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Dalton: Ten Years in England

Dalton's Life of Thomas Pitt, Chapter 5

Dalton has relatively little to go on for his un-imaginatively titled chapter, Ten years in England. As a result, he yields to the temptation to spin out what speculations he can.

Unreliable dates

In 1688 he bought from James Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, the manor of Stratford under the Castle, and was returned as member for Old Sarum in the election of the Convention Parliament, and for New Sarum (Salisbury) in the Parliament of 1690. In 1691 he became the owner of the site of Old Sarum, and the votes attached to it, thereby securing the representation of the borough for himself and his heirs. p. 69

In fact his election in 1690 at Old Sarum was overturned. He did not gain control of that borough until a later date, and the last contested election there was not until 1705.

Question of motivation …

Brief Historical Relation 1690 Q2

Political and other events

From Luttrell's Brief Historical Relation, a diary of news and current events (BR). These are all from vol. 2 of the 6 volume printed edition.

April 1690

French letters say that their squadron under the command of Mr D'Amfreville returned to Brest the 9th with 5,000 Irish, commanded by lieut. general Macarty; that the count D'Avaux, lieut. general Rose, with several other French officers, returned with them; that it was declared the dauphin should command the army on the Rhine, and under him by the mareschal de Lorge; the army in Flanders to be commanded by the duke of Luxemburgh; the marquesse de Boufflers is to command a body upon the Moselle; the duke de Noailles is to command in Roussillon, and the sieu de Catinat the forces towards Italy. They say that strict orders had been given for raising the ban and arrierban, which …

Brief Historical Relation 1690 Q1

Political and other events

From Luttrell's Brief Historical Relation, a diary of news and current events.

January 1690

Several horse are lately brought to town for the king's service.

The earls of Pembroke and Torrington have each a commission to raise a marine regiment, to consist of 12 companies each, and 200 men in a company, to go on board the fleet. BR 2.1, 1 January 1690

Pembroke is Thomas Herbert (1656 - 1733), 8th earl of Pembroke. MP for Wilton before taking up the peerage. Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire, commanded the county militia in putting down Monmouth's rebellion in 1685. First Lord of the Admiralty from 1690 to 1692, also for short periods Lord High Admiral. Negotiator at Ryswick 1697. Lord Privy Seal 1692 - 1699. Lord President of the Council 1699 - 1708. John Locke dedicated his Essay Concerning Human Understanding to him.

Torrington is Arthur Herbert (1648 - 1716), fourth …

English navy under the later Stuarts

James Stuart, Duke of York, was Lord High Admiral from 1660 to 1673 and had taken a close personal interest in the Navy. But he was required to step down from this post in 1673 after the passing of the Test Act. Interestingly, he remained Lord High Admiral of Ireland and of the Plantations, which allowed him a share of profits from prizes and wrecks in those jurisdictions. He had also, shortly before his resignation in England, managed to succeed to the same responsibility for Scotland. The previous holder of the post, a distant Stuart cousin, drowned in the icy waters off Copenhagen while attempting to get on board his own ship - having enjoyed rather too much Danish hospitality. (Davies 2017, p. 108)

For the next six years (1673 - 1679), James continued to play a considerable role behind the scenes while the Admiralty was technically in commission (overseen by a …

Dutch and St Thomé

By the latter half of the seventeenth century, conflicts between nations in Europe had their counterparts in far corners of the world. At this period, such actions were generally of minor importance to the main course of any war. In peacetime, the English, Dutch, French and Danes mostly got along well in India. They kept largely to their own bases, but visited and did business with each other. The company shore personnel were not militarised, except that the forts and larger settlements housed troops of armed guards as a combination of garrison and police.

When war was declared, despatches would arrive from each company headquarters (London, Amsertdam, etc) giving orders to stop enemy vessels doing business or obtaining services in ports under the control of that company. The ships were armed and could chase or be chased as prizes, which incentivised a certain amount of sea combat. However, the number …