A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



seems to have been Puritan. Thus it was found 

 necessary to have, in addition to the incumbent of the 

 chapel, a ' preacher of the Word of God,' "° v?ho re- 

 ceived (zo or j^30 per annum together with 'a 

 reasonable milk cow,' which was to be ' changed at the 

 discretion of the Council ;' and in 1629 the mayor 

 petitioned the Bishop of Chester, Bridgeman, for per- 

 mission to arrange ' once a month two sermons upon 

 a week-day.'"' The list of preachers arranged for 

 the following year in accordance with the licence then 

 obtained, is significant. It includes Kay, Vicar of 

 Walton, who later became a Presbyterian, and Richard 

 Mather, minister of the Ancient Chapel of Toxteth 

 Park, who was driven to America by Laud in 1636. 

 Probably the presence in Toxteth of a little group of 

 Puritan farmers, planted there by Sir Richard Moly- 

 neux when the park was brought under cultivation in 

 1604,""" had considerable influence upon the Puritan 

 temper of the borough. 



On the other hand, the influence of the surround- 

 ing gentry was exercised almost entirely on the Royalist 

 side. The Royalism of West Derby Hundred was 

 even stronger than the Parliamentarianism of Salford 

 Hundred, and the centre and support of it was the 

 special patron of Liverpool, Lord Strange, who during 

 the incapacity of his father, until he succeeded to the 

 title in 1642, represented the house of Stanley. The 

 only considerable family in the district which took the 

 Parliamentarian side was that of the Moores, of Liver- 

 pool,^'' and, local as they were, they could not balance 

 the Derby influence. Thus torn asunder, the borough 

 followed an extremely vacillating course. To the 

 Parliament of 1623 two Royalist members were re- 

 turned.'" In that of 1625 the Puritan, Edward 

 Moore, was balanced by Lord Strange.'" In the 

 Petition of Right Parliament there were again two 

 strong Royalist members.''" Thus in the first period 

 of the national controversy, the influence of the neigh- 

 bouring gentry was able to outweigh the Puritan 

 tendencies of the borough. But during the eleven 

 years of personal government, the tide of opinion 

 turned. On the first levy of ship-money in 1634, 

 Liverpool was required to pay j^i5 as its share of the 

 cost of a ship of 400 tons, to be raised by the mari- 

 time counties of Wales, by Cheshire, Lancashire, and 

 Cumberland ; ''' the same sum was assessed by a com- 

 mittee of mayors and sheriffs upon Carlisle, while 

 Chester had to pay X'°°- The burden was a light 

 enough one for a town which a little later raised with- 

 out difficulty £,\(>o to fight a single law-suit ; '** 

 but there was keen opposition,'" several burgesses de- 

 clined to pay, and threatened the bailiffs with actions 

 at law if they should attempt distraints ; the Town 

 Council had to resolve that the costs of such actions 

 should be borne at the town's expense, but there were 

 two members of the council itself who protested against 

 this. In the next year John Moore, the regicide, was 

 elected mayor, and on the second levy of ship-money 

 there were similar difficulties.'"^ 



When the meeting of the Short Parliament ended 



850 picton, hiv. Munk. Rec. i, 197. 

 8" Ibid. 200. 

 8sa f^.C.H. Lanes, iii, 42. 

 '5' The Ireland* of Hale were a little 

 too far away. 



8" Ret. o/Memb. of Pari. 



855 Ibid. 856 Ibid. 



867 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, App. i, 

 383a ; Cal. S.P. Dom. 1634-5, p. 568. 

 958 Picton, Liv. Munic. Rec. i, 133. 



the period of personal government, both of the Liver- 

 pool members were in the opposition ; '™ while to the 

 Long Parliament Liverpool returned the acrid Puritan, 

 John Moore, along with Sir Richard Wynne,'"' who, 

 though he had accompanied Charles I on his journey 

 to Spain, was by no means a staunch Royalist : he 

 voted against the attainder of Strafford, but he was a 

 member of the deputation to present the Grand Re- 

 monstrance to the king.'"' It is tolerably clear that 

 had the burgesses been left to themselves, without the 

 influence of Lord Derby and others, Liverpool, like 

 other ports, would have been enrolled on the Parlia- 

 mentarian side. 



When, on the outbreak of war, the Parliamentarian 

 party in Lancashire began to organize their resistance 

 against the vigorous action of Lord Strange, John 

 Moore of Liverpool was the only gentleman of West 

 Derby Hundred whom they could find to include in 

 their list of deputy-lieutenants. Even he was appa- 

 rently helpless in Liverpool, for he is found with the 

 other Parliamentarian leaders at Manchester in the 

 middle of 1642.'"' Liverpool, controlled by the 

 Molyneux Castle and the Stanley Tower, was defence- 

 less against the Royalist party. Lord Strange was able 

 to seize the large stock of powder which lay in the 

 town,'"* and to garrison both castle and tower. He 

 was actively supported by the mayor, John Walker,'"' 

 who received a royal letter of commendation for his 

 action ; but the presence of a considerable Parliamen- 

 tarian party in the town is indicated by the note that 

 the mayor had been threatened, perhaps by John 

 Moore, with imprisonment and transportation from 

 the country.'"" Colonel Edward Norris, of Speke, be- 

 came governor,'"' and thirty barrels of gunpowder were 

 sent into the town from Warrington.'"" Nothing, 

 however, seems to have been done to strengthen the 

 defence of the town. It remained under Royalist 

 control so long as Lord Derby's strength was sufficient 

 to hold the western half of the county. When, in the 

 early months of 1643, his main force was called off for 

 service in the midlands, the Parliamentarian forces 

 from Manchester rapidly overran the western half of 

 the county, and by May, Lathom House and Liverpool 

 were the only Royalist strongholds left. Colonel 

 Tyldesley, with the remnant of the Royalist forces, 

 fell back upon Liverpool ; '"' but he was hotly followed 

 by Assheton with the Manchester Parliamentarians,'" 

 while a Parliamentarian ship entering the Mersey cut 

 off retreat in that direction."' After two days' fighting 

 Assheton had captured the whole line of Dale Street 

 and also the chapel of St. Nicholas, in the tower of 

 which guns were mounted which commanded the 

 town. Tyldesley was forced to treat, asking for a free 

 retreat to Wigan with arms and artillery. These terms 

 were refused, and an assault completely routed the 

 Royalists, who lost eighty dead and 300 prisoners, while 

 the loss of the attacking force was only seven killed. '" 

 the date of this first siege is unknown, but it was pro- 

 bably at the end of May 1643. 



The Parliamentarians, now masters of Liverpool, 



Dom. 1637, p. 507; 1638-9, 



859 Ibid. 220. The money was, how- 

 ever, duly paid ; Cal, S.P. Dom. 1634-5, 

 p. 569. 



85«» Cal.S.P.Dom. 1636-7, pp. 205-6. 



858 Ret. ofMemb. of Pari. 



881 Ibid. 



882 Commons^ Journ, sub die. 



858 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. v, 32a. 

 88< Ibid, ix, App. iii, 391^. It amounted 

 to 3,000 cwt. of powder in 1637 and 1638 ; 



20 



Cal. S.P. 

 p. 387. 



855 Picton, Liv, Mimic. Rec. i, 137. 



856 Ibid. 867 Ibid. 138. 

 868 Il)id_ 1J7, 



868 ' Exceeding joyfull News,' &c. printed 

 in Ormerod, Lane. Civil War Tracts (CheL 

 Soc. ii), 104. 



870 Ibid. «!\ Ibid, and 138. 



87' Ormerod, loc. cit. 105. 



Digitized by IVIicrosoft® 



