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ABSTRACT
Colonel John ‘Tinker’ Fox, governor of the Edgbaston garrison, has been studied by several historians in recent years, overturning the older view that he was a radical or an independent force. This edition of the surviving muster rolls of the garrison looks at how a small body of men on the periphery of Parliamentarian territory was organised and equipped from local resources. The muster rolls show that Fox’s unit was improvised and poorly armed, but it was still capable of effective mounted guerrilla actions against their Royalist counterparts, and sometimes operated in the mainstream of military operations in the English Midlands.
The Muster Rolls
Editorial Conventions
Original spellings and the use of upper- and lower-case letters has been retained. Ranks have been extended for consistency. Editor’s inserts are in square brackets.
Key to Annotations
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 A. Hughes, Politics, Society and Civil War in Warwickshire, 1620–1660 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987); A. Hopper, ‘“Tinker” Fox and the Politics of Garrison Warfare in the West Midlands, 1643–50’, Midland History, 24:1 (1999), 98–113; J. Worton, ‘“Coursing the Tinkerley Fox”: Tactics of Garrison Warfare in the West Midlands during 1643 and 1644’, Midland History, 47:1 (2022), 38–56; C. Gilbert, ‘A Dramatic Incident in Royalist Worcestershire: “Tinker” Fox’s Raid on Bewdley of May 1644’, Midland History, 35:1 (2010), 129–35; J. Willis Bund, ‘A Civil War Parliament Soldier: Tinker Fox’, Reports and Papers Read at the Meeting of the Architectural Soc. Worcs. Archaeological Soc. (1918), pp. 373–403. ‘Tinker Fox, the Birmingham blacksmith who had led popular forces against the royalists in the early years of the war, seemed to be setting himself up as an independent third force in the Midlands until the New Model Army pushed him too into the background’. C. Hill, The World Turned Upside Down: Radical Ideas During the English Revolution (London: Penguin, 2020), p. 11. I am grateful to Professor Andrew Hooper who kindly commented on an earlier version of this article, and to the reviewers whose efforts undoubtedly improved on the final version. I am also grateful to Dr Claire Jarvis who provided preliminary transcriptions of the muster rolls.
2 The National Archives (TNA), SP 28/204. This document has been unavailable to readers for some years due to its fragile nature, but the curators kindly allowed me to inspect the document under supervision in Collection Care.
3 The Loss Accounts for the parishes in Warwickshire date to August 1646, and are in the class SP 28 series in the National Archives. The surviving ones have been transcribed and are available online at Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Civil War loss accounts https://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/civilwaraccounts [accessed June 10, 2023]
4 TNA, SP 28/204. The document must postdate May 1644 as one of the men listed, Abraham Cash, possessed a horse and a carbine formerly belonging to Royalist officers taken prisoner in that month.
5 TNA, SP 28/122 ii f.272–5; SP 28/122 ii f.276; SP 28/123 ii f.289; SP 28/123 ii f.294.
6 A. Hughes, ‘Politics, Society and Civil War in Warwickshire, 1620–1650,’ (PhD thesis, University of Liverpool, 1979).
7 TNA, SP 28/122 ii f.272–5.
8 TNA, SP28/182, i.
9 Wilson was previously treasurer of Lord Brooke’s Warwickshire and Staffordshire Association. He fell out with the Warwickshire Committee and was imprisoned by them. K. Lindsey, ‘Wilson, Rowland (bap. 1613, d. 1650)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB), https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/29687 [accessed June 10, 2023] His signing off of Fox’s muster rolls was perhaps intended to spite the committee.
10 TNA SP28/123/ii, f.294.
11 TNA, SP28/123/i, f.93. NA, SP28/136/53a. These documents are incomplete, and none of the three documents relating to the Coventry men, which are mostly unannotated, comprises more than lists of names.
12 Letters between Denbigh and Fox are incompletely transcribed in Fourth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (London: HMSO, 1874), with the originals in Warwick RO, CR 2017/C9. Some others are in Report on the Mss of the Earl of Denbigh (London: HMSO, 1911). William Hamper, who edited Dugdale’s Diary, suggested that Fox was illiterate, although this was manifestly not the case. W. Hamper, ed., The Life, Diary, and Correspondence of Sir William Dugdale I (London: Harding, Lepard and Co, 1827), p. 66.
13 Hughes, Politics, Society and Civil War, especially page numbers needed rather than chapter title.
14 I. Atherton, ‘The Accounts of the Royalist Garrison of Lichfield Close, 1643–5’, Staffordshire Studies, 18 (Keele: Keele University, 2008), pp. 63–96. For Worcester see J. W. Willis Bund, ed., Diary of Henry Townshend of Elmley Lovett, 1640–1663, vol. 1 (London: Worcestershire Hist. Soc. 1920), pp. 112–13.
15 Hughes notes that Colonel Massey, governor of Gloucester, was envious of the well-equipped and well-paid Warwickshire forces. Hughes, Politics, Society and Civil War, p. 199.
16 A. Hopper, ‘Fox, John (bap. 1610, d. 1650)’, ODNB, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/66618 [accessed June 10, 2023].
17 Reynold Fox was a captain of foot under Denbigh before his brother appointed him his major in February 1644. John Fox certified his brother’s previous service in December 1645. Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1645–1647 (London: HMSO, 1891), pp. 273–4. Tudman is the only officer who is known to have had military experience before the Civil War, albeit as a Trained Bandsman for Walsall in 1640. G. Mander, ‘The Walsall Ship Money Papers, 1635–36’, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 1931 (London: William Salt Archaeological Society, 1931), p. 113.
18 Worton, pp. 38–56. Gilbert, pp. 129–35.
19 TNA, SP28/182, i.
20 TNA, SP28/182, i. He was treasurer from 12 October 1643 to 24 April 1645. Porter was also related to William and Robert Colmore, captains in the Coventry garrison, and to Waldive Willington, Parliamentarian governor of Tamworth. A. Reade, Johnsonian Gleanings: Part VI (London: Percy, Lund, Humphries, 1909), pp. 16–17.
21 TNA, SP28/183/27, f.3, Loss Accounts – Edgbaston.
22 Worton, pp. 38–56. Gilbert, pp. 129–35.
23 Warwick Record Office (WRO), CR2017/C9, 74.
24 WRO, CR 2017/C9, 76a.
25 F. Willmore, Records of Rushall (Walsall: W H Robinson, 1892), p. 58.
26 Two Great Victories On[e] Obtained by the Earle of Denbigh at Osvvestry i (London: Printed by I. Coe, 1644).
27 The loss of Oswestry was a serious blow to the Royalists. The Parliamentarians now had a route into mid-Wales and had severed direct communications between the Royalist strongholds of Chester and Shrewsbury.
28 Hughes, Politics, Society and Civil War, p. 235.
29 Hamper, Dugdale’s Diary, p. 73. The Loss Account for Edgbaston mentions that Elizabeth Pidock had ‘cheeses and other things which Colonell Fox had of her at several tymes at the siege at Edgbaston’ worth 10s. TNA, SP28/183/27, f.3, Loss Account – Edgbaston.
30 Report on the manuscripts of the late Reginald Rawdon Hastings, Esq., v. 2 (Historical Manuscripts Commission, 1930), p. 134.
31 Calendar of State Papers Domestic 1644–1645 (London: HMSO, 1890), p. 309.
32 T. Harwood, The History and Antiquities of the Church and City of Lichfield, (London: Cadell and Davis 1806), p. 28.
33 Richard Symonds, Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army During the Great Civil War (London: Camden Society, 1859), p. 167.
34 TNA, SP28/136/53a.
35 TNA, SP28/183/27, f.2, Loss Accounts – Edgbaston. Colemore’s company was receiving contributions from Barston near Solihull during this period. ‘Item paid to Captaine Robert Colmore of Coventrie for eight monethes contribution & tax endinge the third of Aprill 1646 the somme of £16 5s 4d per moneth which cometh unto £130 2s 8d’. TNA, SP28/186, f.1, Loss Accounts – Barston.
36 TNA, SP 28/123/II f.294. The other undated muster roll for the half company under Colmore perhaps predates the April 1646 muster. TNA, SP 28/123/i f.93.
37 I. Carr and I. Atherton, eds., The Civil War in Staffordshire in the Spring of 1646: Sir William Brereton’s Letter Book, April – May 1646, Collections for a History of Staffordshire, 4th series, 21, (2007), p. 185. The proposed recipient of the moneys raised was Thomas Shaw, the former treasurer at Edgbaston. Troops of horse from Coventry and Tamworth were sent to form a cordon around Dudley in advance of the siege, although the garrison surrendered without serious resistance.
38 Shaw replaced Porter in April 1645. The Loss Accounts for Birmingham show Shaw was another resident of Birmingham and had ‘sent a horse bridle & saddle to Col[onell] Fox when Sir Nicholas Biron went prisoner to London with Sir William Brereton which sadle & bridle were taken quite away’ and ‘Colonel Fox oweth me for oates, Also I lent him 1 Muskett & 1 Pistol’. TNA, SP28/186/5, f.2, Loss Account – Birmingham.
39 Hopper, ‘Tinker’ Fox, p. 109.
40 Harwood, Lichfield, p. 28.
41 R. Dore, ed., The Letter Books of Sir William Brereton, I (Chester: Lancashire and Cheshire Record Society, 1984), p. 475.
42 In January 1645 Fox sent Allin to the Staffordshire County Committee to procure ‘a summe of monie’ and the right to collect £66 & 17s and £78 in respect of arrears from the parishes of Arley and Enville, north of Kidderminster, which had never made contributions to the Committee. D. Pennington and I. Roots, eds., The Committee at Stafford 1643–1645 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1957), pp. 243–4. The editor refers to a Captain Allen, but this must be Allin.
43 Johnson may also have been a local man as he was an excise commissioner for Staffordshire after the war. He and Tudman were still chasing arrears of pay as late as 1651. Hopper, ‘Tinker’ Fox, p. 103.
44 TNA, SP28/123/II f.294.; TNA, SP28/123/i f.93.; TNA, SP28/136/53a.
45 I. Warren, Esquires, Gentlemen and Misters in Seventeenth-Century Worcestershire, Worcestershire Historical Society Occasional Publications, 13 (2013), pp. 2, 20–21. I am grateful to Mr S. Ede-Borrett who kindly commented on this subject.
46 H. Finch, The Indictment, Arraignment, Tryal, and Judgment, at Large, of Twenty-Nine Regicides, etc. (Dublin: Samuel Fairbrother, 1730), p. 182. Axtell was indeed the commander. A. Thompson, ‘Axtell, Daniel (bap. 1622, d. 1666)’, ODNB, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/928 [accessed April 1, 2024]. Fox was also present at the King’s trial as commander of the lord president’s guard which perhaps explains Sympson’s presence. Hopper, ‘Fox, John’.
47 TNA, SP28/184/3, f.10, Loss Account – Lapworth; Civil War Petitions, https://www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk/payments/magdalen-varnam-of-birmingham-warwickshire-warwickshire-quarter-sessions-epiphany-1650-to-1651/ [accessed June 10, 2023]
63 Different man from John Nye below. Possibly lieutenant.
64 Different handwriting and perhaps a later addition. Probably the widow of Robert Porter.
65 Appears as Ensign in Johnson’s company in April 1645.
66 Blaze.
67 Also listed April 1645 under Captain Johnson.
68 Perhaps palfrey.
69 Probably Captain Clement Fisher, captured by Fox’s men in late May 1644.
70 Sir Thomas Littleton was taken prisoner by Fox at Bewdley in early May 1644.
71 Mealy.
72 Distinct from sword.
73 He also appears as an ‘other rank’ above.
74 He is perhaps the ‘Orson’ who is described as Major Fox’s quartermaster in the Fillongley Loss Account. Loss Account – Fillongley, NA, SP28/182/2, f.5 v.
75 Owin, Yardley, and Smyth are grouped as corporals. Persall and Hubbart are grouped as trumpeters.
76 A man with the same name appears as militia lieutenant in Oxfordshire in 1659. British History Online, House of Commons Journal, Volume 7, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/commons-jrnl/vol7/pp752-754a [accessed June 10, 2023]
77 Appears above with the corporals but struck through, presumably demoted as he appears below.
78 Distinct from sword.
79 Possibly lieutenant.
80 Only mention of a gauntlet.
81 Reynold was scoutmaster to Colonel Fox per Loss Account for Fillongley and elsewhere.
82 Distinct from sword.
83 Presumably cuirassier armour.
84 Distinct from sword.
48 Although this probably only represented part of the garrison.
49 Hughes, Politics, Society and Civil War, pp. 199–200.
50 Atherton, ‘The Accounts of the Royalist Garrison of Lichfield Close’, pp. 66–7. Atherton suggests that contrary to expectation the Lichfield garrison finances were in better shape at the end of the war than earlier, and that the men were being paid, although perhaps not in full.
85 Appears as a scout in 1644 Muster.
86 Officers and other ranks separated by a thick line.
87 Duplicate entry.
88 Former officer – previous unit unknown.
89 Richard Hadley, an Edgbaston resident and presumably a relative, claimed that Fox owed £1 10s for shoeing horses. TNA, SP28/183/27, f.9., Loss Account – Edgbaston.
90 Greene was an Edgbaston man. His Loss Account statement records that in addition to providing bread and cheese to the garrison, he contributed ‘ready money, a scarf and other goods’ worth 11s. He was apparently a tenant of the Middlemore family before the war and paid money to Robert Porter in respect of his holding during the War. TNA, SP28/183/27, f.6 v, Loss Account – Edgbaston.
91 Appears as a Reformado in April 1645 Muster.
92 Possibly Edward Makernes, vicar of Dudley. Clergy of the Church of England Database, person ID 81810 https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/DisplayAppointment.jsp?CDBAppRedID=132776 [accessed March 24 2024].
93 Probably the same Thomas Tybbites who has previously served in as a trooper above.
94 Foulke Collins appears in the Loss Accounts for Birmingham, where he ‘lent Saddles for the States use with bridles girths, & other necessaryes to Colonell Fox’ and well as paying contributions. TNA, SP28/186/5, f.4, Loss Account – Birmingham.
51 Dore, Letter Books, p. 475.
52 H. Tibbutt, ed., The Letter Books of Sir Samuel Luke, 1644–5 (London: Bedfordshire Historical Record Society, 1963), pp. 1180, 1354.
53 Fourth Report, p. 265.
54 Describing horses was normal in the documentation of the pre-War horse trade and use in wartime documentation reflected the fact that horses are individuals. G. Robinson, Horses, People and Parliament in the English Civil War (London: Ashgate, 2012), pp. 76–7.
55 TNA, SP 28/204.
56 It has been suggested that the attrition rate in the New Model Army from June 1645 to June 1646 was around 63% for cavalry horses and 78% for the dragoons. G. Robinson, ‘Horse Supply and the Development of the New Model Army, 1642–1646’, War in History, 15 (2008), 122. Attrition for garrison units may have been lower but doubtless horses became sick or unfit to ride through daily use. Seizure of horses was normal for the Parliamentarian forces, despite their better logistics and finances. Robinson, Horses, People and Parliament, passim.
57 Saddles for cavalry use, ‘great saddles’, seem to only have been manufactured in London. Robinson, ‘Horse Supply’, p. 128. None of the saddles mentioned in the muster roll are described other than as saddles and they were presumably of the domestic variety.
58 TNA, SP 28/122 ii f.275.
59 TNA, SP 28/204.
60 TNA, SP28/182/2, f.10, Loss Account – Fillongley.
61 A junior officer, a Gentleman of the Pike, is mentioned on two of their muster rolls, and there is a single reference to a pike wanting. TNA, SP28/123/i, f.93; TNA, SP28/136/53a.
62 SP28/186/5, f.7, Loss Account – Birmingham.
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Richard Dace
Richard Dace is an unaffiliated historian living in London, UK.