32 The Life of William, Duke of Newcastle 



a person of much loyalty and discretion, declared his mind 

 to them, that he thought it fit to continue him Mayor also 

 for the year following ; which it seems they did not like, 

 but resolved to choose one which they pleased, contrary to 

 my Lord's desire. My Lord perceiving their intentions, about 

 the time of the election, sent orders to the Governor of the city 

 of York to permit such forces to enter into the city as he should 

 send ; which being done accordingly, they upon the day of 

 the election repaired to the Town Hall, and with their arms 

 stayed there until they had continued the said Mayor accord- 

 ing to my Lord's desire. 



During the time of my Lord's stay at Chesterfield in Derby- 

 shire, he ordered some part of his army to march before a 

 strong house and garrison of the enemy's, called Wingfield 

 Manor, which in a short time they took by storm l . And 

 when my Lord had raised in that county as many forces, 

 horse and foot, as were supposed to be sufficient to preserve 

 it from the fury of the enemy, he armed them, and consti- 

 tuted an honourable person 2 Commander-in-Chief of all the 

 forces of that county and of Leicestershire ; and so leaving 

 it in that condition, marched, in December 1643, from Chester- 

 field to Bolsover in the same county, and from thence to Wel- 

 beck in Nottinghamshire, to his own house and garrison, 

 in which parts he stayed some time, both to refresh his army 

 and to settle and reform some disorders he found there, leaving 

 no visible enemy behind him in Derbyshire, save only an 



1 Certain Informations, 6-13 March 1643, gives the following account of the first 

 garrisoning of Wingfield at Chesterfield. It says ' They are extremely pestered with 

 the Earl of Newcastle's forces that lie in Bolsover, who, in the night, came out of that 

 town and took thirty horses from the adjacent people ; whereupon the inhabitants 

 of Chesterfield, to secure their town, have taken Wingfield Manor, and placed there 

 thirty soldiers to guard it ; and they have also put forty musketeers into Chatsworth, 

 under the command of Lieutenant Bagshaw, to defend it.' The capture mentioned 

 in the text is thus related in Mercurius Aulicus : Letters* came from my Lord Marquis 

 of Newcastle, advertising as that yesterday was seven night, December 15, Sir Francis 

 Mackworth, with five hundred horse and foot and some cannon, came before Wing- 

 field Manor, a house of the late Earl of Shrewsbury, strengthened with a strong em- 

 battled wall of fifteen foot high and ten foot thick. The rebels refused to yield it up 

 upon summons, whereupon Sir Francis played upon it with his cannon, but (through 

 the great strength of the wall) did not much harm to the house. At length, upon ex- 

 change of the body of a gentleman slain by the King's forces for one killed near the 

 walls who could not be brought off, some words passed, when Sir Francis told them, 

 that if yet they would surrender they might find favour, which offer was soon embraced : 

 and after a short treaty they were allowed to march away, leaving all their arms behind 

 them, being about 160, with good store of ammunition and above three months' pro- 

 vision, all which was taken in the house, which through its strength and situation, stand- 

 ing in the middle way between Derby and Chesterfield, will be very advantageous to 

 his Majesty's affairs.' Dugdale dates the surrender December 18. 



2 The Lord of Loughborough. 



