Sir Hardress Waller | |
|---|---|
 Mont Orgueil, where Waller died in 1666 | |
| Member of theProtectorate Parliament forCounty Clare,County Limerick andCounty Kerry | |
| In office 1654–1659 | |
| Governor of Limerick | |
| In office 1651–1653 | |
| Member of theIrish Parliament forCounty Limerick | |
| In office March 1639 – January 1649 (did not sit after 1640, formally dissolved by the death of Charles I) | |
| Member of theIrish Parliament forAskeaton | |
| In office July 1634 – April 1635 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1604 |
| Died | 30 July 1666(1666-07-30) (aged 61) |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Dowdall (1629–1658) |
| Relations | William Waller |
| Children | Walter (1632?-1658/1659?); James (1636–1702); Bridget (1639-1721); Anne (1641–1709); Mary;Elizabeth (1637–1708) |
| Parent(s) | George and Mary Waller |
| Occupation | Radical politician and soldier |
| Military service | |
| Years of service | 1625–1652 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Battles/wars | |
Sir Hardress Waller (c. 1604 – 1666) was born inKent and settled inIreland during the 1630s. A first cousin ofParliamentarian generalWilliam Waller, he fought forParliament in theWars of the Three Kingdoms, becoming a leading member of the radical element within theNew Model Army. In 1649, he signed the death warrant for theExecution of Charles I, and after theStuart Restoration in 1660 was condemned to death as aregicide.
A prominent member of Protestant society inMunster in Ireland during the 1630s, Waller fought against theCatholic Confederacy following the1641 Irish Rebellion. When theFirst English Civil War began in August 1642,Charles I wanted to use his Irish troops to help win the war in England, and in September 1643 agreed a truce or "Cessation" with the Confederacy. Waller opposed this and defected to the Parliamentarians; in April 1645, he was appointed acolonel in theNew Model Army and fought throughout the final campaigns of 1645 and 1646.
An admirer ofOliver Cromwell, Waller became a political andreligious radical; he took part in the 1647Putney Debates, supportedPride's Purge in December 1648 and was a judge at theTrial of Charles I in January 1649. During theProtectorate, he held considerable political power in Ireland and was arrested in February 1660 after staging a coup in an attempt to prevent the Restoration ofCharles II. At his trial for regicide in October 1660, Waller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. He died in 1666 atMont Orgueil on the island ofJersey.
Hardress Waller is thought to have been born around 1604, the only son of George Waller and Mary Hardress, both of whom died by 1622.[1] His father sold the family estates atGroombridge to his younger brother Thomas in 1601 and thereafter lived on his wife's property inChartham, which is probably where Hardress was brought up. His first cousin was theParliamentarian general SirWilliam Waller, Thomas's eldest son.[2]
In 1629, he married the daughter ofElizabeth Dowdall, née Southwell,[3] daughter of Sir Thomas Southwell, an English settler with extensive lands inCounty Limerick, through whom he acquired a large estate in Castletown.[4] They had two sons, Walter (died late 1650s) and James (1636-1702),[3] along with four daughters, all of whom made important marriages;Elizabeth (1637-1708) toSir Maurice Fenton, Bridget (1639-1721) toHenry Cadogan, Anne (1641-1709) toSir Henry Ingoldsby, 1st Baronet, a close relative ofOliver Cromwell, and Mary toSir John Brookes.[5] These connections ensured that despite his conviction for regicide in 1660, the Waller family held onto their Castletown estates and remained significant figures in Munster society into the 20th century.[1]
Details of Waller's early career are limited; his uncle Thomas fought inIreland underElizabeth I, and in 1625 Waller joined a regiment raised for theAnglo-Spanish War (1625–1630) byWilliam St Leger,Lord President of Munster. Recruited for the disastrous assault onCádiz in 1625, the ships carrying his unit were forced ashore inIreland and never reachedSpain.[4] Knighted in 1629, he settled in Ireland after his marriage and was elected to theParliament of Ireland in 1634 forAskeaton, thenCounty Limerick in 1639. Waller was a leading opponent ofThomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who served asLord Deputy of Ireland from 1632 to 1640. In December 1640, he was selected by the Irish Parliament to deliver a petition or "Remonstrance" attacking Strafford to theLong Parliament inWestminster; some of their complaints were included in the charges that ended with his execution in May 1641.[1]
Following the outbreak of theIrish Rebellion of 1641, Waller was besieged in his castle at Castletown by Patrick Purcell in March 1642.[6] Shortage of water forced him to surrender six weeks later and he subsequently claimed to have lost property worth over £11,000.[7] He was appointedlieutenant colonel in thearmy raised to suppress the revolt and a member of the Protestant war council inMunster but the outbreak of theFirst English Civil War in August 1642 ended supplies of men and money from England. In September, theEarl of Inchiquin, Protestant leader in Munster, sent Waller to theRoyalist capital inOxford to plead for additional resources.[1]
However,Charles I wanted to use his Irish army to help win the war in England, and in September 1643 agreed a truce or "Cessation" with theCatholic Confederacy. Factions on both sides objected to the terms, which included negotiations on freedom of worship for Catholics and constitutional reforms. Protestants saw this as a threat, while many Confederates felt they were on the verge of victory and gained nothing from the truce; they were also well aware any concessions Charles made to Catholics in Ireland undermined his position in England and Scotland.[8]
After failing to persuade Charles not to transfer troops from Ireland to England, Inchiquin declared forParliament in July 1644 and Waller moved toLondon.[1] By early 1645, he was serving in his cousin William's Western Army and when theNew Model Army was formed in April 1645, he was given command of an infantry regiment. He fought atNaseby in June, followed byLangport,Bristol andBasing House, where he was wounded. When Charles surrendered in April 1646, he was part of the force besiegingExeter.[9]
Although his cousin Sir William was a moderatePresbyterian, during his service with the New Model Waller became a religiousIndependent and admirer ofOliver Cromwell. He transferred back to Ireland in February 1647 but fell out with Inchiquin and returned to England, where he became increasingly involved in radical politics and took part in thePutney Debates.[1] During the 1648Second English Civil War, he served as Parliamentarian commander in the strongly RoyalistWest Country and successfully suppressed a number of local revolts.[10] Troops from his regiment took part inPride's Purge in December which excluded moderate MPs from Parliament, while he was one of the 59 judges whosigned the death warrant for theExecution of Charles I in January 1649. He was the only Irish Protestant to do so; many others, including Inchiquin, strongly opposed it and fought for the Royalists during the 1650 to 1652Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.[1]
In December 1649 Waller was finally released from his command in South West England to join Cromwell in Ireland, who returned to England in May 1650.[11] PromotedMajor General in June, Waller capturedCarlow Castle in July and was appointed Governor ofLimerick afterit surrendered in October 1651; this ended major military operations, although guerrilla warfare continued until 1653.[12] Under theProtectorate, Waller held considerable political influence; his son-in-law Sir Henry Ingoldsby replaced him as Governor of Limerick in 1653 and the two men were MPs forCounty Clare,County Limerick andCounty Kerry in theProtectorate Parliaments of 1654, 1656 and 1659.[13]
However, Waller's personal loyalty to Cromwell and status as a regicide isolated him from other Irish Protestants, the majority of whom were either hostile to theCommonwealth or suspicious of Cromwell's ambitions. In the political chaos that followed the resignation ofRichard Cromwell in 1659, Waller opposed theStuart Restoration and in February 1660 staged an attempted coup in Limerick. This was quickly suppressed by SirCharles Coote andLord Broghill, in what was the last military action of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in Ireland.[14]
Sent to England as a prisoner he managed to escape toFrance, then returned to London hoping to benefit from theIndemnity and Oblivion Act. One of only two regicides to plead guilty, he claimed to have been appointed to the trial without his knowledge, a suggestion dismissed by the republicanEdmund Ludlow as indicating "one who would say anything to save his life".[15] Condemned to death, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment while he was also allowed to retain his lands.[16] He was imprisoned inMont Orgueil,Jersey, where he died in 1666.[17]
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