Seventeenth Century Archives - Page 10 of 10 - The History JarThe History Jar

Browsing through an old book with yellowed whispering pages, I came across this little link between Cumbria and Oliver Cromwell. It’s tenuous but it appealed to me simply because so little seems to be known about either of the characters involved and because reading between the lines there is a tale of a family torn asunder as a result of the English Civil war and its aftermath and also of infant mortality.

Dr Thomas Gibson was born at Bampton, near Shap. He graduated from the University of Leiden in 1675 became the Physician General of Cromwell’s Army and went on to write The Anatomy of Human Bodies which drew extensively on other sources but which remained in print for many editions. Little is known about his early life or indeed the death of his first wife.

Ann was Dorothy and Richard Cromwell’s sixth daughter – Oliver’s grand-daughter. She died in 1727, aged 69. Only her eldest sister Elizabeth was as long-lived amongst the girls in the family. The other lasses died in infancy. Ann, then, was born in 1659 while her father was Lord Protector- it was a short-lived venture for him and led to his exile on the restoration of the Stuart monarchy. His wife and family remained at home. Richard’s letters to his daughter are written under cover of an alternative name always RC or CR and speak at his grief of not being with his family.

She was widowed early, and throughout the rest of her life she lived with her sister Elizabeth in respectable Presbyterian seclusion under the watchful eye of her husband’s nephew who became the Bishop of London. The Bishop bequeathed £200 to Bampton Church.

John was born in 1612 so was in the prime of life just in time for the English Civil War. Cumberland was largely Royalist. Perhaps its remoteness meant that being so far from London they weren’t as caught up in events as folk further south; or perhaps it was the fact that they were great traditionalists. Whatever the reason the English Civil War saw many a Cumbrian Gentleman ruin himself financially in the king’s name as well as laying down their lives. Carlisle was reduced to starvation during the siege that is amply documented by Isaac Tullie.

Elsewhere, John Barwick having made his way from the delightfully named Witherslack to Cambridge where he attained his degree and went on to become a Doctor of Divinity put down his books and pens when the king raise this standard. He became a courier for Charles I bringing the money and silver plate of St John’s College to Nottingham rather than allowing it to fall into Parliamentary hands. He then set about writing tracts promoting Charles’ cause. It cost him his position in Cambridge but nothing daunted he moved his operation to London- into the Archbishop of London’s house in fact- where he continued to write for the king.

It was only after Charles’ execution that John was captured and confined in the Tower of London. He was eventually released and John took up his pen once more on behalf of Charles II sending ciphered letters from London to Europe. His reward was to be made Dean of Old St Paul’s.

He died in 1664 but he never forgot the village of his birth. His will left a bequest enabling ground to be purchased for burials, a school to be built, dowries to be given to girls and the old and infirm to be provided with fuel. His will also provided for a curate to tend to the flock where two of his brothers had lived their lives as farmers.