Robert Venables
Encyclopedia
Robert Venables was a soldier during the English Civil War
and noted angler
.
Venables was lieutenant-colonel in the parliamentary army. He was wounded at Chester in 1645. He was appointed governor of Liverpool in 1648. He served with success in Ireland from 1649 until 1654. He was sent as joint commander with Admiral William Penn, on the Caribbean expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies in 1654. The English forces were routed at Hispaniola
in 1655, but managed to successfully take Jamaica later the same year. On his return to England he was sent to the Tower of London in September 1655, and cashiered in October. Appointed governor of Chester, 1660. After the restoration he bought Wincham, retired from public life and remained a nonconformist. He published a treatise on angling, The Experienced Angler, in 1662.
in Cheshire and Lancashire. In 1644 he distinguished himself in the defence of Nantwich, and in 1645 he was governor of Tarvin. In October of that year was wounded at the siege of Chester
, being then a lieutenant-colonel. In 1646 he commanded a mopping up operation North Wales which was sent to reduce the remaining royalist garrisons in the Principality.
During 1647 and 1648 he was active as a civil commissioner trying to get his and his men's arrears paid. In January 1648 Venables was appointed governor of Liverpool, a position he held during the Second English Civil War
.
destined for the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
.
He preceded Cromwell to Ireland, landing at Dublin on 25 July 1649, in time to take part in the victory of Rathmines
.
After the storming of Drogheda—in which his regiment played a key role in preventing the retreating Royalists from raising the drawbridge to the north side of the town assuring Cromwell's speedy victory and the massacre that followed it— Cromwell who headed south towards Wexford, promoted Venables to major-general of Ulster and
Governor of Londonderry, and sent him in command of a detachment, to join Sir Charles Coote in Ulster. On his march Venables defeated Colonel Mark Trevor and Hugh, Lord Ards
at the battle of Dromore, and captured Newry and Carlingford. Belfast surrendered to him early in October, and in December he and Sir Charles Coote defeated Lord Ards near Lisnegarvy, and took Carrickfergus
.
On 21 June 1650 Venables assisted Coote to defeat the army of Bishop Heber McMahon at the Battle of Scariffhollis and to help in the failed assault Charlemont after which the garrison of the town surrendered with terms on 14 August. He was also involved in the campaign against Earl of Clanricarde
the commander of the last Irish Confederate field army, who fled to France in December 1650. Over the next two years Venables fought a counter insurgency war against tories in the bogs of north Connaught and south-west Ulster eventually forcing Colonel Tirlogh O'Neill and Lieutenant-general O'Farrell to capitulate.
On 9 December 1651 Irish lands to the value of £1,223 were ordered him for his arrears of pay, but that did not cover all his arrears and he was active in trying to get backpay for both himself and him men. In 1653 he was busy drafting regulation to impose the draconian 1652 Act of Settlement
, but not so busy as to find time to opposed the imposition regulations that would have seen the reintroduction of enforced Presbyterian in Ulster presumably because like many in the New Model Army
he was a Congregationalist.
In May 1654 Venables left Ireland, and on 9 December following he was appointed general of the forces sent by the Protector
Oliver Cromwell to attack the Spaniards in the West Indies. The instructions of the Protector and his council gave Venables the full latitude of choice as to the point to attack, suggesting various places, but declining to tie his hands, and ordering him simply "to gain an interest in that part of the West Indies in possession of the Spaniards". He was, however, to consult with Sir William Penn
, the admiral commanding the fleet employed in the expedition, and with two commissioners, Edward Winslow
and Gregory Butler, on the method of carrying out his instructions.
The expedition set sail in December 1654, reached Barbados at the end of January, where additional forces were embarked, and arrived at Hispaniola on 13 April. A landing was effected with about eight thousand men some forty miles west of the capital, and the army marched through the woods to attack it. After suffering two disastrous defeats from the Spaniards on 17 April and 25 April, Venables, complaining loudly of the cowardice of his men, decided to give up the attempt, and sailed for Jamaica. That island was reached on 10 May, the chief town occupied with very little fighting, and the governor forced to capitulate on 17 May. The Spaniards retired into the woods and hills, whence they continued their resistance; the expedition was badly equipped with provisions and other necessaries, and sickness decimated the ranks of the army. Penn with part of the fleet sailed home on 25 June, and Venables himself followed in the Marston Moor on 4 July.
Venables had been ill ever since reaching Hispaniola, and by this time was thought to be at the point of death. But, apart from reasons of health, he was anxious to get to England in order to clear himself from responsibility for the failure at Hispaniola, and to represent to the Protector the needs of the colony at Jamaica. When he arrived at Portsmouth on 9 September 1655, he described himself as "in a recovering condition", but almost a skeleton, and so weak that he could neither stand nor ride.
On 20 September he appeared before the Council of State, and was immediately committed to the Tower. Penn shared the same fate. On 30 October Venables was released from his imprisonment, on condition of surrendering his general's commission and his command in Ireland, and obtained no further employment during the protectorate.
The historian C.H. Firth, writing in the DNB
in 1889 was of the opinion that the main cause of the failure at Hispaniola and the reason for the imprisonment of the two generals was the lack of cordial co-operation on the part of both. The errors committed by Venables himself in the management of his attack were equally fatal, and he never obtained the confidence either of his officers or his soldiers. His army, however, was composed of very inferior and undisciplined troops hastily got together and badly equipped. His wife, who accompanied him, says in her journal: "The success was ill, for the work of God was not like to be done by the devil's instruments. A wicked army it was, and sent out without arms or provisions". In the opinion of the historian John Morrill writing in the ODNB in in 2004 "[Venables] was over-promoted and under-supported in a high-profile fiasco in the Caribbean that cost him his reputation. He had to live out his life as a disgraced man with a sharp-tongued wife who disapproved of all he stood for".
, Venables began to promote the restoration of the monarchy, though he cautiously avoided taking part in Booth's Insurrection.
When George Monck the English military governor of Scotland of came into England at the head of his troops, he appointed Venables governor of Chester. Initially Edward Hyde
, a close advisor to Charles II of England
while he was in exile, was in favour of the appointment, but on taking advise from the local Cheshire Royalists pressed successfully for his dismissal because of the worries expressed over Venables religious Independency
.
to his ingenious friend the author. "I have read", says Walton, "and practised by many books of this kind … yet I could never find in them that height for judgment and reason which you have manifested in this". There were five printed edition during his lifetime the lastin 1683. There was a further edition in 1827 with a life of Venables prefixed in it.
Shortly after the Restoration he bought the estate of Wincham, where his descendants were still settled in 1900. His portrait, the autobiography of his second wife, and some manuscripts relating to the West Indian expedition were still there in 1900.
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
and noted angler
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
.
Venables was lieutenant-colonel in the parliamentary army. He was wounded at Chester in 1645. He was appointed governor of Liverpool in 1648. He served with success in Ireland from 1649 until 1654. He was sent as joint commander with Admiral William Penn, on the Caribbean expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies in 1654. The English forces were routed at Hispaniola
Siege of Santo Domingo (1655)
The Siege of Santo Domingo of 1655, was fought between April 23, 1655 to April 30, 1655 at the Spanish Colony of Santo Domingo. A force of 2,400 Spanish troops led by Governor Don Bernardino Meneses y Bracamonte, Count of Peñalba, successfully resisted a force of 13,120 troops and 34 ships of the...
in 1655, but managed to successfully take Jamaica later the same year. On his return to England he was sent to the Tower of London in September 1655, and cashiered in October. Appointed governor of Chester, 1660. After the restoration he bought Wincham, retired from public life and remained a nonconformist. He published a treatise on angling, The Experienced Angler, in 1662.
Early life
Robert Venables was the son of Robert Venables of Antrobus, Cheshire, by Ellen, daughter of Richard Simcox of Rudheath. The Venables were a cadet branch of a family that could trace their ancestry back to the Norman Conquest, while his mothers family were from the middling sort.Civil War
Venables entered the parliamentary army when the Civil War broke out, and served as a captain under Sir William BreretonSir William Brereton, 1st Baronet
Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet was an English writer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1659. He was a commander in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War....
in Cheshire and Lancashire. In 1644 he distinguished himself in the defence of Nantwich, and in 1645 he was governor of Tarvin. In October of that year was wounded at the siege of Chester
Siege of Chester
The Siege of Chester was a siege of the First English Civil War, between February 1645 and January 1646, with an intermission during the summer of 1645....
, being then a lieutenant-colonel. In 1646 he commanded a mopping up operation North Wales which was sent to reduce the remaining royalist garrisons in the Principality.
During 1647 and 1648 he was active as a civil commissioner trying to get his and his men's arrears paid. In January 1648 Venables was appointed governor of Liverpool, a position he held during the Second English Civil War
Second English Civil War
The Second English Civil War was the second of three wars known as the English Civil War which refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1652 and also include the First English Civil War and the...
.
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
In 1649 he was promoted to full colonel and commanded a foot regiment in the army under Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
destined for the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
.
He preceded Cromwell to Ireland, landing at Dublin on 25 July 1649, in time to take part in the victory of Rathmines
Battle of Rathmines
The Battle of Rathmines was fought in and around what is now the Dublin suburb of Rathmines in August 1649, during the Irish Confederate Wars, the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
.
After the storming of Drogheda—in which his regiment played a key role in preventing the retreating Royalists from raising the drawbridge to the north side of the town assuring Cromwell's speedy victory and the massacre that followed it— Cromwell who headed south towards Wexford, promoted Venables to major-general of Ulster and
Governor of Londonderry, and sent him in command of a detachment, to join Sir Charles Coote in Ulster. On his march Venables defeated Colonel Mark Trevor and Hugh, Lord Ards
Hugh Montgomery, 1st Earl of Mount Alexander
Hugh Montgomery, 1st Earl of Mount Alexander , known as The Viscount Montgomery from 1642 to 1661, was an Irish peer. He was appointed to command his father's regiment, 1642. He was commander-in-chief of the Royalist army in Ulster in 1649 and seized successively Belfast, Antrim, and Carrickfergus...
at the battle of Dromore, and captured Newry and Carlingford. Belfast surrendered to him early in October, and in December he and Sir Charles Coote defeated Lord Ards near Lisnegarvy, and took Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus , known locally and colloquially as "Carrick", is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is located on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,201 at the 2001 Census and takes its name from Fergus Mór mac Eirc, the 6th century king...
.
On 21 June 1650 Venables assisted Coote to defeat the army of Bishop Heber McMahon at the Battle of Scariffhollis and to help in the failed assault Charlemont after which the garrison of the town surrendered with terms on 14 August. He was also involved in the campaign against Earl of Clanricarde
Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde
Ulick Burke, 1st Marquess of Clanricarde , was an Irish nobleman and figure in English Civil War....
the commander of the last Irish Confederate field army, who fled to France in December 1650. Over the next two years Venables fought a counter insurgency war against tories in the bogs of north Connaught and south-west Ulster eventually forcing Colonel Tirlogh O'Neill and Lieutenant-general O'Farrell to capitulate.
On 9 December 1651 Irish lands to the value of £1,223 were ordered him for his arrears of pay, but that did not cover all his arrears and he was active in trying to get backpay for both himself and him men. In 1653 he was busy drafting regulation to impose the draconian 1652 Act of Settlement
Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652
The Act for the Settlement of Ireland imposed penalties including death and land confiscation against participants and bystanders of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 and subsequent unrest.-Background:...
, but not so busy as to find time to opposed the imposition regulations that would have seen the reintroduction of enforced Presbyterian in Ulster presumably because like many in the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
he was a Congregationalist.
The Protectorate and the West Indies expedition
- see also Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660)
In May 1654 Venables left Ireland, and on 9 December following he was appointed general of the forces sent by the Protector
The Protectorate
In British history, the Protectorate was the period 1653–1659 during which the Commonwealth of England was governed by a Lord Protector.-Background:...
Oliver Cromwell to attack the Spaniards in the West Indies. The instructions of the Protector and his council gave Venables the full latitude of choice as to the point to attack, suggesting various places, but declining to tie his hands, and ordering him simply "to gain an interest in that part of the West Indies in possession of the Spaniards". He was, however, to consult with Sir William Penn
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...
, the admiral commanding the fleet employed in the expedition, and with two commissioners, Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow
Edward Winslow was an English Pilgrim leader on the Mayflower. He served as the governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636, and finally in 1644...
and Gregory Butler, on the method of carrying out his instructions.
The expedition set sail in December 1654, reached Barbados at the end of January, where additional forces were embarked, and arrived at Hispaniola on 13 April. A landing was effected with about eight thousand men some forty miles west of the capital, and the army marched through the woods to attack it. After suffering two disastrous defeats from the Spaniards on 17 April and 25 April, Venables, complaining loudly of the cowardice of his men, decided to give up the attempt, and sailed for Jamaica. That island was reached on 10 May, the chief town occupied with very little fighting, and the governor forced to capitulate on 17 May. The Spaniards retired into the woods and hills, whence they continued their resistance; the expedition was badly equipped with provisions and other necessaries, and sickness decimated the ranks of the army. Penn with part of the fleet sailed home on 25 June, and Venables himself followed in the Marston Moor on 4 July.
Venables had been ill ever since reaching Hispaniola, and by this time was thought to be at the point of death. But, apart from reasons of health, he was anxious to get to England in order to clear himself from responsibility for the failure at Hispaniola, and to represent to the Protector the needs of the colony at Jamaica. When he arrived at Portsmouth on 9 September 1655, he described himself as "in a recovering condition", but almost a skeleton, and so weak that he could neither stand nor ride.
On 20 September he appeared before the Council of State, and was immediately committed to the Tower. Penn shared the same fate. On 30 October Venables was released from his imprisonment, on condition of surrendering his general's commission and his command in Ireland, and obtained no further employment during the protectorate.
The historian C.H. Firth, writing in the DNB
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
in 1889 was of the opinion that the main cause of the failure at Hispaniola and the reason for the imprisonment of the two generals was the lack of cordial co-operation on the part of both. The errors committed by Venables himself in the management of his attack were equally fatal, and he never obtained the confidence either of his officers or his soldiers. His army, however, was composed of very inferior and undisciplined troops hastily got together and badly equipped. His wife, who accompanied him, says in her journal: "The success was ill, for the work of God was not like to be done by the devil's instruments. A wicked army it was, and sent out without arms or provisions". In the opinion of the historian John Morrill writing in the ODNB in in 2004 "[Venables] was over-promoted and under-supported in a high-profile fiasco in the Caribbean that cost him his reputation. He had to live out his life as a disgraced man with a sharp-tongued wife who disapproved of all he stood for".
Second Commonwealth
After the dismissal of the Second Protector Richard CromwellRichard Cromwell
At the same time, the officers of the New Model Army became increasingly wary about the government's commitment to the military cause. The fact that Richard Cromwell lacked military credentials grated with men who had fought on the battlefields of the English Civil War to secure their nation's...
, Venables began to promote the restoration of the monarchy, though he cautiously avoided taking part in Booth's Insurrection.
When George Monck the English military governor of Scotland of came into England at the head of his troops, he appointed Venables governor of Chester. Initially Edward Hyde
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...
, a close advisor to Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
while he was in exile, was in favour of the appointment, but on taking advise from the local Cheshire Royalists pressed successfully for his dismissal because of the worries expressed over Venables religious Independency
Independent (religion)
In English church history, Independents advocated local congregational control of religious and church matters, without any wider geographical hierarchy, either ecclesiastical or political...
.
Restoration
Venables obtained nothing at the Restoration. In 1664 he was informed against as concerned in what was known as the Farnley Wood Plot, but the charge met with no belief. (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1663–4, p. 512). He sheltered William Veitch when he was in hiding in England after the Pentland Rising, and seems to have remained a nonconformist. He died in July 1687, aged 75.Author of a book on fishing
Venables published in 1662: The Experienced Angler, or Angling improved, being a general discourse of angling, imparting many of the aptest ways and choicest experiments for the taking of most sorts of fish in pond or river, 12mo. To it is prefixed an epistle by Izaak WaltonIzaak Walton
Izaak Walton was an English writer. Best known as the author of The Compleat Angler, he also wrote a number of short biographies which have been collected under the title of Walton's Lives.-Biography:...
to his ingenious friend the author. "I have read", says Walton, "and practised by many books of this kind … yet I could never find in them that height for judgment and reason which you have manifested in this". There were five printed edition during his lifetime the lastin 1683. There was a further edition in 1827 with a life of Venables prefixed in it.
Family
Venables married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Rudyard of Rudyard, Staffordshire; secondly, in 1654, Elizabeth, widow of Thomas Lee of Darnhall, and daughter of Samuel Aldersey.Shortly after the Restoration he bought the estate of Wincham, where his descendants were still settled in 1900. His portrait, the autobiography of his second wife, and some manuscripts relating to the West Indian expedition were still there in 1900.