Sir John Gell | |
|---|---|
 Sir John Gell | |
| Parliamentarian CommanderDerbyshire,Staffordshire, andWarwickshire, Governor ofDerby | |
| In office 1643–1646 | |
| Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire | |
| In office August 1642 – July 1646 | |
| High Sheriff of Derbyshire | |
| In office 1635–1636 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 June 1593 Hopton, Derbyshire, England |
| Died | 26 October 1671(1671-10-26) (aged 78) Westminster, London, England |
| Resting place | St Mary's Church, Wirksworth |
| Spouse(s) | (1) Elizabeth Willoughby (1610–1644) (2) Mary Stanhope (1647–1648; dissolved) |
| Children | (1) Mary and Elizabeth |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Landowner, soldier and administrator |
| Military service | |
| Years of service | 1642 to 1648 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars |
|
Sir John Gell (22 June 1593 – 26 October 1671) was an English military officer who acted as localParliamentarian commander for most of theFirst English Civil War from 1643 to his resignation in 1646. He was notorious for parading the body of hisRoyalist opponent throughDerby after theBattle of Hopton Heath in March 1643.[1]
A member of thelanded gentry, Gell was fromHopton, Derbyshire. Reputedly the richest man in Derbyshire, he proved an effective and energetic general, but the plundering conducted by his often unpaid troops provoked numerous complaints toParliament. According toPuritan diaristLucy Hutchinson, he "had not understanding to judge the equity of the cause, nor piety, nor holiness", while his men were "the most licentious, ungovernable wretches that belonged to the Parliament".[2]
Gell resigned his commission just before the First English Civil War ended in 1646, and his ambiguous stance during theSecond English Civil War meant he was removed from all his positions in February 1649. Implicated in a Royalist plot in 1650, he was sentenced to life imprisonment but released due to ill health three years later. Pardoned after theStuart Restoration in 1660, he died inLondon October 1671.
John Gell was born 22 June 1593 inHopton, Derbyshire, to Thomas Gell (1532–1594) and Millicent Sacheverell (1571–1618). His father died shortly before the birth of his younger brotherThomas (1594–1656), and his mother married John Curzon (1552–1632) ofKedleston Hall, where Gell lived until 1614. He formed a close relationship with his half-brotherSir John Curzon (1598–1686).[1]
In January 1609, Gell married Elizabeth Willoughby (1600–1642), daughter of SirPercival Willoughby ofWollaton Hall inNottinghamshire. They had six children who reached adulthood; Millicent (1611–1652), Bridgett (1612–1680), John (1613–1689), William (1615–1642), Elizabeth (1617–1707) and Eleanor (1620–1713).[3]
In 1648, he married Mary Stanhope (died 1653), widow ofSir John Stanhope, an act that provoked much comment among his neighbours. She belonged to the leadingRoyalist family in Derbyshire while Gell had pursued a long running feud first with her husband, then with her brother-in-law after the former's death in 1638. The marriage lasted less than a year.[4]
Gell graduated fromMagdalen College, Oxford, in 1610, then lived in Kedleston before taking up residence in Hopton around 1620. One of the wealthiest men in Derbyshire, his income derived chiefly from sheep and extensive interests in thelead industry.[5] These includedRoyalty payments on lead mines nearBakewell,Hope andTideswell; his combative nature led to lengthy legal disputes over the amounts due and made him unpopular locally.[1]
Gell contributed only a nominal amount to the 1625 Forced Loan, and refused to fund the localTrained Band in 1630, marking him as an opponent ofCharles I. During the period ofPersonal Rule from 1629 to 1640, Charles often put men like Gell in charge of collecting payments due to the Crown, thereby making them liable for the entire amount. In 1632, Gell and his brotherThomas were appointed joint Receivers of the Honour ofTutbury, the name given to the Derbyshire andStaffordshire estates of theDuchy of Lancaster, a royal possession. Gell was also madeHigh Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1635, making him responsible for collecting the highly controversial tax known asShip Money.[1]
The methods adopted by the Gell brothers included seizing property in lieu of unpaid Duchy rents or Ship money, causing widespread local resentment. One of those affected was Sir John Stanhope; when he died in 1638, his wife Mary and cousinPhilip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield, took their case to thePrivy Council. They lost, but the feud continued into theFirst English Civil War when Chesterfield supported theRoyalists.[1] With war approaching, Charles sought to raise money by selling honours and in January 1642 Gell purchased abaronetcy for £300.[6]
As aPresbyterian, Gell's sympathies generally lay with Parliament, but the importance of the Derbyshire lead mines for manufacturing ammunition meant Charles unsuccessfully tried to win his support. When the war began in August 1642, Gell was instructed to secure Derbyshire for Parliament and recruited a regiment with his brotherThomas aslieutenant colonel.[7] The local Royalists were led by Chesterfield; when he ransacked Hopton Hall, Gell retaliated by sacking his residence atBretby Hall. He followed up by plunderingElvaston Castle, former residence of Sir John Stanhope, allegedly defacing his tomb in the local church and digging up his flower beds.[4]
In March 1643, Gell joinedLord Brooke in an attack onLichfield Cathedral, which was occupied by a Royalist garrison under Chesterfield. After Brooke was killed by a sniper, Gell took command and captured the position along with Chesterfield, who was held inLondon until 1649.[8] He then combined withSir William Brereton in an attack onStafford, which ended in the inconclusiveBattle of Hopton Heath on 19 March. The Parliamentarian artillery was captured but the Royalist commander, theEarl of Northampton, was killed after refusing to surrender. Gell offered to hand over the body in return for his artillery; when this was refused, he had Northampton's embalmed corpse paraded through the streets of Derby before burial.[9]
While Lichfield was soon retaken by the Royalists, Gell replaced Brooke as Parliamentarian commander inStaffordshire andWarwickshire and was appointed Governor ofDerby in 1644. Although an energetic and capable soldier, his bullying of the Derbyshire county committee and the plundering for which his unpaid troops became notorious provoked numerous complaints to Parliament.[2] The formation of theNew Model Army in April 1645 reduced his influence while he resented Derbyshire being used as a base by its troops. He reportedly ignored orders from SirThomas Fairfax to bring his troops toNaseby in June, then was reprimanded for allowing 3,000 cavalry from the defeated Royalist army to escape him atAshbourne.[10]
As the war came to an end in April 1646, it was discovered that he was negotiating more favourable terms with the Royalist garrison ofTutbury Castle than those offered by his colleague Sir William Brereton. He resigned his commission and went to London seeking payment of expenses he claimed were owed him; as a precaution, he first signed over his estates to his son John, keeping an annuity of £1,100 for himself.[1]
In 1645,Thomas Gell replaced the RoyalistWilliam Allestry asMP forDerby and helped his brother obtain a grant of £1,200 from Parliament towards his arrears in October 1647.[11] During the internal power struggle over the post-war political settlement that dominated 1647 and 1648, Gell sided with the Parliamentarian moderates against the New Model Army. Previously the only person in Derbyshire excluded by Charles from the general pardon offered to his opponents in 1643, Gell now to pay the king £900 in return for a pardon.[1]
Hopes of regaining his influence ended with Royalist defeat in theSecond English Civil War and theExecution of Charles I in January 1649.Thomas was one of the MPs excluded byPride's Purge in December 1648, while Gell himself was stripped of all offices in February 1649.[12] During theInterregnum in 1650, he was involved in a conspiracy to restoreCharles II led by the Royalist lawyerEusebius Andrews, who was acting on his behalf in his divorce proceedings with Mary Stanhope. Although Gell was careful not to commit himself, one of his retainers was subsequently executed, and he was found guilty offailing to communicate details of the plot. The transfer of his estates in 1646 thwarted attempts to confiscate them, although he was sentenced to life imprisonment in theTower of London. In 1653, he was released on grounds of ill health and allowed to live in a private house in London.[13]
Following theStuart Restoration in May 1660, he was formally pardoned and given a minor position in the Royal Household. He lived in London where he died on 26 October 1671, and was buried inSt Mary's Church, Wirksworth.[1]
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| New creation | Baronet (of Hopton) 1642–1671 | Succeeded by |
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