CAROUSING CAVALIER

A HISTORY OF SIR ALLEN APSLEY AND HIS REGIMENTS OF CAVALRY & FOOT DURING THE CIVIL WARS OF BRITAIN



       Family Ties

     Allen Apsley was born in St Martins In Fields, September 1616 and baptised in All Hallows Church, Barking on the 6th of that month. He was the eldest son of Sir Allen Apsley & his third wife Lucy Treegor, Soon to follow were two younger brothers William & James but most notable was his elder sister Lucy who in 1638 married John Hutchinson.
     Allen & his brothers were educated at Merchant Tailors school for boys & Trinity collage, Oxford (Although Allen actually didn’t finish his masters Intl after the civil wars!). His father Sir Allen was a man of some reputation who in 1620 was made Lord Lieutenant of the Tower of London. He was also a good friend of the Duke of Buckingham and it was with Buckingham in 1630 on an expedition to the island of Wre that Sir Allen contacted a fever and died.
He left his wife and children with a number of estates and financial dealings that were in a state of confusion. Lucy Treegor soon remarried and a bitter family feud erupted over the estates and monies remaining. This feud was finally to be bought to a close in young Allen's favour some 6 years later by the personal intervention of the King himself!.

    Call to Arm

      In 1642 Allen Apsley was knighted by the King and commissioned to raise a troop of horse in the West Country. By the end of 1642 he had been made Governor of Exeter in Devon (Although Exeter its self did not fall until the 7th Sept) and it is in this area that he first set about raising a regiment of Infantry.
By spring 1643 Sir Allen had managed to raise a regiment 300 strong with a mixture of men from Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Cornwall and South Wales although a few of his officer were experienced soldiers from Irish wars as well.

      During the civil wars it was common practice in campaign season for the bulk of a city or Town defending force to join with the field army until the winter months leaving only a token force as guards until there return.
This is what most likely happened to Sir Allen's Regiments of Cavalry & Horse because by October that year Apsley's were heavily engaged in the siege of Wardour Castle (Fighting funnily enough side by side with Vavasours!).
It was here that they received orders from Oxford, Sir William Ogle had surprised Winchester and it was considered imperative he was supported. Sir Ralph Hopton (Commander of the army of the west) accordingly dispatched some of his own dragoons under Major Phillip Day and 600 foot under Sir Allen Apsley to help (300 of his own regiment and 300 recently raised Dorset & Somerset Coys who were as yet unassigned).

      By this point his Horse regiment had been deployed under Sir Edward Stawells brigade to make up the numbers for Hopton's field army. Apsley's were not long in waiting to see more action as they recalled to take part in the Cheriton wood skirmish and the Cropedy bridge campaigns in 1644. It is at this point that Apsley's was placed under Sir Bernard Ashley's tercio (again with Vavs) for the Lostwithal campaign.

      It is not know if Apsley himself was still with the field army at this point as Exeter was a pro Parliament town and he would most likely have been needed there to keep order. It seams more likely that Sir Edward Hopton the lieutenant colonel would have taken charge, as he was the more experienced soldier anyway.
     Ashley's tercio was now split in half one lot going to the relief of Portland castle while the other half made up the left wing at the second battle of Newbury, it is not known at present who went were?.

      On the 29th of May 1645 Apsley's and the rest of Ashley's tercio made up the right flank at the storming of Leicester which fell the next day in a bloody massacre. It is presumed by this point that Apsley's horse had either gone back to Exeter with Allen or been amalgamated into one of the other horse regiments as no further records of them exists. By the eve of Naseby on June 14th 1645 what was left of Ashley's tercio was amalgamated into Sir Edward Hoptons brigade, Hopton was also promoted to colonel of Apsley's at this point (hence no listing of Apsley's at Naseby because they were now known as Sir Edward Hoptons regiment). It seams most likely that Apsley's/Hoptons met there brave but bloody end on that fateful day in June 1645 even though some of Apsley's were recorded at being at the battle of Langport later that year under Goring (presumably either survivors from Naseby but more likely some of the garrison troops who had never left Exeter before).

      So where was Sir Allen through all this? Presumably back in Exeter trying to control the parliamentarian sympathisers in the town. We do know that the Prince of Wales visited him there in 1645 and that towards the end of 1645 Apsley was made the Governor of Barnstable the largest town in north Devon. Exeter fell to parliament on the 9th of April 1646 and Sir Allen capitulated Barnstable on the 19th.
The kings cause was now lost in the West it was time for Sir Allen Apsley to save his own skin!.

      Surviving The Aftermath

      When Sir Allen surrendered Barnstable on the 19th the terms were that he would remain a free man but he would suffer several large fines, penalties and sequestrations. Sir Allen ever the optimist decided to turn to what ever allies he could muster, most notably his brother James who had at first fought for the king then unsuccessfully tried to raise a regiment for Parliament in Sussex due to his unpopularity with the locals and Sir William Waller in 1643. But most successful was his brother in law Colonel John Hutchinson. On the 30th of Jan 1647 Sir Allen and his brother begged parliament to restrain from sequestering his wife's (Francis Petwre) estates and on the 2nd February this was approved (presumably through pressure from Hutchinson and some well placed bribes!) however he was not home & dry yet!.
      On the 25th February he received a fine for raising arms against the parliament for the sum of £9551 & 15 shillings.

       Surviving the aftermath continued
Once again he turned his brother in laws influence to get the sum three times reduced till eventually it was only £1741 & 10 shillings. This was still a hefty fine by the day's standards but he seams to have had no trouble in paying it off by the end of 1648.
      Somewhere in the next few years Sir Allen took ship to Holland and into service as a courtier for the exiled Charles II. He may well have been with Charles for the Worcester campaign of 1650-1651 but he does not look like he had any military command at that time.
      While in France during the commonwealth Sir Allen became a firm-drinking crony of the exiled King (much to the displeasure of some other notable royalist of the time!). Charles II rewarded Sir Allen with a few minor offices of state during this period but it was not until the restoration that he would reap his real rewards.

      Drunkenness, Betrayal and Politics

     Upon the restoration Sir Allen Apsley's horse finally came in, he was made keeper of the Kings hawks (a very prestigious and enterprising affair with many benefits!) in 1660 and keeper of the North Park of Hampton court in 1661. Also treasurer to James Duke of York's household later that year as well as this many of his old estates and revenues returned to him.
By contrast John Hutchinson luck had just run out!. You would think that since he had helped Sir Allen in his time of need, that Sir Allen would do the same back now and give his brother a helping hand. In short he did the opposite. John Hutchinson being a regicide (killer of the King) was arrested and while good old Sir Allen assured his sister Lucy he was doing all he could to save him he was actually giving evidence against him in private.
     He did however gain permission for Lucy to see John on a number of occasions and even to allow them to walk on the beech together with a guard behind them at one point. It did not last long however, John Hutchinson perished in the tower of London a broken man in 1664 one of his dying requests was" To remember him to Sir Allen and tell him he hoped God would reward his labour of love to him".

      The reason for Apsley's indifference to his sisters pleas is not known perhaps John had helped him self to some of Allen estates during the commonwealth, perhaps it was just a case of Apsley furthering himself politically in the eyes of the King or perhaps he was just plain mean?, My guess is we will never know!.
     Although Sir Allen received some considerable rewards and stations from the king during the following years Apsley was renowned for his complaining of being short of cash " Sometimes cursing the King and all parliaments to hell". Perhaps his taste for luxury was costing more than he could afford?.

      In 1667 a new threat to the peace of Britain was on the horizon and Sir Allen now aged 51 was commissioned by the King to raise a horse regiment to repel the Dutch in case of invasion. From 1661 to 1678 Sir Allen was MP for Thetford in Norfolk.
      This however did still not placate Sir Allen who in 1666 caused many disturbances on the house by coming there in a state of drunkenness. Samuel Pepys said of him " he would often give good sport to the house, arriving in a drunken mood of foul mouthed obscenities!".

       By this time it seems that Apsley had many estates in England stretching from Norfolk to Sussex to Devon and of course a richly decorated house in St James Square, London.
      On 15th Oct 1683 Sir Allen passed away in his house in London and was buried two days later in Westminster abbey, his inscription reads simply "Here lies Sir Allen Apsley Born 1614 Died 1683".
Somewhere in all of this Sir Allen had found time to marry Francis daughter of John Petre of bowhay in Devonshire. With her he had several children, the eldest son Peter became a clerk to the crown in 1667 and later knighted and served in the foreign secret service for both Charles II and James II. His daughter Francis married Sir Benjamin Barhurst and their son Allen became first baron Barhust in 1712 then later Earl Barhurst in 1772. The title of Baron Apsley passing to the Barhurst heir.

       In 1679 before Sir Allen died he published a long poem called " Order and Disorder" or the world made and undone". Which is currently proving very hard to get hold of.
      A private letter written by Apsley to John Evelyn relating to some business of the Duchess of York also survives in the British museum.
Throughout his career Sir Allen was an opportunist with an attitude. At times a drunken rouge at others a scheming plotter who always just managed to end up smelling of roses. What happened to His brothers is unknown but of his sister "Lucy" we do know. Her diaries of her husbands and her own experiences during the 17th century remain to this day a testimony of the horrors of civil war Britain.


Colonel
Sir Allen Apsley (later Sir Edward Hopton)

Lieutenant Colonel
Sir Edward Hopton

Major
Rowland St.Leeger

Captains
James Aston
John Hambden
Thomas Ivat
Francis Morley
Richard Nokes
Hugh O'Neale
Rhys Phillips
Richard Riochards
Roger Rowcliffe
George Sheers
Henry Southcote
Thomas Walker

Captain Lieutenants
William Hobbs
Christopher Whitton

Lieutenants
Arthur Aston
Thomas Foster
Gilbert Knebone
Gilbert Meager
Edward Poyntz

Ensigns
Morley
Phillip Shapcote
John Stukley

Quarter masters
Arthur Green
Thomas Langford
Sir Allen Apsley's Troop of Horse
Major Rowland St.Leeger
Quartermaster Nicholas March