Liskeard

The borough of Liskeard, on the road from Plymouth to Lostwithiel, had been granted a charter as early as 1240, and was incorporated into the duchy of Cornwall on its creation in 1337. A new charter, granted in 1587, established a corporation of nine capital burgesses, with a mayor, recorder and steward, and the mayor and recorder were given the right to act as justices of the peace for the town. J. Allen, Hist. of Borough of Liskeard (rev. edn. Marazion, 1967), 17, 20, 38-9; C66/1298. In the early seventeenth century it was a market town of perhaps 500 inhabitants which had seen better days. Cornw. Hearth Tax, 95. According to one commentator, ‘coinages, fairs and markets (as vital spirits in a decayed body) keep the inner parts of the town alive, while the ruined skirts accuse the injury of time and the neglect of industry’. Carew, Survey, 128v. The duchy of Cornwall was a strong presence in the borough, as the manor of Liskeard was not only one of the ‘ancient possessions’ of the duchy but also one of its administrative centres, with the ‘coinage’ of tin and the auditing of the receivers’ accounts for the area both taking place in the castle precincts. Coate, Cornw. 6, 15. Although the borough was not itself part of the manor, the duchy influence there was strong. The castle (‘much ruined and in decay, the materials about it not worth the taking down’) was in the middle of the town, and most of the prominent burgesses were also freeholders or tenants of the manor. This close connection may have been enhanced by the tenancy arrangements practised in the manor, which seem to have involved ‘some form of partible inheritance’, manifest in ‘the extreme subdivision of its assessionable tenements, not paralleled on any other manor of the duchy’. Parl. Survey Duchy Cornw. i. 77-87. The duchy’s influence can be seen in the parliamentary elections for the 1620s, which returned such government-nominees as Sir Henry Vane I*, Sir Edward Coke†, (Sir) William Croft† and the client of William Herbert, 3rd earl of Pembroke (and warden of the stannaries), Sir Francis Stewart†. Alongside these men, one seat was apparently reserved for local gentlemen, like Nicholas Hele†, William Coryton*, Joseph Jane* and John Harris II*. HP Commons 1604-1629.

The duchy interest in Liskeard had waned considerably by the winter of 1639-40, when the elections of the Short Parliament were being arranged. Instead, there seems to have been a free-for-all among the local gentry. The Devon landowner Thomas Wise* was eager to secure as many seats as possible in eastern Cornwall and western Devon, and asked his brother-in-law, Francis Buller I*, ‘whether my Cousin [George] Kekewich endeavours for Liskeard (let all patrons give helping hands at present to this work). If his aims be not to serve, he may by appearing willing gain power in disposing the place’. Antony House, Carew-Pole BC/26/18/10. Kekewich was indeed returned as MP in the following spring, but it is probable that his interest in the borough was not his own, but borrowed from his influential brother-in-law, Joseph Jane (who had sat for the borough in 1626). His fellow MP was not a carpet-bagger, but another prominent burgess and local landowner, John Harris II, who had sat in 1628. This was a pattern followed in the autumn of 1640, when Harris was again returned, this time with Joseph Jane. In neither election is there a hint of duchy patronage being brought to bear: it seems that no candidate was put forward in the spring of 1640 and the nomination of one of the gentlemen of the privy chamber, Sir Thomas Fotherley†, in October was quietly ignored. DCO, ‘Letters and warrants, 1639-43’, ff. 44v, 67.

During the civil war, Liskeard’s strategic position ensured that it was garrisoned, and one reference (in Mar. 1644) to cannons being kept in the town, suggests that it may have been a local arsenal. Cornw. RO, V/EC/1/10. On two occasions fighting occurred close to the town: in January 1643, when Sir Ralph Hopton* routed a parliamentarian force at Braddock Down; and in August 1644, when the royalists used the town as a base in their operations against the army of Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex, trapped in Lostwithiel. Coate, Cornw. 42, 141; Allen, Liskeard, 48, 51-3; HMC Portland, i. 92, 182; Cornw. RO, R(S)/1/1058; V/EC/1/14. At this stage, the townspeople were apparently favoured the king. At least one prominent burgess family, the Pipers, were strong royalists; it was alleged that Hopton’s men were reinforced at Braddock Down in 1643 by a number of locals who, ‘leaving their homes and families, fought bravely in the memorable battle and victory’; and in July 1645 the tenants of the manor agreed to present a gift of five years’ rents to the prince of Wales. Coate, Cornw. 43, 182; Allen, Liskeard, 47-8. The two borough MPs were both royalists who attended the Oxford Parliament in January 1644 and were disabled from sitting at Westminster as a result. Liskeard fell to the parliamentarians in the new year of 1646, when the New Model army crossed the Tamar.

New parliamentary elections were ordered on 9 February 1647, and again it was local interests that seem to have decided the result, as George Kekewich had sat for the borough in April 1640, and Thomas Povey was a Londoner with connections with the Buller clan. There may have been Presbyterian involvement in these elections (although neither Kekewich nor Povey can be clearly identified with the Presbyterian interest) and it is perhaps telling that in February 1648 Povey was threatened with embarrassing revelations ‘when the Cornish elections come into debate’. Neutrality is Malignancy (1648), 6 (E.427.14). Both MPs were secluded at Pride’s Purge on 6 December 1648.

In the later 1640s, the Liskeard corporation was controlled by the same families as in the 1630s, like the Fudges and Pipers, and it is revealing that the mayor in 1648, George Wadham, had also been mayor in 1638. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/110, 183. There were, however, far-reaching changes during the interregnum, prompted by the rise of a group of political and religious radicals led by Hunt Greenwood. Greenwood had only become a burgess in the late 1640s, but he went on to serve as mayor in 1649, 1651-2, 1655-6 and 1659-60, and as steward from 1652. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290, 293, 295, 296. His business associate Jonathan Chapman was mayor in 1649-50, 1652-3 and 1657-8, and purchased the fee farm rents of the borough in 1650. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290, 294, 296; E315/140. These men had prominent patrons at Westminster and Whitehall, especially during the commonwealth, with Colonel Robert Bennett* (recorder from 1650) and John Carew* being willing to give their ‘assistance to this borough’, John Maynard* acting as the borough’s ‘counsel’, and visitors like John Disbrowe* being presented with wine by the burgesses in 1650. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290-2. The influence of Greenwood and his allies is especially obvious in the mayors’ accounts for the early 1650s. This was a period of strict conformity to commonwealth ideals. The Engagement was copied onto ‘skin of parchment’ in 1650, and was generally subscribed later in the same year. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/291-2. The borough charter was sent up to London in the autumn of 1652. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/294. There were measures to impose greater discipline on the people. In June 1649 Greenwood and John Moyle I* were instrumental in ‘binding the tipplers’ of the town, and in 1650-1 repairs were made to the pillory and the stocks, while sixpence was paid to Arthur Lucas ‘for whipping of Alice Piper’ in the same period. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290, 292. The civic culture of Liskeard also became more pronounced, with sergeants being issued with new cloaks adorned with ‘silver lace’ almost every year, and £1 1s paid ‘for setting the state’s arms in the town hall’ in 1651. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290-3, 295-6. Celebrations were held for victories and state occasions. In August 1649 the defeat of the royalist army under the marquess of Ormond at Rathmines near Dublin was celebrated with a bonfire and bell-ringing, and further celebrations greeted news of ‘Colonel [Robert] Blake’s* overthrow of Prince Rupert’s fleet’ in 1651, while the defeat of Charles Stuart at Worcester prompted gifts of money to the poor, a bonfire, and the provision of beer and wine for the spectators. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290-2.

The creation of the protectorate seems to have reduced Liskeard’s zeal – not least because Bennett and Carew opposed Cromwell’s accession and had little influence after December 1653 – but it is clear that Greenwood continued to rule the roost, and he and his allies on the corporation were careful to keep in with the new regime. The major-general for Cornwall, John Disbrowe, was an old friend of the borough, and when he stayed in the town in February 1656 he and his entourage were entertained lavishly. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/295. Marriages at the parish church were conducted according to the new, secular rites, with the mayors or justices officiating in 1655-7. Allen, Liskeard, 76. The borough had lost its right to return MPs under the Instrument of Government, but in 1659 it was again enfranchised, and the mayor’s accounts include a payment of 5s ‘for sealing the indentures for burgesses in the Parliament’. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/296 It was hardly surprising that one of the successful candidates was Hunt Greenwood, but he was joined by an outsider, Thomas Noell, who probably owed his return to the prominence of his brother, Martin Noell*, as a supporter of the protectorate, and to his business partner, Thomas Povey, who had sat for Liskeard in 1647-8 and was a friend of the Bullers. Overall, the 1650s was a period of prosperity for Liskeard, which contrasted with the forlorn state of the borough in the early years of the century. The receipts recorded in the mayors’ accounts show that in 1649-50 his official income was £145, and that this grew to £170 in 1650-1, £208 in 1651-2 and £211 in 1652-3, before declining slightly in the later 1650s to £174 in 1655-6 and £172 in 1658-9. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/290-6.

Despite the influence of Baptists like Greenwood in the borough, from the mid-1650s Liskeard became a centre for Quaker activity. The earliest signs of this can be traced back to George Fox’s visit to Cornwall in 1655-6, when he was supported by Thomas Mounce and Edward Hancock. Allen, Liskeard, 60. In the spring of 1656, Colonel Bennett, a prominent Baptist, was warned of ‘the spreading of that gangrene about those parts near Liskeard, where it hath the greatest likelihood to do harm’. It was reported that ‘one Brother Hancock near Liskeard … is corrupted by them’ and that ‘Sister Cornish’ had also been converted to Quaker beliefs, and Bennett was advised to speak ‘in faithfulness to Brother Greenwood to set a greater edge upon his activity’ in and around the town. FSL, X.d.483(174). The efforts of the Baptist community did little to stem the tide, however. In 1657 one Thomas Mounce made a public stand, being fined for refusing to pay tithes to the parish minister; in 1658 Mounce also refused the rate to repair the church, and he was soon joined by others. Rec. Quakers Cornw. 5-6, 25. In 1659 a prayer meeting at the ‘Friends’ House in the borough of Liskeard’ caused a full-scale riot, as

a multitude of rude people came in among them, halloing, singing, railing, throwing dirt, mire and stinking excrement upon their clothes, heads and faces … [and] one wicked fellow rushed in with five or six great hounds, a club and a hunting horn to make the dogs cry aloud, and to drown the voice of the Friends declaring against their abominable wickedness.

Several Quakers were assaulted, and one unfortunate was ‘tumbled down a steep hill upon the pavement’, where he was beaten up. In the meantime, ‘the priest, who sat smoking in a chamber window, animated the rabble crying “hold him fast, keep him in, if his brains be knocked out he has his own seeking”’. Apart from the minister, Thomas Nicholls, the mob was led by ‘men of figure’ including a prominent burgess, Mark Cole, and the constable, Simon Rogers. Sufferings of the People Call’d Quakers (1733), 44-5; Recs. Quakers Cornw. 23. What prompted this display of violence – as also the fears of Greenwood and his friends – was that this was not an alien invasion but home-grown radicalism. Thomas Mounce was a burgess, a local landowner and duchy tenant, and Edward Hancock was from a long-established local family, while those attacked in 1659 were townsmen, not strangers. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/110; Parl. Surv. Duchy Cornw. i. 82, 85-7; Coate, Cornw. 344; Parochial Hist. of Cornw. iii (1870), 144. The Quaker presence in the town continued after the Restoration: four Friends were arrested there in 1668, and the first legal meeting house was built on land donated by Mounce in 1688-9. Coate, Cornwall, 349; Parochial Hist. of Cornw. iii. 144; Allen, Liskeard, 61.

After 1660, Liskeard once more came under the control of the traditional families, like the Fudges and Pipers, and although the Greenwoods and Chapmans continued to be ranked among the richest families in the borough, they no longer played any part in the corporation. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/109, 297, 321A; Cornw. Hearth Tax, 95. The new recorder was a former royalist, Sir Christopher Wray* (whose father had held the post in the 1630s), who replaced the disgraced Robert Bennett, and the MPs returned to the Convention were also former royalists, with John Connock I† and John Robinson† displacing a Presbyterian, Thomas Johnson†. Cornw. RO, B/LIS/284; HP Commons 1660-1690.