Governor of Worcester

Governors of the city of Worcester, England, include:

Civil War

List of governors of Worcester during the English Civil War

Name	Details
Sir John Byron	Commander of a Royalist military garrison for part of September 1642. [1]
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex	Commander-in-chief of the Parliamentary army, occupied the city on 24 September 1642 and remained there for about a month before marching off to the Battle of Edgehill (23 October 1642). [2]
Colonel Thomas Essex	October–November 1642. [1] — Parliamentarian governor appointed by Parliament. [1]
Sir William Russell	1642–1643. [3] — Royalist governor
Colonel Gilbert Gerard	December 1643 – beginning of 1646. [4] [a] — Royalist governor
Colonel Samuel Sandys	Beginning of 1646. [1] [b] — Royalist governor (having been acting governor during the Siege of Worcester (1643))
Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading	Royalist governor who had succeeded colonel Samuel Sandys, was taken prisoner and confined at Warwick. [7]
Sir Henry Washington [7] [8]	Royalist governor during the Siege of Worcester (1646) at the end of the First Civil War
Major-General Edward Massey [ citation needed ]	Parliamentarian governor

Notes

1. The historian J.W. Willis-Bund gives contradictory information as to when Gerard ceased to be Governor of Worcester. On page 29 Willis-Bund writes that Gerard was governor until his death in 1645. On page 143 he states that at the beginning of 1645 Samuel Sandys became governor, but on page 173, he reports that Sir Gilbert Gerard led another party to Stourbridge and Kidderminster which J.M. Gratton places at the end of 1645. If one assumes that Willis-Bund misreported an Old Style January date in a primary source (he does not cite his source), and Sandys became governor in January 1646 (Rather than January 1645), then it does not contradict the information provided by J.M. Gratton (that the party Gerard led was in Kidderminster in late 1645) or R. Lomas, that Gerard was still the governor on 22 December 1645 (Lomas cites the contemporary diary of Elias Asmole). ^{[4] [5] [6]}
2. Sandys was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Worcester in 1644 (Rowlands 1983 cites W. H. Black, Docquets of Letters Patent, 281).

1. Willis-Bund 1905, p. 143.
2. Willis-Bund 1905, p. 149.
3. Coates 2010.
4. Gratton 1984.
5. Willis-Bund 1905, pp. 29, 143, 173.
6. Lomas 2003, pp. 143–144.
7. Green 1796, p. cliv.
8. Willis-Bund 1905, p. 178.

References

• Coates, Ben (2010), "Russell, William (c.1602-1669), of Great Witley, Worcs.; later of Strensham, Worcs. and Charing Cross, Westminster", in Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P. (eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629
• Gratton, J.M. (1984), "The Military Career of Richard, Lord Molyneux, C. 1623-54", Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 134
• Green, Valentine (1796), "Appendix, Sieges and Battles Sect. XV No XLIV.", The history and antiquities of the city and suburbs of Worcester, Printed of the Author by Bulmer & Company and sold by G. Nicol bookseller to His Majesty, p. cliv
• Lomas, Robert (2003), Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, Gloucester, Mass: Fair Winds, pp. 143–144, ISBN   9781592330119
• Rowlands, Edward (1983), "Sandys, Samuel I (1615-85), of Ombersley, Worcs.", in Henning, B.D. (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, Boydell and Brewer
• Willis-Bund, John William (1905), The Civil War in Worcestershire 1642-1646 and the Scotch invasion of 1651, Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent and Company, pp.  119–123

Further reading

• Green, Valentine (1829). A concise history and description of the city and cathedral of Worcester. Vol. 2. London: Printed for the author by Bulmer and Company. p.  28. — Mentions William son of the Earl of Pembroke as governor at the time of Henry III
• Vermeulen, Ann (3 March 2012). "Henry Washington, Sir (c.1615 - c.1664)". —Lists and quotes a collection of sources that can be used to build up a short biography of Sir Henry Washington.