ESSEX 



2980 



ESSEX REGIMENT 



Walter Devereux, 

 1st Earl of Essex 



From a portrait in the 



collection of Baron 



Bagol 



Wood ford ; Isaac Taylor at Ongar, 

 his father at Lavenham ; and 

 Francis Quarles, the poet, near 

 Romford. Dr. William Harvey 

 was buried at Hempstead, near 

 Saffron Walden. 



Bibliography. Handbook for Es 

 sex, Miller Christy, 1887 ; High- 

 ways, Byways, and Waterways of 

 Essex, C. R. B. Barrett, 1892-93: 

 Memorials of Old Essex, A. C. 

 Kelway, 1908 ; Romantic Essex, R. 

 A. Beckett, 2nd ed. 1907; Victoria 

 History of the Counties of England, 

 ed. H. A. Doubleday and W. Page, 

 2 vols., 1903-7 ; Essex, J. C. Cox, 

 3rd ed. rev. 1915. 



Essex, EARL OF. English title 

 now held by the family of Capell. 

 There were earls of Essex soon after 

 the Norman 

 Conquest, and 

 Geoffrey de 

 Mandeville was 

 one of the first. 

 His sons fol- 

 lowed him, 

 after which the 

 earldom came 

 to the Bohuns. 

 This family be- 

 came extinct in 

 1373, when the 

 title passed to 

 Thomas of Woodstock, duke' of 

 Gloucester, who had married one 

 of the heiresses of the Bohuns. 

 Henry Bourchier, a grandson of 

 Gloucester, was the next earl, but 

 his family died out in 1540. Thomas 

 Cromwell was made earl of Essex 

 in 1540, and William Parr, mar- 

 quess of Northampton, in 1543, but 

 both lost the title when they lost 

 their lives. 



The family of Devereux, to which 

 the most famous e"arls of Essex be- 

 longed, was related to the Bour- 

 chiers, and probably for this reason 

 Walter Devereux (1541-76) was 

 made earl of Essex in 1572. He 

 married a daughter of Sir Francis 

 Knollys, and spent three years in 

 unsuccessful efforts to colonise 

 Ulster, whither he went with a 

 small army in 1573. He was suc- 

 ceeded by his son, the favourite of 

 Queen Elizabeth, and with the 

 death of the latter's son Robert, 

 in 1646, the title became extinct. 



In 1661 Arthur Capel] was made 

 earl of Essex. He was succeeded 

 in 1683 by his son Algernon, and 

 the title is still held by his descen- 

 dants. His seat is Cassiobury Park 

 (q.v.}. The earl's eldest son is 

 known as Viscount Maiden. In 

 1916 Algernon (b. 1884) became 

 the 8th earl. 



Essex, ROBERT DEVEREUX, 2ND 

 EARL OF (1566-1601). English 

 soldier and courtier. Eldest son of 

 the 1st earl, he was born at Nether- 

 wood, Herefordshire, Nov. 19, 

 1566, educated at Trinity College, 



Cambridge, introduced at court, 

 1577, and was general of the horse 

 under his stepfather in the Nether- 

 lands, 1585 -86, 

 being made a 

 knight for gal- 

 lantry at Zut- 

 phen. He in- 

 herited Leices- 

 ter's court 

 feud with the 

 party in which 

 the Cecils and 



Robert Devereux, 

 2nd Earl of Essex 



After Billiard 



Raleigh were 

 prominent, but 

 became a fa- 

 vourite of the queen, though his 

 lack of self-control led to frequent 

 quarrels, and his marriage with 

 the widow of Sir Philip Sidney 

 especially angered her. 



Essex took part in Drake's ex- 

 pedition to Portugal, 1589, com- 

 manded an expedition to Nor- 

 mandy, 1591, secured the convic- 

 tion of Roderigo Lopez for con- 

 spiracy against the queen's life, 

 1594, distinguished himself at the 

 capture of Cadiz, 1596, lost favour 

 by the failure of the Islands, or 

 Cadiz Voyage, 1597, and was 

 master of ordnance, earl marshal, 

 informal foreign secretary to the 

 queen, and chancellor of Cam- 

 bridge. In 1599 he was appointed 

 governor-general of Ireland, and, 

 returning without leave, from his 

 attempt to suppress the rebellion 

 of O'Neil, earl of Tyrone, with 

 whom he was accused of making 

 a dishonourable treaty, he was dis- 

 missed from office and imprisoned 

 from Oct., 1599, to Aug., 1600. 



Thwarted in his efforts to regain 

 influence at court, and broken in 

 health, he was implicated with 

 Southampton and others in an 

 attempt to secure the dismissal of 

 the queen' s advisers. He at tempted 

 a rising in London, was arraigned, 

 and beheaded Feb. 25, 1601. 

 Bacon, whom he had befriended, 

 appeared against him on his return 

 from Ireland, and with Raleigh 

 was largely responsible for carry- 

 ing out the death sentence, to 

 which Elizabeth reluctantly con- 

 sented. The story that the queen 

 gave Essex a ring, the return of 

 which would have ensured his 

 pardon, is generally discredited, 

 though what was described as the 

 identical ring was sold at Chris- 

 tie's, May 19, 1911, for 3,412. 

 Essex was fearless but head- 

 strong, reckless but generous, and 

 a popular favourite. He was a 

 writer of sonnets and masques. 



Bibliography. Lives and Letters 

 of the Devereux, Earls of Essex, 

 W. B. Devereux, 1853 ; Bacon and 

 Essex, E. A. Abbott, 1877 ; With 

 Essex in Ireland, E. Lawless, 1890 ; 

 Hatfield MSS. ; correspondence in 

 Manchester Guardian, Oct., 1907. 



Robert Devereux, 

 3rd Earl of Essex 



After Walker 



Essex, ROBERT DEVEREUX, 3RD 

 EARL OF (1591-1646). English sol- 

 dier. Son of the favourite of Queen 

 Elizabeth, he was restored in 1604 

 to the title his father had lost, 

 James I being then on the throne. 

 He began life in the king's circle, 

 being chosen as one of the com- 

 panions of Henry, prince of Wales. 

 In 1620 Essex went with a force 

 to recover the Palatinate for the 

 elector Frederick, and in 1625 with 

 the fleet that went to capture Ca- 

 diz In 1 639 he held a command in 

 the army sent by Charles I against 

 the Scots in the 

 first Bishops' 

 War, after 

 which there 

 was an es- 

 trangement be- 

 tween him and 

 the king. On 

 the outbreak 

 of the Civil 

 War Essex took 

 the side of the 

 parliamentari- 

 ans, and was appointed general of 

 their forces. 



The earl led the army at Edge- 

 hill, relieved Gloucester and fought 

 the first battle of Newbury. He 

 proved his incapacity when, after 

 leading his army into Cornwall, he 

 left it to surrender at Lostwithiel, 

 himself escaping by boat. He 

 resigned his position when the 

 self-denying ordinance was passed 

 in 1645, and died Sept. 14, 1646. 



Essex Regiment. Regiment of 

 the British army. Formerly the 

 44th and 56th Foot, raised in 1741 

 and 1745 respec- 

 tively, these 

 troops took part 

 in the siege of 

 Gibraltar (1779- 

 83), where 'their 

 services are com- 

 memorated by the 

 Castle and Key 

 and the wo rd 

 Gibraltar on their colours. They 

 fought in the West Indies and 

 Egypt against France, before tak- 

 ing part in the Peninsular War ; 

 there the regiment won the nick- 

 name of the " little fighting fours." 

 They were at Waterloo, and in the 

 retreat from Kabul (1842), the 

 Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, 

 the China War (1860), and the Nile 

 Campaign (1884-85). During the 

 S. African War they took part in 

 the battle of Paardeberg and 

 the relief of Kimberley. In the 

 Great War the 2nd Essex were 

 in the retreat from Mons. In 

 the German counter-offensive at 

 Cambrai, 1917, a company of the 

 13th Essex made a gallant stand 

 at Moeuvres. The regimental 

 depot is at Warley. 



Essex Regiment 

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