A HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF 

 COLONEL NATHANIEL WHETHAM 



A FORGOTTEN SOLDIER OF THE CIVIL WARS 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1907. 8s. 6d. net. 



"The immediate purpose of this book is to record the career of a typical 

 soldier of high class, who, either in the field or in administration, served con- 

 tinuously throughout the Civil War and up to the day of the Restoration. But 

 in pursuit of that purpose the authors have established far wider claims to 

 attention. They have made a real contribution to a clear understanding of the 

 conditions of the conflict, from the first blow to the final stage, when, under 

 Monck's consummate guidance, the civil power triumphed over the rule of the 

 sword ; and their work should secure permanent recognition, not merely as a 

 fine result of patient and discriminating research, but also as a valuable 

 addition to the general literature of the subject. . . . Colonel Whetham did 

 nothing heroic or dashing on the great scale ; he did not even take part in any 

 of the more grandiose actions of the war. He was not a Rupert or a Cromwell, 

 a Hampden or a Falkland. He was not a Monck, but ' a man of the type of 

 Monck a soldier and administrator loyal to his commission, and not med- 

 dling in politics or religion more than he could help.' Of few words, but 

 capable, vigilant, and prompt of action, he was always sought after to fill 

 positions of trust, made no mistakes, took his own line with great effect at 

 critical moments, and left a life of incessant activity as unobtrusively as he had 

 entered it. To present such a figure attractively and, we may say, educatively, 

 from the meagre materials available, has been no light task ; and we are 

 sincerely grateful to those who have performed it. ... 



" Rich in illustration, drawn in great measure from original sources, this book 

 is refreshingly free from superfluous matter ; and its style presents the directness, 

 and restraint regarding the intrusion of personal sentiments, which belong to 

 true scholarship. We scarcely think of its authorship as we read, and the 

 knowledge is so unobtrusively displayed that we are apt to forget the industry 

 by which alone it could have been acquired." Athenaum. 



" Colonel Nathaniel Whetham was a Roundhead soldier who played a con- 

 siderable part in the Civil Wars, and was perhaps an even more prominent 

 figure in the days of the Commonwealth and the Restoration. His name, 

 however, has passed out of history, and the present authors, who are of his race, 

 originally began to collect the material for his life only for the purposes of family 

 history, and with no idea of publication. So interesting, however, ware the facts 

 that they discovered, that they determined to give them to the world, and in so 

 doing they have made a valuable contribution to the history of the seventeenth 

 century. 1 ' Saturday Review. 



"This was originally begun as a contribution to family history only ; but 

 the authors seem to have been well advised in making use of their researches 

 among contemporary documents to serve a wider purpose. The book is well 

 written, and the picture of one of the less prominent soldiers of the Common- 

 wealth certainly illumines the social and political life of the time." Times. 



" ' Renowned Whetham,' as a ballad of the Restoration period called him, 

 is as worthy as any of the lesser heroes of the Civil War to have his biography 

 written, and the task has fallen into the hands of two who are admirably 

 qualified to undertake it." Guardian. 



