zachary, Sergeant-Major Abraham Woodroffe and Captain Leonard Leonards), a tallow chandler (Captain Thomas Cutlett) and a schoolmaster (Captain Thomas Salmon). All of the senior officers and many of the more junior ones (from lieutenants to sergeants) were important figures within their own parishes and held local office as select vestrymen, overseers of the poor, parish constables or scavengers. The regiment in the field appears to have been a microcosm of the society from which its officers and men were drawn.

The London Trained Bands were amongst the largest regiments of foot raised by either side during the Civil War. In September 1643, at a muster of all of the available Trained Band and Auxiliary regiments at Finsbury Fields, each had a strength of 1,000 officers and men or more and one, the Westminster Liberty Regiment, numbered over 2,000. However, when called upon to fight, many decided that their homes and livelihoods were more deserving of their attention, and numbers fell significantly. When the muster of the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands was taken at Guildford in April 1644, the regiment numbered 91 officers and 780 men. Some 424 men, over one-third of those who had marched through Finsbury Fields just five months earlier, did not join the colours but remained at home risking the censure of their neighbours and a heavy fine (anything from five to twenty shillings), up to ten days' imprisonment, or even closure of their business premises.

Some almost certainly paid for a substitute to serve in their place: the East Smithfield and St Katharine's Company muster roll includes at least two men, William Abraham and John Chelsey, who are described in the parish registers as labourers, men who were unlikely to have the means to be assessed as worthy for service in the trained bands. In spite of their reduced numbers, however, the Hamleteers who fought with Sir William Waller in the Oxford campaign played a key role in preserving his army from destruction.

The officers and men of the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands may have been of a radical inclination. The eastern suburbs of London had a reputation for fervent Puritanism. The first Calvinistic or Particular Baptist church in England was formed in Wapping in 1633 and an Independent gathered church, ministered by William Greenhill, flourished in Mile End from the 1640s onwards. Other notable radicals in the area included Thomas Edwards, author of 'Gangraena', who was guest lecturer at St Botolph without Aldgate throughout the period of Charles I's 'personal rule', and Calybute Downing, vicar of Hackney, who preached a sermon at the Artillery Garden in 1640 upholding the legality of taking up arms against the King.

The area was also noted for its resistance to central authority. The jurisdiction of the City of London did not run to the suburbs and liberties and large numbers of tradesmen, including many Dutch and Flemish immigrants fleeing religious persecution, set up or moved their businesses here to avoid the burdens of high City rents and compulsory apprenticeship through the City Livery Companies.

The trophies (flags) of each of the regiment's seven companies provide a further indication of a radical frame of mind. Alone of the London Trained Bands, they contained a defiant religious motto: 'Jehova Providebit' (God Will Provide) on a field of red, a colour which in heraldic terms signified 'Justice or a noble and worthy anger in the defence of Religion or the oppressed.'

The Tower Hamlets Trayned Bandes in 1644

The East Smithfield and St Katharine's Company

Captain Leonard Leonards

Leonard Leonards, originally Leonard Lennarts, was born in the Duchy of Julich and arrived in England towards the end of the second decade of the seventeenth century. The Lennarts family were established brewers in their homeland and this was a trade they continued once they arrived in London, with notable success. The first indication of Leonard's residence in East Smithfield is the Lay Subsidy Return for 1621, where he is noted as a brewer's servant in the brewhouse owned by his uncle, Peter Lennarts. As his name does not appear in the previous return for 1617, it is reasonable to conclude that he arrived in England and settled in the area between these two dates. Leonard appears to have been the third member of the Lennarts family to make the journey across the North Sea, following his uncle and brother, another Peter Lennarts. During this period Julich was a territory governed by the United Provinces but a dispute over the succession brought the Duchy to centre stage in the Thirty Years' War. The city of Julich was stormed by Dutch and English forces in 1610, and remained in the front line of the conflict for the next few years.

On the death of Peter Lennarts the elder in 1632, Leonard took over the Lennarts brewhouse in East Smithfield in partnership with Matthias Otten, while Peter the younger in a similar partnership with William Paggen, ran the large Witterongle brewhouse in Thames Street, All Hallows the Great. The 1634 Visitation of London provides a genealogical table of the Lennarts family which shows that they, the Paggens and the Witterongles were all of Dutch origin and related by marriage, with Peter Lennarts the younger and William Paggen both married to members of the Witterongle family. The Ottens too were Dutch and the interrelationship between all of the families points to a shared determination to found a brewing dynasty in the City of London and its eastern suburbs. The Visitation also shows that Leonard and Peter the younger were the sons of Dennis and Gertrude Lennarts and the grandsons of another Leonard Lennarts.

As aliens, Peter Lennarts the elder (1604), Peter the younger (1614) and Leonard (1622) each applied for, and was granted, free denizenship in England, which permitted them to pursue their business interests, and Leonard himself was fully naturalised in April 1642 in the lead up to the Civil War. Judging by their signatures, only Leonard anglicized his surname to 'Leonards'. They were all admitted to the Brewers' Company of London as freemen, Leonard last of all in 1629. Leonard also became a member of the Society of the Artillery Garden in 1623, one of only three officers of the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands to be admitted, the others being William Chapman (1627) and Thomas Salmon (1640).

By the 1640s Leonard had become an important local figure. He was a member of the Select Vestry of St Botolph without Aldgate for the liberty of East Smithfield and in 1640 was elected foreman of the Court Leet. For several years he was also one of the auditors of the Vestry accounts. The records suggest that he was a reasonably wealthy man: his premises in East Smithfield were assessed in 1638 to pay annual tithes of £30 to the church and his contribution in the 1642 Assessment was 42s. 8d, amongst the highest levied in the liberty. He, along with two other Dutch and Flemish brewers in East Smithfield, provided the largest donations of £5 each to the collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland in 1642.

When the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands, at the request of the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets, were doubled in size in 1643 to become a full regiment, Leonard was the first of the captains to be appointed, following a petition to the Lords and Commons from citizens in East Smithfield and St Katharine's. He was described as 'being earnestly desired, and recommended by all the Inhabitants, as a Man very worthy of that Trust.'

However, when the regiment was called out on active service in April 1644 to take part in the Oxford campaign, he was not present. Command of the East Smithfield and St Katharine's company was assumed instead by Christopher Gore, who was probably the lieutenant. It is not clear why Leonard did not take the field. One possibility is that he was simply too busy brewing his quota of beer for the Parliamentarian navy for the summer campaign. In February 1644 he was one of eight brewers in and around the capital who were contracted by the Committee of the Navy to provide a total of 3,730 tuns of beer. His own share was 1,000 tuns, or 252,000 gallons, over a quarter of the total. The regiment's major, Abraham Woodroffe, was another of the brewers involved in the contract. His share, however, was a more modest two hundred tuns and he was able to take the field with his company.

Both men suffered financially with the introduction of the Excise on the brewing of beer in 1643. Woodroffe was briefly imprisoned for debt in King's Bench prison in 1645 and Leonard was summoned as a delinquent before the bar of the House of Commons in August 1647 over his arrears. He was finally able to clear his debt of £331.8s.4d owing to the Excise in August 1648 when he received £534.12s.11d from the Collectors of the Customs of Ipswich and Colchester, which was recouped by the Committee for taking the Accounts of the Kingdom.


His name is not amongst the list of the regiment's officers at the funeral of the Earl of Essex in October 1646 and it is possible that he was by this time a member of the Tower Hamlets Sub-Comittee of the London Militia Committee responsible for raising and paying the local forces. He was certainly recommended for a seat when the suburban Sub-Committees were reconstituted in 1648 in the year following the Army's seizure of London.





Captain Christopher Gore

Christopher Gore had been associated with the band of St Katharine by the Tower since at least 1640 when he was listed amongst the members who were refusing to pay coat and conduct money for soldiers recruited for the Second Bishops' War, claiming that by ancient custom their duties at the Tower fulfilled their military obligation. It was he who assumed command of the East Smithfield and St Katharine's Company when it marched out to fight in Sir William Waller's Oxford campaign of spring-summer 1644 and it was with this company that Richard Coe, the military diarist, marched from April to July that year. Unusually for officers of the London Trained Bands, Christopher was not a member of the Society of the Artillery Garden, but since he had served with the company for some years prior to the regiment being selected for active service, he must have been considered to be a suitable replacement for Captain Leonard Leonards.

Indeed, Coe noted that during Waller's pursuit of the King, it was a commanded party led by Captain Christopher Gore, made up of two files from each of the regiment's companies, together with a similar party from Colonel Ralph Weldon's regiment, which with 'willingnesse and courage' crossed the river in punts and outflanked the Royalist defensive position at Newbridge. As a result of this action, Waller's army was able to seize the bridge and cross over in pursuit of the Oxford Army, and "tooke 30 prisoners upon quarter and 40 more among which were divers Irish, and a woman who was whipt and turned away". Clearly he was a very capable officer.

Christopher remained the company captain in 1645 and 1646 and possibly for longer as he was still referred to by his military rank at the burial of his first wife, Susan, in 1650.

He died in June 1656. His will, which was written on his death bed, described him as 'being weake and sick of Bodie but of perfect minde and memorie'. The will refers to him as 'esquire' and the parish burial register states only that he was a 'gentleman', and nothing further is known about his occupation. He seems to have been a man of reasonable means if not actually wealthy. In the 1642 Assessment, he was living at Hall's Bridge in St Katharine by the Tower and paid 8s, slightly less than the 10s paid by Sergeant Edward Amery, a ships' chandler, and a little more than the 5s.6d by Corporal John Vermulen, a tailor, who were near neighbours. He also contributed £1 to the collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland.

His will mentioned a property in King Henry Yard in East Smithfield, presumably the house in Shipbrewers' Fields in which he died, and two others adjoining each other in St Katharine's. His second wife, Mary, was the chief beneficiary and bequests were also made to two surviving sisters and his stepson, Edward.





Ensign Thomas Teare

Identifying the company's ensign, Thomas Teare, is more problematic as there were two men of the same name living in the parish of St Botolph without Aldgate during this period. The first was a smith, who was married to Margrett Teare and lived on Tower Hill; the second was a miller, married to Joan Teare and lived in East Smithfield.

Since the Reformation, St Botolph's comprised an Upper End, made up of the four precincts of Houndsditch, 'next unto Aldgate', 'next to the Barrs' and 'next the Tower hill', and a Lower End which was the Liberty of East Smithfield, formerly monastic land owned by the Abbey of St Mary Graces. It seems likely that Thomas Teare the miller was the Hamleteer as the Upper End provided trained band soldiers for the City of London Red Regiment rather than the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands.

Little is known of Thomas. He was living in Nightingale Lane in East Smithfield in 1646 when his daughter, Marie, was buried, although the family appear to have moved into the liberty from the neighbouring parish of St Dunstan Stepney sometime after a son, Thomas, was baptised there in 1637.

He is not listed in the 1642 Assessment, for which the exemption limits were set at £1 in land, £3 in goods and £10 in wages, and he is not recorded as making a contribution for Distressed Protestants in Ireland, so he may not have had much in the way of ready money.

When Christopher Gore was promoted to captain in May 1644 while the regiment was at Farnham, Thomas Teare received his own step to lieutenant and Edward Amery, the senior sergeant, to Thomas' vacated rank of ensign. This was still the position in the summer of 1645 when Thomas added 'Lieut' after his signature on a petition from members of the regiment and citizens of the Tower Hamlets, calling for the release of Sergeant-Major Abraham Woodroffe from the King's Bench debtors' prison.

Thomas did not survive his service with the regiment in the Oxford campaign very long as he died in October 1648.



The Sergeants

The muster roll of the company, dated 16th April 1644, shows four sergeants on the strength:


Edward Amery

Although there is no record of baptism for Edward Amery in the parishes of St Botolph without Aldgate or St Katharine by the Tower, he was certainly resident in St Katharine's from at least the mid 1630s. He was married twice: to Ann Felgate in 1637 (parish unknown) and in 1638 by licence to Hester Lisle in St Margaret Patten in the City of London. Alhtough the marriage to Ann lasted less than eight months, a child, Edward, was born but died in infancy, three months after Ann herself. Edward and Hester has a further six children, though again none appear to have survived to adulthood.

By occupation Edward was a ships' chandler, supplying merchant ships and the navy with cordage, sailcloth, gunpowder and other stores. Like Lawrence Harris, he was literate, and surviving signatures show that he had a clear, precise hand, although he spelt his surname as 'Amrey'. A surviving warrant from September 1640 shows him taking delivery of 18 barrels of gunpowder from the Tower Stores. His was one of a series of warrants issued around this time to chandlers and grocers of the City of London and its suburbs to supply ships and replenish magazines in Gloucester, Southampton, Yarmouth and a number of southern counties, probably as a general rearming of the kingdom after the disastrous Second Bishops' War. In 1642 he was noted as living in premises at Hall's Bridge in St Katharine's, presumably above his chandler's shop, and was a near neighbour of Captain Christopher Gore and Corporal John Vermulen.

The business appears to have been prosperous. Edward was able to donate fifteen shillings to the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland, one of the highest in the precinct and, of the St Katharine's Hamleteers, second only to Christopher Gore. He was also noted in the 1642 Assessment Roll as being liable for a contribution of ten shillings. Of the Hamleteers who were subject to the assessment, only Leonard Leonards (42s 8d) and Benjamin Sadler (10s 8d) were rated at a higher level.

In addition to his business interests, Edward served throughout the 1630s and 1640s as a member of the Court Leet of St Katharine's and in 1643 was elected to the office of scavenger for the precinct with the responsibility to appoint, supervise and pay the parish raker, who cleaned the nightsoil, dust and other detritus from the streets.

His connection with the trained bands of St Katharine's preceded the Civil War. He was named in a return made by the Middlesex Justices of the Peace in July 1640 of members of the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands who refused to pay coat and conduct money for soldiers listed for the Second Bishops' War, claming that by ancient privilege they fulfilled their military obligation to the state through their duties as garrison of the Tower. Christopher Gore was another of the defaulters named. No indication is given of either man's rank at this date. Interestingly, of the eight men of the St Katharine's contingent who were listed, these are the only two who were still serving in 1644. It would appear that the defaulters won the argument, as in May 1655 the then Lieutenant of the Tower, Colonel John Barkstead, and the officers of the army garrison, petitioned the Admiralty Commissioners, also citing 'ancient privileges' which exempted them from paying assessments. Barkstead's petition, however, was unsuccessful and the warrant for payment was enforced.

Edward died in November 1653 and Hester survived him by less than a fortnight. Having not written a will, and with no widow and apparently no surviving children, letters of administration published later in the year directed that his creditors should be the beneficiaries of his estate.


Lawrence Harris

Although there are a number of Harrises in the registers of both parishes, there is no record in either of Lawrence's baptism, which suggests that he migrated into the area from elsewhere. His marriage to Margaret, probably in the early to mid 1630s, also took place in another parish, most likely Margaret's own parish of residence.

The first reference to his being located in East Smithfield is in the Lay Subsidy Return for 1635, which shows him working as a brewer's servant to Leonard Leonards. Between 1636 and 1646, six children were baptised and Lawrence's career can be followed from these entries. His occupation as brewer's servant is confirmed in the baptismal and burial registers in 1636 and 1639, while in 1638 he is described as a brewer. Although this may be a clerical error, such an appointment would make sense. Leonard Leonards himself, as the owner of the brewhouse, is unlikely to have been involved in the day to day business of brewing beer. He is more likely to have employed the services of a brewmaster to take on the task. It is clear from the 1642 Assessment Roll and the list of subscribers to the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland in the same year, that Lawrence had more disposable income than most in East Smithfield, more than was likely for a servant of a lower order, and his assessment in the East Smithfield Tithe Roll in 1638, to pay tithes to the church of £5 per year, was at the higher end of the range of the £2-£6 per year levied on the majority of properties in the liberty.

Sometime after 1639 Lawrence became a victualler, thus moving on from brewing beer to selling it (and no doubt increasing his earning potential in the process). This was the profession in which he was engaged at the time of the Oxford campaign in 1644, and it remained so until his death in 1648. Without a record of the date of his baptism, it is impossible to be certain about his age at death, but it seems likely that he was in his thirties or forties. Although left no will, his widow Margaret did, on her death in 1675. She died in possession of a heavily-mortgaged house called 'The Prince of Orange', which she asked to be sold and any remaining monies, after payment of all debts, shared between the surviving children, Eva, Margaret and Lawrence. This property was probably the alehouse in which Lawrence conducted his business in the last few years of his life: the will makes it clear that it was the family's business premises as well as their home and notes that the name was painted on a signboard outside. In view of Lawrence's association with the Dutch-born Leonard Leonards, as both servant and sergeant, a more apt name is hard to imagine.


Phillip Shipton

Again there is no record of a baptism for Phillip Shipton in either parish. The first reference to him living in East Smithfield is the list of subscribers to the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland, which noted his donation of one shilling. He may not have been a particularly wealthy man, however, for his name name does not appear in the 1642 Assessment Roll, for which the exemption limits were set at £1 in land, £3 in goods and £10 in wages. Nor is he named in the East Smithfield Tithe Roll, although he may have been living at the time in one of the scores of multi-occupancy tenements whose inhabitants were not named individually.

The parish registers of St Botolph Aldgate show that in 1645 and 1646 Phillip was a skinner, but by 1647, like Lawrence Harris, he had changed occupation and was now earning a living as a victualler. It is possible that his earlier business was badly affected by the disruption to both supplies and markets caused by the Civil War and that he was forced to apply his talents in another direction.

He was married in St Katharine's in 1645 to Elizabeth Rugman and they had eleven children between 1645 and 1655, most of whom died in infancy. Elizabeth was related to Christopher Gore's wife, Susan Rugman, through the latter's first marriage. In Christopher Gore's will, proved in August 1656, bequests of £10 each were made to the two surviving Shipton children in deference to the Rugman connection. Although the exact relationship is not clear, it would appear that Elizabeth was Susan's daughter, and that therefore Sergeant Phillip Shipton was married to Captain Christopher Gore's stepdaughter.


Peter Rowland

There appear to have been two Peter Rowlands living in East Smithfield during the early 1640s, one a tailor, the other a 'hornbreaker' (presumably involved in preparing horn to be used for lanterns, kitchenware and cutlery). Peter the tailor moved regularly between parishes, finally dying in Wapping in 1649, while Peter the hornbreaker seems to have been resident in East Smithfield throughout his life, so on balance the latter looks the more likely candidate to be the Hamleteer, fulfilling the residency requirement for membership of the East Smithfield detachment.

The son of Humphrey and Hevah Rowland of East Smithfield, Peter was baptised on 18th October 1599 and would therefore have been 44 years old when he marched out with the regiment to take part in the Oxford campaign. He married Margarett Charvell in St Botolph's in 1621 and they had a large family, although again most of the children died in infancy. The family was living in one of the tenements in Cock Alley, East Smithfield, in 1627 but by 1638 they had moved to a self-contained property elsewhere in the liberty. As the tithes due on both residencies in 1638 were broadly in line (a total of £60 for the 19 tenements in Cock Alley compared to £3 for the house), it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the relative success of his business. He had sufficient ready money to donate one shilling to the Collection for the Distressed Protestants in Ireland in 1642, but was not named in the 1642 Assessment Roll.

Peter died in October 1652 aged 53. No will has survived, which may mean that he made provision for his widow and surviving children during his lifetime.



The Corporals

There were four corporals listed in the company muster roll:


John Charter

John Charter was born, lived and was buried in East Smithfield, so his age at the time of the Oxford campaign can be established for certain as 38. He was baptised in 1605, the son of ffrount Charter. The parish clerk made no mention of John's mother in the entry but, after the birth of another son, Henry, ffrount Charter was to appear in the baptismal register again in less auspicious circumstances. In October 1614 a daughter, Margaret, was born out of wedlock. Her surname was given as Charter by the clerk (presumably to ensure that she would be maintained by the father and not the parish) and she was described as 'the reputed daughter of ffrount Charter, the Mother named Elizabeth Dixon, a widow.' Just eight months later, the clerk noted the baptism of Prudence Charter, another illegitimate daughter of ffrount Charter, 'a base lewd fellow of the warde, Begotten of one Agnes Peters, as base as himselfe.'

There is no suggestion in the parish registers that John Charter emulated his father and his own marriage to Susan Novis (or Noris) in 1635, appears to have been childless. John and Susan were married by licence which is probably an indication that Susan was under the age of 21 years at the time. Interestingly, John himself was 29, just one year older than what is considered to be the typical age at which men married in London in the seventeeth century.

The single indication of his occupation is given in the entry for his burial in 1653 at the age of 47. He was a thruster, a senior craftsman involved in the process of silk weaving, a more responsible and higher paid position than the weavers themselves. The burial record shows that at the time of his death, the family lived in Squirrel Alley, East Smithfield, and that they were therefore near neighbours of Private Henry Reading, a needlemaker. John does not appear in the 1642 Assessment Roll, nor was he a subscriber to the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland, so he may have had little in the way of personal goods or ready money.


John Vermulen

There is no record in the parish registers of St Botolph Aldgate or St Katharine by the Tower of the baptism of John Vermulen, so he must have migrated into the area from elsewhere. His name is given in the muster roll as 'Vermule', but in the majority of other sources it is 'Vermulen' and he signed his name John Vermeulen, which is clearly of Dutch or Flemish origin. As he does not feature in any of the Lay Subsidies as an alien living and working in London and the suburbs, and there is no trace of him in the Huguenot Society records as receiving free denizenship or naturalisation, it seems likely that he was born in England, possibly to foreign parents or grandparents.

John was a tailor by occupation and was recorded in 1642 as living at Hall's Bridge in St Katharine's, a near neighbour of Captain Christopher Gore and Sergeant Edward Amery. He was listed in the 1642 Assessment Roll as being liable for a contribution of 5s 6d and the same year donated two shillings to the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland. He was married to Hester and the first entry of the family in the St Katharine parish registers is for the baptism of their son John in February 1651. Two daughters, Hester and Rebekah, were also born to the couple, but neither is recorded in St Katharine's so they must have been baptised elsewhere.

John Vermulen died in February 1657 without leaving a will and letters of administration were issued to Hester the same month. It is only from the will of Hester herself, proved after her own death in 1679, that the extent of the family's personal estate is revealed. Hester left substantial bequests to the two surviving daughters, Hester Coleman and Rebekah Bladwell, John junior presumably having already died. Hester junior received two houses or tenements with gardens and two acres of land in Plumstead in Kent as well as a number of tenements in Artichoke Lane, Stepney, together with the leases and profits which these would yield. Rebekah received a brick kiln with eleven acres of land together with a house called 'The Horseshoe' which had an orchard and two acres of land, also in Plumstead. In addition, she was left two tenements with a garden in Shipbrewers' Fields in East Smithfield held on a long lease from Garret Capell, a distiller and member of the St Katharine's contingent of the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands in 1640. Other bequests included a cheese dish, all of the family linen and eight silver spoons to be divided equally between the four granddaughters. It seems probable that the Plumstead properties had been handed down through Hester senior's family, which shows that John Vermulen made a good marriage. Clearly the Vermulens were very well set compared to many of their peers.


Robert Wilson

Robert Wilson was the other corporal from St Katharine's. The parish registers include entries for his marriage to Ann Murrey in 1632 and the baptism of four children, Robert (1633), Elizabeth (1634), Charles (1638) and a second Robert (1640). Ann, described in the burial register simply as 'The wife of Robert Wilson', died in November 1649 and Robert himself in 1662. Unfortunately there is no record in any of the registers of Robert's occupation and there is no will to incidicate his personal circumstances. However he did feature in the 1642 Assessment Roll which showed him liable for a contribution of eight shillings and he donated five shillings to the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland, so he was clearly not short of ready money.

Like a number of Hamleteers, Robert was a member of the Court Leet of St Katharine's in the 1640s and 1650s and was elected as one of the parish's two constables in 1640 and again in 1643. Unusually, he appears not to have been able to write as he signed the Constables' Accounts with his mark 'RW'. This suggests that the entries were made by a clerk and that he simply confirmed the accuracy of what had been written.

During his first period of office, he was responsible for ensuring that coat and conduct money was collected in St Katharine's to pay for the men pressed for service in the Second Bishops' War. The men of the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands refused to pay en masse, claiming that by ancient privilege their duty as the Tower garrison fulfilled their military obligation. It would appear that the civilians of St Katharine's were equally reluctant as only £8.13s.4d was collected, just half of what had been brought in the previous year, which had paid for twenty one men to be raised to fight in the First Bishops' War. It is not known how many men made up the quota for St Katharine's in 1640 or indeed whether these men were eventually pressed and paid, as no details are given in the Constables' Accounts.

As one of the parish constables in 1643, Robert would have been responsible for ensuring that Captain William Archer's Company of the Tower Hamlets Auxiliaries was mustered and marched out to fight in Sir William Waller's autumn campaign. The regiment's exploits at Basing House and Alton were set down for posterity by William Archer's brother, Elias.


Edward Beeton

Edward Beeton was the second corporal from East Smithfield. The parish registers of St Botolph show that he was married to Isabell and that they had two children, Edward (baptised in 1637) and Ann (baptised and buried in 1645). The marriage did not take place in St Botolph's which suggests that Isabell lived elsewhere and that they probably wed in her parish of residence. Edward must have been married some time before 1637. If he did so at the typical age for London men of 28, this would mean that he was around 35-40 years old when the Tower Hamlets Trained Bands took the field in 1644, in the same age range as John Charter and probably also Robert Wilson.

The baptismal entries indicate that Edward was a butcher. Like John Charter his name is not included in the 1642 Assessment Roll or the Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland, so he may not have had much in the way of disposable income.




Sources:

SP28/121A, parts 3 and 4: Tower Hamlets Trayned Bandes muster rolls, April 1644
Parish registers of St Botolph without Aldgate and St Katharine by the Tower
St Botolph without Aldgate Vestry Accounts
St Katharine by the Tower Constables' Accounts
Wills
1634 Visitation of London
Collection for Distressed Protestants in Ireland 1642
1642 Assessment Roll
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic
Victoria County History, Middlesex
T.C. Dale, The Inhabitants of London in 1638

Photos: John Beardsworth, ashmorevisuals, Rusty Aldwinckle, Craig Wilkinson and ihpics on Flickr

The East Smithfield and St Katharine's Company Muster Roll (16th April 1644)

The seven companies of the regiment were mustered at Guildford on 16th, 17th and 18th April 1644 en route to Sir William Waller's field army at Farnham. The first two companies whose musters were taken, those of Captain Leonard Leonards (East Smithfield and St Katharine's) and Nathaniel Tilley (Shoreditch) were raised in the most westerly of the Tower Hamlets and it is possible that this reflects their order of march from London.

The roll of the East Smithfield and St Katharine's Company, nominally under the command of Captain Leonards, although signed by his lieutenant, Christopher Gore, was written in three separate hands and there is considerable variation between them in the spelling of the men's names. It would appear that the original roll was prepared prior to the regiment marching out of the Tower Hamlets and was then amended following the arrival of latecomers, possibly including paid substitutes for men whose names were subsequently crossed through. Each of the names has an ink dot next to it in the margin of the page, denoting that the company clerk checked it against the soldiers who identified themselves as being present with the colours. Two of the men, Thomas Bemrose and Samwell Cooke, are listed as 'sicke', a few others such as Nicklas Troye, Georg Grenne and Robartt Newes, must have arrived after initially being marked absent, and a handful including Christifar Kinston and Georg Smith, appear not to have turned up at all and have a cross against their name.

According to Elias Archer, a lieutenant in the Tower Hamlets Auxiliaries who fought in Waller's autumn 1643 campaign, the practice was for the muster to be taken and the men receive their first pay around a fortnight after the trained band and auxiliary regiments left home, and this is what happened here. The delay in handing over the men's pay was intended to prevent large numbers of them from returning to their firesides once their purses had been filled. Even so, as Archer recorded, some still managed to desert and make their way back to London and the suburbs. But in this the trained bands and auxiliaries were no worse and almost certainly better than other regiments of the day on all sides, for whom desertion was endemic.

Photo: ashmorevisuals

The Muster Roll

Captain Leonard Leonard
Leiftent Chris: Gore
Ensigne Thos Teare
Sargeants:
Edward Amrey
Lawrence Harris
Phill: Shipton
Peeter Rowland
Drums:
John Leech
Rich: Colt
Sam: Vickars
Corporalls:
John Vermule
John Charter
Robt: Willson
Edw: Beeton
East Smithfield
Will Abraham	Joseff Boultt
Robartt Prise	Richard Maidmoris
John Adams	Edward Grifetts
Thomas Simson	Richard Woodward
Abraham Hewes	Edward Houlding
Robartt Bayley	Samwell ffenney
Thomas Grifen	Antony Willis
Thomas Wright	Richard Morgen
Mihell Snell	Jouje (George?) ffinch
Richard Valison	Thomas Hendarson
John Pindar	Isack Makins
Leonard ffingarman	H(?) Waren (?)
ffrances Cook	Thomas Playne
Henary Tanar	William Hammand
Henary Attbridg	Thomas Sefiands (?)
Gosias Stacey	John Mesengar
Nicklas Hooker	Edward Cortleff
Wathar (Walter) Attwood	L(?) Turnar
Nicklas ffoott	Robartt Kella (?)
Bengiben (Benjamin) Sadlar	Georg Parker
Thomas Eell	Thomas Pamar
Thomas Bemrose	John Eaton
Thomas ffoott	Thomas Padgett
Rich Newton	Georg Moris
James Howard	Rogar Cook
Robartt Paydy	Thomas Mayar
Christifar Kinston	Valintine Portar
John Pamar	Thomas Young
Henary Peak	John Twayne
John Samson	John Hunsdon (?)
John Paskfeld	Richard Baker
Robart James	Richard Pamar
Thomas Bishopp	Bartholmew Glovar
William Kelch	Thomas Kenne?
	Samwell Cooke
	Georg Smith
	John Broke
	Will Thornebery
	John Brounne (Browne)
	Wathar (Walter) Gey
	Samwell M(?)
	Daniell Hakines
	ffrances Ellett
	Henary Cooke
Sant Katharnes
John Cragg	William Asly
Will Long	Will Wilkinson
Thomas Welles	Henary Nickolles
Robartt Line	Will Bedford
Randoll Hunnard	Rosoman Med (Mead)
Richard Burton	Henary Westwood
Robartt Whisell	Rouland Wright
Georg Nickson	Thomas Owen
Edward Moris	Georg Waren
Micheles Ricpon	Edward Rutton
John Gey	Steven Nobbes
Will Search	Robartt Pethar
ffrances Coopar	John Poullen
Thomas Allen	John Lee
ffrances Earchpoll (?)	Robartt Savadg
Robartt Balden	Richard Clarke
Robartt Lowsegroves (?)	Robartt Valyjood (?)
Henary Reding	Robt Wattes/Walles (?)
Nicklas Troye	Edward Pouter (?)
Abraham ffolgatt	John Hackenes
Robert Maththewes	John N(?)
Georg Grenne (Green)	Thomas Hach (Hatch)
Robartt ffrensh	Robart Gardener
Thomas Benett	Thomas Gey
Robartt Newes	Simon Croft
Raffe Boultt	James Nickes
Thomas Lack
Robert Banbery
Thomas Boultten
John Sands
John Chelsey
John Littell
Edward West
John Evenes
Daniell ffoulman
Jacob Pirkenes
James Velle
John Young
John Chappman
Mustered this 16th of Aprill 1644 In Captain Leonards Company one hundered thirtie & five souldiers & fowreteene Officers Signed Christopher Gore Lutenant
Sources: SP28/121A, parts 3 and 4