John Arundell (1576 – December 1654), [1] Esquire, of Trerice in Cornwall, later given the epithet "Jack for the King", was a member of an ancient Cornish gentry family, who as a Royalist during the Civil War served King Charles I as Governor of Pendennis Castle, Falmouth. In 1646 he retained the castle in a heroic manner during a five-month-long siege by Fairfax, during which his forces were reduced by hunger to eating their horses, and finally achieved an honourable surrender
He served twice as MP for the prestigious county seat of Cornwall (1601 and 1621), and for his family's pocket boroughs [2] of Tregony (1628) and Mitchell (1597) and also for St Mawes (1624). [3] His family "of Trerice" should not be confused with the contemporary ancient and even more prominent Cornish family of Arundell "of Lanherne", six miles north of Trerice, "The Great Arundells", [4] with which no certain shared origin has been found, [5] but which shared the same armorials, the Arundell swallows.
He was born in 1576, the eldest son and heir, by his second wife, of John Arundell (died 1580) of Trerice, a member of parliament for Mitchell, Cornwall, in 1555 and 1558, and Sheriff of Cornwall in 1573–1574, who built the present mansion house at Trerice in about 1572. [6]
His mother was Gertrude Denys, a daughter of Sir Robert Denys (died 1592) of Holcombe Burnell in Devon, by his first wife Mary Mountjoy (a first cousin to Lady Jane Grey [7] ), a daughter of William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy (1478–1534), [8] by his fourth wife Dorothy Grey, daughter of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset. Gertrude survived her husband and remarried to Edward, Lord Morley. [9] John VII's younger brother was Thomas Arundell of Duloe, Cornwall, MP for West Looe, a soldier who served in the Netherlands. [10] His grandfather was Sir John Arundell (1495–1561), of Trerice, later known as "Jack of Tilbury", an Esquire of the Body to King Henry VIII whom he served as Vice-Admiral of the West. He was knighted at the Battle of the Spurs in 1513 and was twice as Sheriff of Cornwall, in 1532 and in 1541. [10]
In 1597, he was elected Member of Parliament for Mitchell, Cornwall, a pocket borough. He subsequently served as MP for the prestigious county seat of Cornwall in 1601 and 1621 and was Sheriff of Cornwall in 1607. He was elected MP for St Mawes in 1624 and for Tregony in 1628, and sat until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. [11]
In April 1640, he was re-elected as MP for Tregony in the Short Parliament. He was not elected to the Long Parliament, unlike his two sons, Richard Arundell, elected for Lostwithiel and John Arundell for Bodmin. [11] Following the outbreak of the Civil War he was a Royalist, remaining loyal to the King, and was present in 1643 at the Royalist victory at the Battle of Braddock Down in Cornwall. In about 1643, he was appointed governor of the royal Pendennis Castle in Cornwall, built by King Henry VIII to guard the entry to Falmouth Harbour. After the Royalist defeat at the Battle of Naseby in June 1645, the Parliamentary army swept through the West Country. Arundell defiantly refused the demand of General Fairfax to submit, and replied to him: [2]
I wonder you demand the castle without authority from His Majesty, which if I should render, I brand myself and my posterity with the indelible character of treason. And having taken less than two minutes resolution, I resolve that I will here bury myself before I deliver up this castle to such as fight against His Majesty, and that nothing you can threaten is formidable to me in respect of the loss of loyalty and conscience.
He maintained a five-month-long siege in heroic circumstances, during which his garrison was reduced by hunger to eating their horses. Finally, he surrendered in August 1646, making Pendennis Castle the last but one to have held out for the King. In 1651, following the establishment of the Commonwealth, he was fined £10,000 by the new government, a large sum later reduced to £2,000, [2] and although his estates were sequestered and let, he was able to retrieve them on payment of a further sum.[ citation needed ]
He married Mary Cary, a daughter of George Cary of Clovelly, Devon, Sheriff of Devon in 1587, [12] who constructed the harbour wall at Clovelly, by whom he had children including:
Arundell died in December 1654. [2] His eldest son John having died in the war, his lands were inherited by Richard, the second son. [16]
Six years after his death, the family's fortunes were restored in the Restoration of the Monarchy. Richard, who had been active in the Sealed Knot conspiracy, was raised to the peerage by King Charles II as Baron Arundell of Trerice, partly in recognition of his father's service to the Crown.
He is a character in the historical novel The Grove of Eagles by Winston Graham, which portrays him sympathetically.
Trerice is an historic manor in the parish of Newlyn East, near Newquay, Cornwall, United Kingdom. The surviving Tudor manor house known as Trerice House is located at Kestle Mill, three miles east of Newquay. The house with its surrounding garden has been owned by the National Trust since 1953 and is open to the public. The house is a Grade I listed building. The two stone lions on the front lawn are separately listed, Grade II. The garden features an orchard with old varieties of fruit trees.
John Arundell of Trerice (1613–1644) was a landowner from Cornwall who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1644. He supported the Royalist cause during the First English Civil War and was killed during the Siege of Plymouth in November 1644.
Sir John Arundell (1495–1561), of Trerice, Cornwall, nicknamed "Tilbury Jack", was a commander of the Royal Navy during the reigns of Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI and served twice as Sheriff of Cornwall.
John Arundell or John Arundel may refer to:
John Arundell, of Trerice in Cornwall, was a Member of Parliament for Mitchell, Cornwall, in 1555 and 1558, and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1573–1574.
Richard Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Trerice of Trerice in Cornwall, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1664 when he was raised to the peerage. He fought in the Royalist army during the First English Civil War.
William Coryton (1580–1651) of West Newton Ferrers, St Mellion, Cornwall, was a Cornish gentleman who served as MP for Cornwall in 1624, 1626 and 1628, for Liskeard in 1625, for Grampound in 1640 and for Launceston 1640–41. He was expelled from Parliament for falsifying returns.
Charles Trevanion, c. 1594 to c. 1660, was an English landowner and politician, who was MP for Cornwall in 1625 and Sheriff from 1633 to 1634. He supported the Royalist cause during the First English Civil War, during which his eldest son John Trevanion was killed.
Sir Thomas Wise, KB, of Sydenham in the parish of Marystow and of Mount Wise in the parish of Stoke Damerel in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1612 and in 1621 served as a member of parliament for Bere Alston in Devon.
John Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Trerice of Trerice, Cornwall, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1666 and 1687 when he inherited his peerage.
John Harris of Hayne in the parish of Stowford in Devon and of St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall, was a Member of Parliament.
Thomas Arundell was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1648.
The Governor of Pendennis Castle was a military officer who commanded the fortifications at Pendennis Castle, part of the defences of the River Fal and Carrick Roads, on the south coast of Cornwall near Falmouth. Originally fortified under Henry VIII, defences in the area were intermittently maintained until after the Second World War. The office of governor was abolished in 1837, when Gen. Anderson received the colonelcy of the 78th Regiment of Foot.
Sir Reginald Mohun, 1st Baronet of Boconnoc in Cornwall, was a prominent member of the gentry of Cornwall and an MP.
Sir Thomas Grenville II, K.B.,, lord of the manors of Stowe in Kilkhampton, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon, Sheriff of Cornwall in 1481 and 1486. During the Wars of the Roses, he was a Lancastrian supporter who had taken part in the conspiracy against Richard III, organised by the Duke of Buckingham. On the accession of King Henry VII (1485–1509) to the throne, Sir Thomas was appointed one of the Esquires of the Body to Henry VII. On 14 November 1501 upon the marriage of Prince Arthur to Katherine of Aragon, he was created a Knight of the Bath. He served on the Commission of the Peace for Devon from 1510 to his death in circa 1513.
Sir George Smith of Madworthy-juxta-Exeter and Madford House, Exeter, Devon, was a merchant who served as MP for Exeter in 1604, was three times Mayor of Exeter and was Exeter's richest citizen, possessing 25 manors. He was the grandfather of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670) KG and of John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701).
Sir William Wrey, 2nd Baronet of Trebeigh, St Ive, Cornwall and North Russell, Sourton, Devon, was MP for Liskeard, Cornwall in 1624.
The manor of Bideford in North Devon was held by the Grenville family between the 12th and 18th centuries. The full descent is as follows:
Sir Chichester Wrey, 3rd Baronet (1628–1668) of Trebeigh in the parish of St Ive, Cornwall and of North Russell in the parish of Sourton, Devon, was an active Royalist during the Civil War and was Colonel of the Duke of York's Regiment and served as Governor of Sheerness.
Painsford is an historic estate in the parish of Ashprington in Devon.