 |
||
| Bolton 1644 | ||
| May 28 | Prince Rupert, accompanied
by the Earl of Derby approach Bolton on their way to relieve York. The
town was renowned for its Puritanism and was held for Parliament by
about 5,000 foot.
Rupert may have wanted to pass the town by, but many of the attackers of Lathom House, which had been vigorously defended by Derby's wife, had fled to Bolton. An early attack was beaten off by the defenders. One of Rupert's men was captured and hanged from the town walls on the grounds that he was an Irish Papist. This angered Rupert and after a series of furious attacks, the Royalists captured the town. |
|
| It is believed that few of the defenders were spared and
well over 1,000 soldiers and citizens were killed.
Rupert records in his diary 'a great slaughter of the enemy'.
|
Rupert
accepted the surrender of only 700 men who had taken refuge in a church.
One report describes citizens -- not
soldiers -- lined up so that a Royalist officer could run them through
with his sword one by one. Other stories say that Royalist troops would
burst into a house or shop and kill everyone inside. The very lack of
eye-witness reports itself points to a massacre of everyone present,
rather than planned "executions" with bystanders to report on
what they had seen. |
|
| After the war, the Earl of Derby, who had been taken
prisoner at the battle of Worcester, was taken to Chester, tried and
sentenced for the massacre, although his crime was recorded as
'Treason'.
He was found guilty and it was decided to execute him at the scene of the crime in Bolton where he was then taken. |
|
|
| Oct 15 1651 |
James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby was led out to the scaffold. There he made a short speech saying that what he had done had been 'for his King, his country and his Protestant faith'. | The Olde Man and Scythe Inn - The site of the execution of Lord Derby in 1651 |
