Committee for Compounding with Delinquents

Last updated

In 1643, near the start of the English Civil War, Parliament set up two committees: the Sequestration Committee, which confiscated the estates of the Royalists who fought against Parliament, and the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, which allowed Royalists whose estates had been sequestrated to compound for their estates – pay a fine and recover their estates – on the condition that they must pledge not to take up arms against Parliament again. The size of the fine they had to pay depended on the worth of the estate and how great their support for the Royalist cause had been. [1]

Contents

To administer the process of sequestration, a sequestration committee was established in each county. If a local committee sequestrated an estate they usually let it to a tenant and the income was used "to the best advantage of the State". [2] If a "delinquent" wished to recover his estate he had to apply to the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents based in London, [2] [a] as the national Sequestration Committee was absorbed by the Committee for Compounding in 1644. [3]

After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, most of the sequestrated land was returned to the pre-war owners. [4]

Background

In 1643, the "Parliamentary Committee for the Sequestration of Delinquents' Estates" was formed to confiscate the estates of Royalists who fought against the victorious Parliamentarians in the Civil War. [5] This was followed by the establishment of the Committee for Compounding for the Estates of Royalists and Delinquents, at Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London, which first met on 8 November 1643. [6]

In January 1646, the committee announced favourable terms for those who compounded prior to 1 May. This allowed those whose estates had been confiscated to regain them on payment of a fine, with the amount based on the value of their lands and level of support. Many took advantage of this. [7]

Assessment of sum

The delinquent paid a fine proportional to the value of his estate, [1] frequently three times net annual income. [8]

Valuation of estate

The delinquent submitted to the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents a signed declaration of his revenue and assets, which ended with wording such as: This is a true particular of the estate he doth desire to compound with this Honourable Committee for, wherein he doth submit himself to the fine to be imposed (partial transcript of declaration to the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents of Francis Choke of Avington, Berkshire, dated 1646). [1]

Payment

Payment of the sum compounded was made generally at Goldsmiths' Hall in London. [9]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ In a paternalistic society most of the property sequestrated was owned by men.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton</span> English playwright and Royalist (1622-1681)

James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton FRS, was an English peer, politician and author, who fought for the Royalists during the First English Civil War.

The Committee for Plundered Ministers was originally established in late 1642 by the Presbyterian faction in the Long Parliament following the start of the English Civil War. In December 1642 the committee was formalised as a parliamentary committee charged with the purpose of supporting the puritan ministers who had been removed from their livings by royalists. Its power was restricted to conducting preliminary investigations, before being forwarded to the House of Lords, who retained the power to actually deprive a minister of their living. However, as Parliament gained the upper hand in the war, so the work of the committees became less to do with supporting clerics who supported their cause and more to do with suppressing those who supported the monarchy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet</span>

Sir John Acland, 1st Baronet of Acland in the parish of Landkey and of Columb John in Devon, England, was a Royalist commander in the Civil War, during the early part of which he maintained a garrison for the king on his estate of Columb John. He was created a baronet in 1644 for his support, but the letters patent were lost or never finalised and the dignity was not confirmed until 1677/8, long after his death. He compounded with Parliament for his estate in 1646 and died the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Edward Littleton, 1st Baronet</span>

Sir Edward Littleton, 1st Baronet was a 17th-century English Baronet and politician from the extended Littleton/Lyttelton family, the first of a line of four Littleton baronets with Pillaton Hall as their seat. He initially joined the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War. Having tried unsuccessfully to find a third way, he switched his support to the Royalist cause – a decision that led to his financial ruin, as large debts made it impossible to redeem his estates from sequestration after the victory of Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount Fanshawe</span> English politician

Thomas Fanshawe, 1st Viscount Fanshawe KB was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1661. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. Following the Restoration he was raised to the peerage.

Sir Charles Dallison was a lawyer from Lincolnshire who served with the Royalist army during the First English Civil War. He was also a serjeant-at-law, and in 1648 he published an often cited pamphlet justifying his reasons for supporting the Royalist cause.

Captain Sir Thomas Liddell, 1st Baronet (1578–1652) was an English politician, a member of the Liddell family which monopolized the local government of the North of England during the 16th and 17th centuries. He was one of the leading supporters of the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.

Fitzwilliam Coningsby was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1621 and in 1640. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.

Sir Henry Crofts was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1660.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet</span> English landowner and politician

Sir George Chudleigh, 1st Baronet, of Ashton, Devon, was an English landowner and politician, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1601 and 1625. He had close family connections to a group of Devon Presbyterians, including Sir William Strode.

Humphrey Mackworth was an English lawyer, judge, and politician of Shropshire landed gentry origins who rose to prominence in the Midlands, the Welsh Marches and Wales during the English Civil War. He was the Parliamentarian military governor of Shrewsbury in the later phases of the war and under The Protectorate. He occupied several important legal and judicial posts in Chester and North Wales, presiding over the major trials that followed the Charles Stuart's invasion in 1651. In the last year of his life, he attained national prominence as a member of Oliver Cromwell's Council and as a Member of the House of Commons for Shropshire in the First Protectorate Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Giffard (1602–1665)</span>

Colonel John Giffard (1602–1665), of Brightley in the parish of Chittlehampton, Devon, England, was a Royalist leader during the Civil War. Giffard commanded the Devon Pikemen at the Battle of Lansdowne in 1643, in which his 3rd cousin the Royalist commander of the Cornish forces Sir Bevil Grenville (1596-1643) was killed in heroic circumstances. Giffard's loyalty to the Royalist cause led to him being proposed in 1660 as a knight of the intended Order of the Royal Oak. He was personally known to the biographer John Prince (1643–1723) who included him as one of his Worthies of Devon. He was buried in Chittlehampton Church, where his small kneeling effigy survives on the base of the monument he erected in 1625 to his grandfather.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe</span>

Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe (1622–1660) was an English nobleman and Royalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Ottley</span> English Royalist politician and soldier

Sir Francis Ottley was an English Royalist politician and soldier who played an important part in the English Civil War in Shropshire. He was military governor of Shrewsbury during the early years of the war and later served as the Royalist High Sheriff of the county and helped negotiate the surrender of Bridgnorth. His final years were spent in a prolonged and complex struggle to free his estates from sequestration.

Sir Anthony Morgan of Kilfigin, Monmouthshire, was a Royalist officer during the English Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Ottley</span> English Royalist politician and soldier

Sir Richard Ottley was an English Royalist politician and soldier who served as a youth in the English Civil War in Shropshire. After the Restoration he played a prominent part in the repression of Parliamentarians and Nonconformists and was MP for Shropshire in the Cavalier Parliament.

Compounding is a legal procedure whereby a criminal or delinquent avoids prosecution in a court of law, potentially leading to the confiscation of his estate or some other punishment, in exchange for his payment to the authorities of a financial penalty or fine. The agreement so reached is termed a composition. The term is from the Latin verb compono, "I put together, join". In general legal terminology, a "composition" is "an agreement not to prosecute in return for a consideration". It was commonly used by the victorious Parliamentarians against the Royalists after the English Civil War, for which purpose the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents was established in 1643. Another historical agreement was the Ausgleich, Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, or Composition of 1867.

Major William Rosewell, was a London apothecary, a Royalist soldier, apothecary to Queen Catherine, and Master of the Worshipful Company of Apothecaries (1661–62).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humphrey Bennet</span> Royalist commander in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

Sir Humphrey Bennet (1605–1667) was a Hampshire landowner who fought for the Royalists in the First English Civil War, in which he rose to the command of a cavalry brigade. He went into exile in 1645, returned home in 1646 and was active in a number of Royalist conspiracies during The Protectorate.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 National Archives & SP 23/193 folio 825.
  2. 1 2 O'Riordan 1987.
  3. ↑ National Archives 1642–1660.
  4. ↑ Habakkuk 2008, pp. 130–151.
  5. ↑ Hey 2003.
  6. ↑ National Archives & SP 23.
  7. ↑ Wedgwood 1958, p. 550.
  8. ↑ Andrews 1962 , pp. 233–338, 266 — described as "the usual composition", concerning Colonel John Giffard of Brightley
  9. ↑ As in case of Col John Giffard of Brightley ( Prince 1810 , p. 412).
  10. ↑ Thirsk 1984, p. 88.

Sources

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.