The Saltfleetby landowner who was left for dead at the battle of Edgehill
During the English Civil War local landowner, Gervase Scrope of Cockerington, did all he could to support the Royalist cause. Believed to be fatally wounded at Edgehill in 1642, his life was saved by his son Adrian and the King's physician Dr William Harvey. Adrian Scrope went on to be elected MP for Grimsby in 1661. The old Kelly's Directories listed members of the Scrope family as lords of the manor in Saltfleetby in Victorian times and the early 20th Century.
The Scrope Family
Ancesters of the Scrope family have held land in Lincolnshire since the 12th century, with a main branch of the family living in Yorkshire. This noble family were favourites with royalty and are even mentioned in three Shakespeare plays; Henry V, Richard II and Henry IV.
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Ralph (Scrope) le Scrope (abt. 1518 - 1572) from Hambleden, Buckinghamshire, a descendant of a younger son of the 6th Lord Scrope of Bolton, bought Cockerington in 1565. He married widow Elizabeth Windsor (1528-1600) from Stanwell, Middlesex and they had three sons while living at Cockrington Hall (now demolished).
Memorial to Sir Adrian Scrope (1563-1623) in South Cockerington St Leonard's Church. Lincolnshire. Carved in limestone by Epiphanius Evesham
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Eldest son Adrian Scrope was born in Cockerington on 3rd February 1563. He inherited his father’s estate, married Ursula, daughter of Sir John Clifton, of Barrington, Somerset, and was knighted in 1603 and died on 23rd November 1623 at the age of 60. They had six sons and two surviving daughters. Their family is depicted in a memorial tomb to Sir Adrian in South Cockerington St. Leonard's Church: a white alabaster sculpture, believed to be the work of major English sculptor, Epiphanius Evesham (1570-1633). Sir Adrian is shown carved in limestone, in full knight’s armour with his children shown on two panels, carved in relief. One panel shows the six sons: Gervase, Adrian, John, Edwin, Robert and William, the other daughters Jane and Elizabeth knelt in prayer.
Jane and Elizabeth Scrope knelt in pray on their father's tomb, carved in mottled alabaster, in St Leonard's Church South Cockerington.
Sir Gervaise Scrope
Sir Adrian and Lady Ursula's eldest son Gervais was born in about 1594 and attended The Dorchester Free School, and married Catherine Hungerford in about 1613. His father died in 1623, when Gervais was 28. He succeeded to the family estates at Cockerington and soon commenced adding to them. He bought land in Mablethorpe, Carlton, Gayton and over several years added lands at Louth, Somercotes, Alvingham, Grimoldby, and many other marsh villages, including coastal salt marsh areas. With his expanding estate he took the office of Feodary (collector of rents and assessor of land value for the Crown) and Bailiwick (where he acted as Bailiff in the area) including for certain land in Saltfleetby. He bought 450 acres of Lincolnshire fen from his old Dorchester school friend Gilbert Ironside in 1633.
He was knighted at Whitehall on 27th June 1630 on the occasion of the christening of Prince Charles (the future King Charles II). He was appointed High Sheriff of Lincolnshire 1634.
Sons of Sir Adrian Scrope on memorial, St Leonard's Church, Cockerington: Gervase, Adrian, John, Edwin, Robert and William.
Ship-Money Tax Dispute
Ship-money was a tax levied by King Charles I by prerogative, without the approval of Parliament, upon inhabitants of coastal areas of England. From 1634 onwards the King’s attempt to levy ship money during peacetime and extend it to the inland counties of England without parliamentary approval provoked fierce resistance, and was one of the grievances of the English propertied class in the lead-up to the English Civil War.
Sir Gervais strongly protested against the ship-money tax which he was ordered to pay. In May 1637 he sent an indignant protest to the Council, declaring that Eustace White, the Chief Constable of Louth Eske, had assessed Cockerington at £30, but Louth (where he lived) at only £20!
IAs well as using strong language to White, Sir Gervais sued him. In April 1639 White, complained to the Council about Gervais’s menacing speeches to him. Scrope tried to deny the accusation, but witnesses were brought in to prove it. As a result, on 12th May 1639 he was committed to the Fleet Prison in London, He gained a warrant for his release on 15th May after pleading guilty and expressing that he was sorry for the menacing speeches, which he said he he had justly incurred censure for. He was ordered to pay a fine of £50 and to pay all the due ship-money he was due for 1637 and 1638 within ten days
The Fleet Prison, London
The Battle of Edgehill
In spite of the episode of the ship-money, Sir Gervase became an ardent supporter of the King (Charles I). When all attempts at constitutional compromise between King Charles and Parliament broke down early in 1642. Both the King and Parliament raised large armies to gain their way by force of arms. Scrope raised a battalion from among his tenants, and brought them in to the Earl of Lindseys Regiment to fight for the King.
Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey was a Lincolnshire nobleman who took his title from the old Lincolnshire Kingdom of Lindsey, a member of the de Eresby family of Grimsthorpe Castle. Before the civil war he was pioneering in the drainage work of the Lincolnshire Fens, The Lindsey Level is named after him. Then the King appointed him General-in-chief of the Royalists in 1642.
In October, at his temporary base near Shrewsbury, the King decided to march to London in order to force a decisive confrontation with Parliament's main army, commanded by the Earl of Essex. Late on 22nd October 1642, both armies unexpectedly found the enemy to be close by. The next day, the Royalist army descended from Edge Hill, Warwickshire, to force battle. After the Parliamentarian artillery opened a cannonade, the Royalists attacked. Both armies consisted mostly of inexperienced and sometimes ill-equipped troops. Many men from both sides fled or fell out to loot enemy baggage, and neither army were able to gain a decisive advantage. The inconclusive result of the Battle of Edgehill prevented either faction from gaining a quick victory in the war, which eventually lasted four years.
Portrait of Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey (1582-1642) by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt
Charles I, portrait after Anthony Van Dyke
At Edgehill on Sunday 23rd October 1642, Scope was fighting near General Lindsey when he was struck, suffering severe injury and was left for dead on the battlefield, until found by his son, Adrian. The account of the incident was described in “Notes on the Visitation of Lincolnshire”:
“Sir Gervase fell in the strife, with sixteen wounds in his body and head, and lay amongst the dead and dying on the battlefield, from the time he fell, which was about three in the afternoon of Sunday, all through that cold night, being stripped of his clothes, all Monday and Monday night, until Tuesday evening, for it was so late before his son found him. On Tuesday, after the royal troops had marched almost to Warwick, and found the coast clear from the enemy, they returned to the field to view the dead bodies, many going to enquire after their friends who were missing, among others, Young Mr Scrope brought off his father Sir Gervase, who with great piety he carried to a warm lodging, and afterwards to Oxford, where he wonderfully recovered. It is said he was attended by the celebrated Dr. William Harvey, who was present at the Battle of Edgehill”.
Lord Lindsey wasn’t so lucky, he was shot through the thigh bone and fell, instantly surrounded by the roundhead (Parliamentarian) army. His son, Lord Willoughby managed to force his way through to carry his father out. But his bleeding could not be stopped and he died the following morning upon arrival at Warwick Castle where the Royalist prisoners were being kept. His son remained a prisoner for about a year. Lord Lindsey’s body was brought Lincolnshire for burial at Edenham, St Michael and All Angels Church.
Battle of Edgehill, October 23rd 1642 by Palamedes Palamedesz
Dr. William Harvey
Was born on 1st April 1578 in Folkestone, Kent, the son of the mayor. He studied at King's School (Canterbury), going on to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1593, the the University of Padua in 1599. At Padua, Harvey had learnt about the work of Vesalius and the importance of experimentation and observation. Back in England, he became doctor to James I and then Charles I. In 1628, he published "An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood", which was dedicated to King Charles. In this book, Harvey scientifically proved that blood circulated around the body.
He was chief doctor to King Charles I of England. When the Civil Wars broke out, Harvey accompanied the King’s army to the first major battle at Edgehill on 23rd October 1642. During the fighting, Harvey was in charge of looking after the king’s two children, Prince Charles (aged 12) and Prince James (aged 9). Harvey later told his friend John Aubrey that he sheltered with the princes under a hedge, taking a book out of his pocket to read but ‘a bullet of a great gun grazed on the ground near him’, which made him move further back.
Dr William Harvey (1578-1657), painting attributed to Daniel Mytens, circa 1627
After the battle was over, Harvey helped to care for the wounded. One of the injured men that he looked after was Sir Gervase Scrope, who was, in the words of Dr Harvey:
"dangerously wounded there, and left for dead amongst the dead men, stripped; which happened to be the saving of his life. It was cold, clear weather and a frost that night; which stopped his bleeding, and about midnight, or some hours after his hurt, he awaked, and was fane to draw a dead body upon him for warmth-sake’"
Having eventually been found by his son and taken to Harvey for treatment, Scrope was lucky to be treated by the foremost expert on bleeding. He knew more than anyone of his time about the circulatory system and was able to save his life.
Dr Harvey died in 1657 and is still celebrated as a pioneer of medical science.
Back to Cockerington
Adrian took his father back to Cockerington Hall to recover. He was back fighting for the Royalists again in April 1644, when he was captured by parliamentarians and held hostage until a prisoner exchange was agreed. He was again in battle in 1646, in Newark, where he was surrounded with the rest of the garrison on 6th May.
After the war he and his son had a fine imposed on them for their delinquency amounting to over £6,000, in order to regain their sequestered estate during Cromwell’s rule. Despite that he was soon again buying up more land in the local area, including Grimoldby Ings and Saltfleetby Ings. After his death in 1655, most of his land (including that in Saltfleetby) was left to his son, Adrian, as a substantial estate. He also left "£20 a year for ever" to the poor of North and South Cockerington £20, the money was to be paid at Midsummer and Christmas in equal portions " into the hands of the overseer for the poor for the said parishes, and by him distributed to such poor persons as shall be in my almshouses in Cockerington”
Adrian Scrope (1615-1667)
Sir Gervas's son attended Westminster School and St John’s Cambridge, becoming a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn, London and serving as a cavalry officer for the Royalists in the Civil War. He was a distant cousin of the more famous Parliamentarian officer, also called Adrian Scrope, who was one of the signatories of the death warrant of the King after the war, who was later executed as a regicide when Charles II took the throne. In contrast, at the coronation of the new king, Adrian Scrope of Cockerington was appointed a Knight of the bath (KB) on 23rd April 1661. He married Mary Carr and had five children. He died in 1666. He passed his estate on to his son.
Cockerington Hall
Members of the Scropes family continued to live in this area of Lincolnshire for several more generations. In 1670 Sir Jarvis Scrope (about 1660-1680), one of Adrian's sons, founded six tenements for poor people of North and South Cockerington. The next member of the family to sit in parliament was Thomas Scrope, who represented Lincoln from 1768 to 1774.
The crest of the Scropes family was on the roof pediment of Cockerington Hall. The Scrope Family were listed as still being seated at the Hall in 1856, although the building had been unoccupied for many years before demolition in about 1950.
The now demolished Cockerington hall where the Scrope family lived for generations.
Danby Hall, Wensleydale, Yorkshire
Victorian Lords of the Manor from Yorkshire
The old Kelly's Directories from the Victorian and early 20th Century eras, still list members of the Scrope family as Lords of the Manor for all three parishes of Saltfleetby. By this time though they were mainly residing at Danby Hall in Yorkshire. They were no longer major landowners in the village, but still retained a title as a lord here. Simon Thomas Scrope (1790 – 1872), the title passing down the generations to Henry Aloysius Scrope (1862 - 1950)
References
Picture Credits
Tomb of Sir Adrian Scrope by J.Hannan-Briggs, Geograph, at grid reference: TF3888, https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3042892
Fleet Prison by Walter Thornbury from Old and New London, Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1878
William Harvey, attributed to Daniel Mytens, oil on canvas, circa 1627, NPG 5115, © National Portrait Gallery, London https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/use-this-image/?mkey=mw02970
Battle of Edgehill painting by Palamedes Palamedesz, https://www.britishbattles.com/english-civil-war/the-battle-of-edgehill/
Portrait of Earl of Lindsey by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bertie,_1st_Earl_of_Lindsey
King Charles I, after Sir Anthony van Dyck, oil on canvas, based on a work of 1635-1636, NPG 843, © National Portrait Gallery, London, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw01221/King-Charles-I?LinkID=mp00840&role=sit&rNo=6
Photo of Cockerington Hall from Lincolnshire Life Magazine
Danby Hall: https://williamgray101.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/simon-scrope-of-danby-hall/
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References
St Leonards, Cockerington: https://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/church/st-leonard-south-cockerington
Alfred W Gibbons, Notes on the visitation of Lincolnshire, 1634, Publicationed in 1898 by Lincoln : J. Williamson, printer, Lincoln https://archive.org/details/cu31924029785635/page/n169/mode/2up?q=rebellion
Fleet Prison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_Prison
William Harvey: https://www.civilwarpetitions.ac.uk/william-harvey/
William Harvey royal College of Physicians https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/blog/war-william-harvey-battle-edgehill
William Harvey: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Harvey
Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bertie,_1st_Earl_of_Lindsey
The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/scrope-adrian-1616-66
Ship money https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_money
Battle of Edgehill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Edgehill
Cockerington Hall, https://heritage-explorer.lincolnshire.gov.uk/Monument/MLI41378
Simon Scrope of Danby Hall: https://williamgray101.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/simon-scrope-of-danby-hall/