Surnames beginning 'E'

The Cromwell Association Online Directory of Parliamentarian Army Officers . Originally published by British History Online, , 2017.

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'Surnames beginning 'E'', in The Cromwell Association Online Directory of Parliamentarian Army Officers , (, 2017) pp. . British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/cromwell-army-officers/surnames-e [accessed 24 March 2024]

Surnames beginning 'E'

Eardley, - - Eardley
A captain in Staffordshire. On 4 May 1644 he took part in the dawn foray by 50 or 60 men led by Lieutenant-Colonel Stepkin which secured the market-place and main gate of Stafford and opened it up for Brereton’s Army. He led one of the parties once in the town and shot the royalist colonel who was acting as captain of the Watch.
References: J. Vicars, Jehovah Jireh (1644), 329, 334.
Armies: Staffordshire
Eardley, William William Eardley
Son of John Eardley of Eardley, Staffordshire. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew and Avis Beech.
Made free of the Drapers’ Company in 1635.
Of Watling Street (1641).
Captain in the Green regiment, London Trained Bands (Colonel Owen Rowe) in Oct. 1646, and retained as such by the Presbyterian militia committee in 1647 (under Colonel Matthew Sheppard). Not known if he survived the Independent purge later that year.
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Red regiment, London Trained Bands, lieutenancy commissioner and common councilman in 1660.
Left London in or by 1662.
References: Nagel, ‘London militia’, 317-8; Marshall, Essex funeral, 12; Woodhead, Rulers, 64.
Armies: London
Earle, - - Earle
In summer 1643, captain in Sir John Wittrough’s regiment of foot in the Eastern Association Army.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 2.112.
Armies: Eastern Association
Eaton, Simon Simon Eaton
Matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge, Easter term 1632. Captain in Lawrence Crawford’s regiment of foot in the Eastern Association Army by late Mar. 1644, and still there on 4 Jan. 1645 (and probably as late as 1 Mar.). The prisoners his company took at York in summer 1644 were listed. He was probably brother-in-law of Henry Warner, lieutenant-colonel of the same regiment.
With the formation of the New Model Army, Eaton continued as captain in the foot regiment of Robert Hammond, but his service was brief, as he left the New Model between July and Aug. 1645.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 1.16; TNA, SP28/25/489; Davies, ‘Eastern Association’, 94; TNA, SP28/23/16; Temple, ‘New Model Army’, 56; Wanklyn, New Model Army, I, 45, 56.
Armies: Eastern Association; New Model Army
Eckersall, Thomas Thomas Eckersall
On 16 Aug. 1650 commissioned a captain in Thomas Birch’s militia regiment of Lancashire foot.
References: CSPD, 1650, 509.
Armies: Lancashire
Eden, - - Eden (died 1645)
A major in the Fairfaxes’ Northern Army by summer 1643, when he was active in Craven; he was possibly then major of John Lambert’s regiment of foot. In Jan. 1644 Eden transferred to John Bright’s regiment of foot. By the summer he was lieutenant-colonel, and became governor of Tickhill Castle. He died at Pontefract during the siege of 1645 and was buried on 9 May.
References: Jones, ‘War in the North’, 379.
Armies: Yorkshire; Northern Army (Fairfax)
Eden, Nathaniel Nathaniel Eden
Commissioned captain of foot under Colonel Edward Peyto in the Warwickshire militia, 20 Nov. 1650.
References: CSPD 1650, 512.
Armies: Warwickshire
Edgerton, Thomas Thomas Edgerton
Captain. Formerly captain in Brooke’s regiment. In Popham’s regiment 29 Aug.-30 Nov. 1643, when the company was disbanded.
References: Peachey and Turton, Fall of the West, 5.554-5.
Armies: Somerset: Col. Alexander Popham’s Regt. of Foot
Edine, - - Edine
Captain in Sir William Waller’s regiment of foot by 13 Nov. 1643.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 150.
Armies: Waller (Southern Association)
Edwards, - - Edwards
A captain in Staffordshire, to whom there is one passing reference (which could be any time between Mar. 1643 and May 1645), as to £5 repaid by Mr Greg which had formerly been paid to Captain Edwards.
References: Pennington and Roots, Committee at Stafford, 326.
Armies: Staffordshire
Edwards, Alexander Alexander Edwards
Lieutenant in the earl of Essex’s own regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army in 1642.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 26.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Edwards, Francis Francis Edwards
Lieutenant in Captain Augustine Skynner’s troop in Sir Michael Livesay’s regiment of horse in 1644 and into at least early 1645.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 89.
Armies: Kent; Waller (Southern Association)
Edwards, Giles Giles Edwards
(Captain-)Lieutenant in the colonel’s troop in Richard Turner’s London regiment of horse in Sept. 1643; on 1 Oct. 1643 he ‘rann away from Windsor with 2’ horses.
References: TNA, SP28/132, Part 1, ff. 2r., 4r.
Armies: London
Edwards, Giles Giles Edwards
Captain-Lieutenant of the Colonel’s troop in Richard Turner’s regiment of horse, 22 Sept.-1 Oct. 1643.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 140.
Armies: Waller (Southern Association)
Edwards, John John Edwards
Captain in Sir John Merrick’s regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 28.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Edwards, John John Edwards
During summer 1644 lieutenant in Snelling’s troop in Francis Russell’s regiment of horse in the Eastern Association Army; in Aug. 1644 he was promoted to captain within the regiment and served in that capacity until the regiment was broken up in spring 1645. At that point he joined Thomas Rainsborough’s newly-formed New Model Army regiment, serving as captain and (from 1647) its major.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 2.97, 99; Wanklyn, New Model Army, I, 46, 57, 68, 78, 88-9.
Armies: Eastern Association; New Model Army
Edwards, Thomas Thomas Edwards
By early 1647 Adjutant-General in Thomas Mytton’s North Wales Army, present at the surrender of Harlech Castle in Mar. 1647.
References: J.R. Phillips, Memoirs of the Civil War in Wales and the Marches (1874), II, 333.
Armies: North Wales
Edwards, William, senior William Edwards, senior
There were probably two Captain William Edwards, father and son, and it is often difficult to distinguish between them and to find out much about the son. The father was Captain William Edwards, who by Feb. 1643 had raised an independent troop of horse. He was the younger brother of the royalist Evan Edwards of Rhual, Flintshire, a gentleman with court connections (and as a client of the Sackvilles, was MP for Camelford in the 1628 parliament). William, an ironmonger and merchant of Chester, was made a freeman of Chester in 1615; was elected common councilman in 1623; was admitted to the Company of Merchants in 1624; was a city auditor in 1626-7; was high sheriff in 1627-8; and was an alderman of Chester in 1631 and mayor 1636. From the 1620s Edwards was at odds with William Gamull and his fellow-patentees, and his role in the attack on the monopolists advanced his civic career. In 1642 his opposition hardened as Edwards claimed the backing of both parliament and his friend Sir William Brereton. Isolated in civic politics, and having failed to raise the citizenry and city militia in his support, Edwards was forced to leave Chester. By Feb. 1643 he had raised an independent troop of horse. Still a captain of horse into 1645, on 12 Jan. his troop was surprised at Barrow during a sally by the Chester garrison. Upon the fall of the city, in Feb. 1646 Edwards was re-instated as mayor and later appointed by parliament as colonel of the city militia. He was the Recruiter MP for Chester, but secluded at Pride’s Purge. From 1647 until 1661 he only attended the Chester assembly once, in Dec. 1649, and in 1661 was dismissed from the assembly under the Corporation Act. Edwards married Frances, daughter of Peter Legh of High Legh, and was still alive in Mar. 1669.
Edwards senior probably worked closely with his son, William Edwards junior, who also attained the rank of captain, for surviving warrants to pay money to Captain William Edwards senior, covering his costs of a journey to London and for arrears of pay to four of his troopers, have been signed on the verso as a receipt/acquittance by William Edwards junior.
References: Dore, Brereton letter books,1. 201, 324-332; B.E. Howells, ed., A Calendar of Letters relating to North Wales, 1533-circa 1700, Board of Celtic Studies, University of Wales History and Law Series, col. 23 (Cardiff, 1967), 24-8, 231-5, 247-48 and pedigree; A.M. Johnson, ‘Politics in Chester during the Civil Wars and Interregnum, 1640-1662’, in P. Clark and P. Slack, eds., Crisis and Order in English Towns, 1500-1700 1972), 206-9, 215, 218-20; Cheshire tracts, 154-5; HoP: The Commons, 1640-1660 (forthcoming); TNA, SP28/224, ff. 15, 214.
Armies: Cheshire
Egerton, Peter Peter Egerton (died 1657)
Of Shaw, Lancashire. Second son of Ralphe Egerton of Ridley, Cheshire, and his wife Elizabeth. Peter married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Leonard Ashaw of the Hall of the Shaw, Lancashire. His daughter Mary married Sir Thomas Stanley of Bickerstaffe, baronet.
In summer 1642 Egerton had a colonelcy to raise forces in West Derby Hundred, Lancashire (although it is uncertain whether his commission was ever made effective). He was one of the local gentry who led their tenants to assist in the defence of Manchester. In the autumn he was nominated to broker a local truce, but the initial meeting between the antagonists was abandoned. Egerton was lieutenant-colonel in his son-in-law Sir Thomas Stanley’s small regiment, formed in Mar. 1643. In Stanley’s absence, in Nov. 1643 Egerton led the regiment with the force under Sir William Brereton and Sir Thomas Myddelton that briefly thrust into north-east Wales. Egerton raised a regiment in spring 1644. He commanded operations against Lathom House, in summer 1644 during the early phase of the first siege, and in Dec. 1645 during the second siege. Although a politically moderate parliamentarian, and reputedly a lenient sequestrator, Egerton remained active in local government after 1649.
References: Vis. Lancs., 1664, 1, 102;Blackwood, Lancashire gentry,49, 52, 73, 114-5; Warr in Lancashire, 10, 62; Lancashire military Proceedings, 45, 52, 167, 212, 333; HMC, Tenth Report, App. 4, 76; Gratton, Lancs. war effort, 287-8, 300-1 and passim.
Armies: Lancashire
Eggleston, - - Eggleston
Ensign in Lord Brooke’s regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army in 1642.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 34.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Eglestone, - - Eglestone
Sometime after Aug. 1644 he superseded Thomas Moulson as captain in Sir John Norwich’s regiment of horse in the Eastern Association Army.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 2.73.
Armies: Eastern Association
Elcocke, Ephraim Ephraim Elcocke (died 1657)
By 1645 a chaplain to Sir William Brereton’s Army. On 19 Nov. 1645 Elcocke was paid £10, ‘he having spent his paines in preaching and praying in the Leaguer before Chester ever since the Armye came there’ (TNA, SP28/224, f. 68). By 1648 Elcocke was pastor of Runcorn, when in July he signed a Presbyterian petition. He was later the minister of Great Budworth.
References: Dore, Brereton letter books, 2. 512-3; TNA, SP28/224, f. 68; C. Phillips, ‘A Cheshire memorial brass of 1657: Adam Martindale and Ephraim Elcock’, Trans. Historic Society of Lancs. and Chesh.,160 (2011).
Armies: Cheshire
Eliot, George George Eliot
Ensign in the regiment of foot of Oliver Lord St John/Thomas Essex, named in the published list of officers in the earl of Essex’s army, 1642.
References: Peachey and Turton, Fall of the West, 6.650; Peacock, Army Lists, 34.
Armies: Bristol
Ellingworth, - - Ellingworth
Captain in Christopher Potley’s regiment of foot. He was tried for false musters and embezzling his soldiers’ arms, and was cashiered.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 113.
Armies: Waller (Southern Association)
Elliot, Thomas Thomas Elliot
Lieutenant of Captain Thompson’s troop in John Dalbier’s regiment of horse.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 49.
Armies: Earl of Essex; Waller (Southern Association)
Elliott [Ellott], Alexander Alexander Elliott [Ellott]
By Nov. 1643 Elliott was a captain in Sir Thomas Myddelton’s forces in the parliamentary army jointly under Myddelton’s and Sir William Brereton’s command that invaded north-east Wales. When the parliamentarians withdrew in later Nov. Elliott and Captain John Warren were left in command of 120 men of Myddelton’s regiment (according to one royalist account, all that remained of the regiment) holding Hawarden Castle against local royalists and reinforcements from Ireland. On 21 Nov. Elliott and Warren directed a letter to the besiegers appealing to them as fellow Protestants, and Elliott together with Chaplain Peter Ince negotiated the surrender in early Dec. Elliott was still serving in Myddelton’s brigade when it invaded Montgomeryshire in Sept. 1644, and based there in Jan. 1645 his company mustered 39 men, all ranks. In Apr. 1645, by when he was a major, Elliott sat on Sir William Brereton’s councils of war. Suggested by Dore to be one of Sir Thomas Myddelton’s English officers recruited during 1643 from the London area. Given his surname, Elliott may have been a Scottish professional soldier. He later served in North Wales under Colonel Thomas Mytton.
References: Dore, Brereton letter books, 1. 178-9, 194; National Library of Wales, Chirk Castle Ms. 1/Biii, 93.
Armies: North Wales
Elliott, Bartholomew Bartholomew Elliott
Lieutenant in John Jenkins’s company in Charles Essex’s regiment of foot in Lord Wharton’s Army raised for Ireland in 1642. Later that summer he instead went with the regiment in the earl of Essex’s Army as lieutenant in Charles Essex’s regiment of foot.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 70, 45.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Elliott, John John Elliott
In summer 1644, lieutenant in Henry Andrews’s troop in Sir Samuel Luke’s Bedfordshire-based regiment of horse. He is mentioned several times in Luke’s letter books, though no letters to or by him survive there.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 92.
Armies: Bedfordshire
Elliott, Jonathan Jonathan Elliott
In 1642, probably at and from its formation, captain in Lord Robartes’s regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 37.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Ellis, - - Ellis
A captain in the unit of reformado horse under Major James Baker’s command that in later 1645 marched from London to the siege of Chester. On 1 Nov. he appears to have been wounded at the battle of Denbigh Green, for on 29 Dec. Captain Ellis received payment for ‘his Charges at Nantwich since his being wounded at Denbeigh’ [verso notes he was ‘a Reformade’] (TNA, SP28/224, f. 84). In Jan. 1646 Ellis was among those officers who received payment from the £10,000 in wages sent by parliament to sustain the siege of Chester.
References: Dore, Brereton letter books, 2. 511; TNA, SP28/224, f. 84.
Armies: Reformado; London; Cheshire
Ellis, - - Ellis
Chaplain in Sir William Springate’s volunteer regiment of Kentish foot by 8 Sept. 1643.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 120.
Ellis, Godfrey Godfrey Ellis
Of Elmore, Gloucestershire. Captain. Lieutenant of foot under Thomas Morgan at Gloucester, holding that rank when he took part in the capture and plunder of Berkeley Castle in Oct. 1646. and then captain of foot (his rank by July 1647 when he got into a prolonged conflict trying to distrain the goods of the delinquent Sir Richard Ducie). He bought crown lands in Gloucester, and in Staffordshire, Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. He was made a freeman of Gloucester, and acted as an agent for recovery of war losses for the city.
References: Gentles, ‘Debentures’, 277; HMC, Fifth Report, 356-7; Warmington, Glos., 101.
Armies: Gloucestershire
Ellis, John John Ellis
Ensign in Captain Edward Stearne’s company in Thomas Ayloffe’s regiment of foot in the Eastern Association Army by the time of its disbandment in Apr. 1645. He may be the John Ellis who later in the 1640s served as an ensign in Rainsborough’s/Deane’s New Model Army regiment of foot, but this could be a second and separate man.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 1.10; Wanklyn, New Model Army, I, 133.
Armies: Eastern Association; New Model Army?
Ellis, Thomas Thomas Ellis
Cornet and lieutenant in Edward Foley’s troop in Sir Arthur Hesilrige’s/John Butler’s regiment of horse. He served in the Oxford campaign in summer 1644 and was still in the troop in Dec. 1645, though by then he was only a cornet.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 65.
Armies: Waller (Southern Association); New Model Army
Elton, Richard Richard Elton (born c. 1610)
Born in Bristol; probably the second son of Richard Elton and his wife Jane Cole; by 1634 he had married Mary, daughter of Thomas Parker.
An active member of volunteer military associations before the civil war: the Military Company of the City of Westminster and the Loving Gentlemen of Town-Ditch.
Major of the White regiment, London Auxiliaries (Colonel John Bellamy) on 22 Oct. 1646.
During the 1650s he served as deputy governor and then governor of Kingston upon Hull, holding the rank of major, later lieutenant-colonel. By 1659-60 he was governor of Carlisle, where he tried but failed to prevent his garrison declaring for Monck.
Author of the military manual, The Compleat Body of the Art Military (1650, 1659, 1668).
References: Oxford DNB; Nagel, ‘London militia’, 317; Marshall, Essex funeral, 11; Vis. London, 1633-5, 1.255.
Armies: Westminster
Elye [Ely], John John Elye [Ely]
Lieutenant in Hugh Collham’s troop of harquebusiers in Sir William Brereton’s Cheshire Army. Elye appears in James Croxton’s accounts of the £10,000 grant from parliament for the forces besieging Chester, receiving payment of £20 on 18 Dec.1645 and £20 on 12 Jan. 1646. In Dec. he was injured, described as ‘was wounded, being Lt. to Capt. Culme’s troop’ (Dore, Brereton letter books, 2. 384). A warrant dated 12 Dec. 1645 describes Elye as having served in the wars for two years: ‘received but £16 and expended much of his own estate, and is on service at the Leaguer’ (TNA, SP28/128, f. 579). In later Sept. Elye had assumed command of Culme’s troop after his death at Rowton Moor, but by the end of Jan. 1646 had transferred to Captain Richard Brereton’s troop.
References: Dore, Brereton letter books, 2. 382-5, 510-2; TNA, SP28/128, f. 579; TNA, SP28/224, f.39.
Armies: Cheshire
Emerson, John John Emerson
Identified from a pay warrant dated 7 Apr. 1644 as lieutenant to Major [?John or William] Marbury in Cheshire.
References: TNA, SP28/125, Part 2, f. 326.
Armies: Cheshire
Emerson, William William Emerson
Identified in pay warrants dating from Mar. and Apr. 1644 as a major in Sir Thomas Myddelton’s brigade.
References: TNA, SP28/346, nos. 14, 29.
Armies: North Wales
Emerson, William William Emerson
Lieutenant in Lord Wharton’s regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army in 1642.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 31.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Emerton, John John Emerton
Ensign in Major William Hobson’s company in the Southwark auxiliaries regiment (Colonel James Houblon), when it mustered on 16 Apr. 1644.
References: TNA, SP28/121A, ff. 656r.-666r.
Armies: Southwark
Emmott, William William Emmott
Major in Colonel Ughtred Shuttleworth’s regiment of foot in Lancashire. In May 1648 Emmott was signatory to a pro-Presbyterian, anti-New Model Army petition by Lancashire officers. On 16 Aug. 1650 he was commissioned major in Thomas Birch’s militia regiment of Lancashire foot.
References: TNA, E121/4/8; Lancashire military proceedings, 248-50; CSPD, 1650, 509.
Armies: Lancashire
Ennis, John John Ennis
By spring 1644 and still there a year later when the regiment was disbanded, Major of the regiment of foot in the Eastern Association Army commanded first by Sir John Palgrave and later by Sir Thomas Hoogan.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 2.79.
Armies: Eastern Association
Ente, Josias Josias Ente
Ensign in the Blue regiment, London Trained Bands (Colonel Thomas Adams) in summer 1642.
References: Thrale 1642.
Armies: London
Erlam, Erasmus Erasmus Erlam
In Apr. 1645 on the eve of its disbandment, lieutenant in Francis Barnes’s company in the regiment of foot in the Eastern Association Army commanded first by Sir John Palgrave and then by Sir Thomas Hoogan.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 2.81.
Armies: Eastern Association
Erle, Sir Walter Sir Walter Erle (1586-1665)
MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in the Long Parliament until secluded at Pride’s Purge. He was MP for Poole, 1614, 1621, 1624 and 1660; for Dorset in 1625, 1628, 1654 and 1659; for Lyme Regis in 1626 and the Short Parliament. An active opponent of royal policies in the 1620s. In 1641 he helped draft the Grand Remonstrance. In Aug. 1642 he raised a troop of horse and supported the siege of Sherborne (other troops were added in Apr. 1643 to form a regiment). He also had a small dragoon force, of uncertain status: at least 16 men in Sept. 1642, possibly disbanded and reformed in Jan. 1643 (when 28 men) and probably reduced into Francis Sydenham’s troop of dragoons by June 1643. Erle was probably also colonel of the foot regiment raised in Dorset in May 1643.
In Apr. Erle became commander of the Dorset forces, but after the failure of his attempt to take Corfe castle in Aug. 1643 he was deprived of his command. In Feb. 1644 he was made lieutenant of the Ordnance, and in that post did little to support the army of the Earl of Essex. He was involved in the setting up of the New Model Army. From 1645 increasingly an ally of the Presbyterians.
References: Oxford DNB; Keeler, Long Parliament, 165-7; HoP: The Commons, 1604-1629; HoP: The Commons, 1640-1660 (forthcoming).
Armies: Dorset
Ernott, William William Ernott
Major in Thomas Birch’s Lancashire regiment.
References: Gratton, Lancs. war effort, 284 [citing TNA, SP28/211/287].
Armies: Lancashire
Essex, Charles Charles Essex (1600-1642)
Baptised Lambourn, Berkshire, second son of Sir William Essex, first baronet (died 1643/4). Elder brother of Sir Thomas Essex.
He fought on the continent in the 1620s and 1630s, in English units within the Dutch army, and as such probably came into contact with Robert, earl of Essex. He returned to England in the later 1630s and although he initially intended to go back to fight on the continent in 1642, instead at the outbreak of the civil war he decided to serve in the earl of Essex’s Army, commissioned colonel of a regiment of foot. Having campaigned briefly under Bedford in Somerset and Dorset, he rejoined Essex’s Army in time to fight at Edgehill. He was hit and killed by a musket shot early in the battle. His regiment was largely or wholly disbanded shortly after his death.
References: Oxford DNB.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Essex, Sir Thomas, second baronet Sir Thomas Essex, second baronet (1604-c. or after 1651)
Baptised Lambourn, Berkshire, youngest son of Sir William Essex, first baronet (died 1643/4). Younger brother of Charles Essex, who was killed at Edgehill.
He fought on the continent during the 1630s. In 1642 he was lieutenant-colonel in Lord St John’s regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army, and became its colonel when St John died shortly after the battle of Edgehill from wounds sustained there. Thomas had not been present at Edgehill himself, for he had been garrisoning Worcester. By the end of 1642 he was based in Bristol, but – allegedly too fond of drink and high living and neglecting its defence – he was in Feb. 1643 effectively superseded and for a time arrested and imprisoned by Nathaniel Fiennes. No charges were sustained and proved, but it is unclear whether he ever returned to active command of his regiment – the regiment itself appears to have been broken up in the course of summer 1643 – or within Essex’s Army.
By 1646-7 he was a reformado, that is an officer with no command. He offered to serve in Ireland, but the triumph of the New Model in its conflict with parliament put an end to that prospect and to any military career he may have hoped to revive. He is last heard of in 1651, appealing for money to support a business venture, and may have died shortly after.
References: Oxford DNB.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Essex, Sir William, first baronet Sir William Essex, first baronet (1574/5-1643/4)
Born the elder son of Thomas Essex (died 1586) into an established gentry family based in Berkshire but with further property in London. William married in the 1590s and had several children, including Sir Thomas and Charles Essex.
William sat in the last parliaments of Elizabeth I and the early parliaments of James I. Perhaps in part because of his father’s early death, he was heavily in debt by the early seventeenth-century and sold off much of his property, though in 1611 he managed to acquire a baronetcy. By the late 1620s he was suffering periods of imprisonment for debt.
Despite his age, at the outbreak of the civil war he became a captain in the regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army commanded by his son Charles Essex. He was captured at Edgehill and held prisoner for a time at Oxford Castle. He died sometime between June 1643 and Mar. 1644 – the period over which his surviving son Thomas inherited his baronetcy and began being referred to as Sir Thomas – though the exact date and circumstances (whether still a prisoner at Oxford or again free) are not known.
References: Oxford DNB.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Estcourt, Thomas Thomas Estcourt
Captain in Lord Willoughby’s possibly short-lived regiment of dragoons in the Eastern Association Army.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 2.110.
Armies: Eastern Association
Estop, - - Estop
Lieutenant in John Bridges’s troop of horse in spring 1644, though gone by the end of the year.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 32.
Armies: Warwickshire
Eure, George George Eure (died 1672)
Of Easby, Yorkshire (North Riding). Son of Horatio Eure of Easby and his wife Deborah Breet.
From 1643 to 1645 Eure raised horse and foot serving as a captain under Lord Fairfax. Taken prisoner at Bradford in July 1643, in late 1644 he commanded a detachment holding Rievaulx Abbey during the siege of Helmsley Castle. Eure continued to serve in the Northern Association Army and fought in the second civil war as a major. On 10 Apr. 1650 he was commissioned as a colonel of foot in the Yorkshire militia. That year he inherited the title of Lord Eure (being the great-grandson of the second Lord Eure) but no concomitant wealth or land. He accepted a seat in the Nominated Assembly in spring 1653, and in 1657 Eure was one of only two hereditary peers who agreed to serve in the new ‘Other House’.
References: Jones, ‘War in the North’, 379; Hopper, ‘Yorkshire parliamentarians’, 93; CSPD, 1650, 506; HoP: The Commons, 1640-1660 (forthcoming).
Armies: Yorkshire; Northern Army (Fairfax); Northern Army (Poyntz)
Eure, Thomas Thomas Eure
Captain in Sir William Constable’s regiment of foot in the earl of Essex’s Army in 1642.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 41; Davies, ‘Essex’s Army’, 47.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Eurye, Edward Edward Eurye
Lieutenant in Owen Cambridge’s company in Edward King’s regiment of foot in the Eastern Association Army.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 1.48.
Armies: Eastern Association
Evans, John John Evans
Captain. Captain of a company of foot of the regiment of Gloucester townsmen raised in spring 1643 (the regiment successively of Henry Stephens, Edward Massey and Thomas Morgan until its disbandment in 1647). On 7 Aug. 1643, during the siege of Gloucester, he skirmished with the enemy at Tuffley with fewer than forty foot and some horse, retreating when outnumbered. In Aug. 1651 he was appointed to the command of a company of foot to be raised in the city in the face of the approaching royalist army.
References: Peachey and Turton, Fall of the West, 6. 625-7; Bibliotheca, cxx, 208-9.
Armies: Gloucestershire
Evans, John John Evans
Probably lieutenant in the troop of Captain Timothy Whiting in Richard Turner’s regiment of horse (late 1643-early 1644). He succeeded Whiting as captain of the troop with the reorganisation of the regiment when it passed to the command of George Thompson.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 136.
Armies: Waller (Southern Association)
Evans, Peter Peter Evans
Ensign in Major Archibald Strachan’s company in Sir William Waller’s regiment of dragoons and later lieutenant.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 150.
Armies: Waller (Southern Association)
Evans, Roger Roger Evans
Identified by issues of equipment to his men as a captain of a company of foot serving in Sir Thomas Myddelton's brigade in Montgomeryshire in autumn 1644.
References: National Library of Wales, Chirk Castle Ms. 1/Biii, 93.
Armies: North Wales
Evans, Thomas Thomas Evans
Lieutenant, later captain, of Luke’s own troop in Sir Samuel Luke’s Bedfordshire-based regiment of horse. As such, he is mentioned from time to time in Luke’s letter books and a handful of letters to or by him survive there.
References: Luke Letter Books, nos. 466, 817, 855, 1185.
Armies: Bedfordshire
Evans, Thomas Thomas Evans
Apparently not the same man as his namesake who served as governor of Romney. This Thomas Evans was by late 1644 captain in Hans Behre’s regiment of horse and remained there when part of the regiment was absorbed into Massey’s regiment of horse.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 25.
Armies: Earl of Essex; Waller (Southern Association); Massey Brigade
Evans, Thomas Thomas Evans
Captain in the Portsmouth garrison regiment commanded by Sir William Lewis/William Jephson/Richard Norton by 10 Jan. 1643 to at least 25 Aug. 1645. In Mar. 1644 he was appointed governor of Romney, Hampshire, but later that month a royalist raiding party beat up his quarters and captured him and most of his company.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 62.
Armies: Hampshire
Evans, Thomas Thomas Evans
In the 1642 listing of the earl of Essex’s Army he is shown as lieutenant in Captain Edward Wingate’s troop of horse.
References: Peacock, Army lists, 54.
Armies: Earl of Essex
Evanson, William William Evanson
Lieutenant in Cromwell’s regiment of horse in the Eastern Association Army, becoming a captain-lieutenant and then captain in Edward Whalley’s horse regiment upon the formation of the New Model Army in spring 1645, where he remained until the mid-1650s.
References: Spring, Eastern Association, 1.31; Wanklyn, New Model Army, I, 53, 63, 74, 84, 95, 108.
Armies: Eastern Association; New Model Army
Evaret, Edward Edward Evaret
A lieutenant in Staffordshire. Presented by the constable of Rugeley in 1662.
References: ‘Active Parliamentarians, 1662’, 56.
Armies: Staffordshire
Evelyn, Arthur Arthur Evelyn
From the beginning of the civil war, captain of a troop of horse in the earl of Essex’s Army, which may have been taken over by another commander in 1644, in which case Evelyn probably became a reformado, though it may have continued under Evelyn but was detached from Essex’s main force in order to reinforce key garrisons or to serve in the lower Thames valley. Either way, in spring 1645 Evelyn transferred into the New Model Army, as captain in James then Thomas Sheffield’s regiment of horse. In summer 1646 he was appointed governor of Wallingford Castle and in 1647 he probably formally left the regiment and the New Model, though his military career certainly did not end at that point, as he was promoted to major and took command of a troop of non-New Model horse.
References: Wanklyn, New Model Army, 1. 51, 61, 72, 82.
Armies: Earl of Essex; New Model Army
Evered, George George Evered
Lieutenant, Weymouth garrison, 1651.
References: Bayley, Civil War in Dorset, 337.
Armies: Dorset
Everenden, Anthony Anthony Everenden
Captain-Lieutenant in the colonel’s company in Herbert Morley’s regiment of foot by July 1644 and still there on 14 Apr. 1645.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 107.
Armies: Sussex; Waller (Southern Association)
Everenden, John John Everenden
Captain in Hastings Rape Trained Bands from at least late Oct. 1643 (when his company was posted to guard the River Arun against the royalists) until at least June 1648.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 125.
Armies: Sussex
Everenden, Simon Simon Everenden
Captain in Herbert Morley’s regiment of horse, commanding a company of dragoons by 3 Aug. 1643 and still there in Oct. 1644. In Dec. 1643 Everenden led his troop in a successful repulse of a royalist force trying to cross Bramber Bridge.
References: Spring, Waller’s army, 99.
Armies: Sussex; Waller (Southern Association)
Everett, - - Everett
Lieutenant in Captain William Webb’s company in the Green (Cripplegate) regiment, London auxiliaries (Colonel Christopher Whichcott) in Nov. 1643, when recommended for promotion by Sir William Waller. By Dec. 1643 Captain, but no longer a captain in the regiment by Oct. 1646.
References: Spring, Waller's Army; Nagel, ‘London militia’, 317; Marshall, Essex funeral, 11.
Armies: London
Evershed, Thomas Thomas Evershed
Lieutenant-Colonel in the Orange regiment, London Auxiliaries (Colonel Thomas Gower) in Oct. 1646.
References: Nagel, ‘London militia’, 317; Marshall, Essex funeral, 11.
Armies: London
Every, William William Every
Of Wareham. 17 Nov. 1646: cornet of Captain Edmund Butler’s troop of horse in regiment of Colonel Robert Butler, 1 Feb.-16 Aug. 1645.
References: Mayo, Dorset Standing Committee, 67.
Armies: Dorset
Ewer, Isaac Isaac Ewer (died 1650/51).
Little is known of his birth and early life, though he was possibly the son of Richard Ewer of Hatfield Broad Oak, Hertfordshire. In 1633 he married a sister of John Thurloe, later secretary of state under Oliver Cromwell. His modest ship money assessment and local roles during the 1630s suggest a middling status.
By summer 1643 he was a captain in Sir Miles Hobart’s regiment of dragoons in the Eastern Association Army; later he was major in the earl of Manchester’s regiment of dragoons in the same army. He went on to serve in the New Model Army, initially as major in Okey’s regiment of dragoons, but he later moved to Hammond’s foot regiment as his and its lieutenant-colonel and he succeeded Hammond as colonel in 1647. He campaigned under Cromwell in South Wales in 1648 and led the recapture of Chepstow Castle. He and his regiment did not follow Cromwell north to Preston and instead went east, to join Fairfax’s siege of Colchester. He was governor of Portsmouth by late 1648 and as such played the leading role in securing the person of the king, removing the dithering Hammond, and ensuring his safe conveyance to London for trial. Ewer was an active regicide.
He and his regiment supported Cromwell’s campaign in Ireland and remained there to fight under Ireton as Cromwell’s successor. He died of the plague in winter 1650-1 and was buried at Waterford.
References: Oxford DNB; Spring, Eastern Association, 1.39, 57; Wanklyn, New Model Army, I, 45, 56, 66, 77, 86, 99.
Armies: Eastern Association; New Model Army
Eyre, Adam Adam Eyre (1614-1661)
The son of Thomas Eyre of Haslehead in Thurleston township, Penistone parish, Yorkshire (West Riding), a yeoman, and Ellen Ramscar. Like his brother Joseph, he was commissioned a captain, probably of a troop of horse, in Lord Fairfax’s Army in the first civil war, but little record of his war-time service survives. Instead, his surviving journal of 1647-9 reveals his local activities as a parliamentarian administrator in the post-war period.
References: Oxford DNB; Eyre;Jones, ‘War in the North’, 379; Hopper, ‘Yorkshire parliamentarians’, 117.
Armies: Yorkshire
Eyre, Edward Edward Eyre
Captain-Lieutenant. Possibly second son (born 1618/19) of John Eyre of Wedhampton and Northcombe, Wiltshire or just possibly Edward (baptised 1582), second son of William Eyre of Shaldfield, Wiltshire. Captain-Lieutenant to Bayntun, with whom he seized Sir Edward Hungerford at Malmesbury in Jan. 1643, only for him to escape and arrest them in turn.
References: Peachey and Turton, Fall of the West, 5.546; Vis. Wilts. 1623, 59-61.
Armies: Wiltshire: Sir Edward Baynton’s Regt. of Dragoons
Eyre, Joseph Joseph Eyre (died by 1648)
The son of Thomas Eyre of Haslehead in Thurleston township, Penistone parish, Yorkshire (West Riding), a yeoman, and Ellen Ramscar. Younger brother of Adam Eyre and, like him, captain of horse in Lord Fairfax’s Army.
He later claimed expenses of £600 for having outfitted his troop and £568 13s in pay arrears. After Joseph’s death his brother spent years attempting to recover this money.
References: Jones, ‘War in the North’, 379; Hopper, ‘Yorkshire parliamentarians’, 117.
Armies: Yorkshire
Eyre, Thomas Thomas Eyre
Captain. Eyre was a captain in Nathaniel Fiennes’s regiment of foot in 1643. He was captured at Roundway Down, 13 July 1643, and was still a prisoner at Oxford on 16 Sept., despite a specific clause in the Bristol surrender terms for his release.
References: Peachey and Turton, Fall of the West, 6.608-9.
Armies: Bristol
Eyton, Philip Philip Eyton
On 22 Aug. 1650 commissioned a captain in Robert Duckenfeild’s Cheshire militia regiment of foot.
References: CSPD, 1650, 509.
Armies: Cheshire