The Boys family of Fredville and the English Civil War-updated
Some information was kindly forwarded to me by Victor Judge regarding Edward Boys, a younger son of Sir Edward Boys of Fredville, and the younger brother of Major John Boys, the last Boys of Fredville.
Sir Edward Boys of Fredville served as Lieutenent of Dover Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was initially loyal to King Charles I, but in 1642 he went over to the Parliamentarian cause bringing the castle under Parliament’s control where it remained until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Sir Edward died in 1646 and was succeeded as Lieutenent of Dover Castle and Lord Warden by his eldest son, Major John Boys of Fredville who held these positions until 1648.
Sir Edward Boys had a younger son, also called Edward, who also fought for the Parliamentary side and gave his life for their cause. The Nonington parish register records the baptism of Edward Boys the younger on 14th December, 1606, while his burial is recorded in the parish register of Church of St. Nicholas in Warwick. The St. Nicholas register records “Buried 22nd Jaunarie 1642 [1643] Edward Boyse ye sonne of Sir Edward Boyse of East Kent wounded at the Battell at Keynton”.
The Battle of Keynton, also Keyneton, [now Kineton in Warwickshire] was another name for the Battle of Edgehill which was fought over the countryside between Edgehill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire. The fighting between the Parliamentary forces, under the command of Earl of Essex, and the Royalist army, led by Charles I, began on Sunday 23rd October. The main battle was fought on the Sunday by fighting continued through Tuesday until it ended on the Tuesday morning when Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the King’s nephew and commander of the Royalist cavalry, led a strong force in a surprise attack against what remained of the Parliamentary forces baggage train at Keynton [Kineton] which resulted in the death of many wounded survivors of the earlier fighting. The battle had no clear winner, the Parliamentary forces withdrew to Warwick and reformed while the King and his army continued on towards Oxford, and then London.
In the opposing Royalist forces at Edgehill was Colonel Francis Hammond, whose family estate of St. Alban’s Court in Nonington adjoined the Boys’ Fredville home. Colonel Hammond led the Royalist’s Forlorn Hope at Edgehill, but whether or not the younger Edward Boys encountered Colonel Hammond during the battle is not known, but this does emphasise how the English Civil War made enemies of close neighbours and even family members.
Edward Boys the younger appears to have been wounded during the fighting in and around Keynton and subsequently taken to Warwick. Here he was most likely treated for his wounds and hospitalized at Warwick Castle, along with some 700 or so others wounded in the battle. Sadly Edward eventually died from his wounds and was buried at St. Nicholas’s church on 22nd January, 1643. The church stands outside one of the gates of Warwick Castle, which seems to indicate that was where he was when he died.