The Hammonds of St. Alban’s Court-revised 20.5.2013
Two of Sir William Hammond’s younger brother’s, knowing they had little chance of inheriting the family estates, had by then made their own way and become adventurers, later becoming notable soldiers.
Francis, born in 1584 and Robert, born in 1587, both joined Sir Walter Raleigh’s second South American expedition to search for the fabled city of Eldorado which Raleigh believed to be in Guyana. However, the quest failed and, whilst Raleigh was suffering from fever, men under his command ransacked a Spanish outpost which outraged the Spanish authorities. Consequently Raleigh was arrested on his return to England and was beheaded in 1618 to appease the Spanish. The brother do not appear to have suffered any punishment for taking part in the expedition but at least one of them may have thought it wise to enter military service on the Continent.
Francis served in the “German Wars”, the bloody Thirty Years War of 1618-48 fought in central Europe largely between the Catholic southern and Protestant northern states of the Holy Roman Empire which eventually encompassed most of the states of Europe and caused the deaths of millions of people and laid waste to entire regions.
During his service, presumably on the Protestant side and possibly with renowned cavalry commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine later to the cavalry of his uncle King Charles in the English Civil War. During his German service Francis Hammond reputedly fought fourteen single-handed combats.
During the English Civil War Francis fought for the King and commanded a regiment under the command of the Earl of Northumberland in the Scottish Expedition of 1640 and later led the Forlorn Hope, the first troops to attack an enemy position and subsequently having only a slight chance of surviving an action, at the Battle of Edgehill in Warwickshire on Sunday, 23rd October, 1642. Colonel Francis Hammond was obviously a man who enjoyed fighting. He was said to have ended his days quietly living the life of a country gentleman at Nonington.
Robert Hammond, Francis’s younger brother, was christened 23rd June, 1587, at St. Mary’s Church, Nonington. What he did after his return from Raleigh’s failed expedition until 1648 is unknown, there is no evidence so far come to light of his having served in the Thirty Years War.
One of the brother’s, probably Robert, was in charge of the artillery that fired 500 cannon balls at Dover Castle in 1642 when 2,000 Royalists led by Sir Richard Hadres unsuccessfully besieged the Parliamentarians holding the castle, which remained in Parliamentary hands until the Restoration of 1660. At the time of the siege Sir Edward Boys of Fredville, the next door neighbour of the Hammond’s at St. Alban’s Court, was Lieutenent of Dover Castle and Lord Warden. When Sir Edward died in 1646 he was succeeded by his son, Major John Boys of Fredville, who held these positions until 1648. A more perfect example of how the Civil War turned neighbour against neighbour is hard to find.
Robert took part of the 1648 Kentish revolt, which had its origins in part in the Canterbury riots of Christmas Day,1647, caused when the Puritan Mayor and officials of Canterbury tried to forbid traditional Christmas celebrations. The people of Kent had petitioned Parliament in May of 1648 and when their petition was rejected they rose up in revolt in support of the King and the Royalist Commissioners for Kent commissioned Robert to raise a Royalist force. The now Colonel Robert Hammond raised a body of foot soldiers and Colonel Hatton a body of horse, and they assembled on Barham Downs, Colonel Hammond with 300 well equipped and turned out foot soldiers and Colonel Hatton with 60 horse troopers.
After some initial success campaigning in the East Kent area against the Parliaments supporters Colonel Hammond’s forces increased to around 1,000 men and he further campaigned throughout Kent and beyond in the Royalist cause.
Robert took part in the defence of Colchester which was besieged by Parliamentarian forces from July, 1648, until the defeat of Royalist forces at the Battle of Preston (17th-19th August, 1648) meant there was no hope of relief for the besieged garrison and they accordingly laid down their arms on the morning of 28th August, 1648. The terms of surrender stated that “the Lords and Gentlemen (the officers) were all prisoners of mercy”, and that the common soldiers were to be disarmed and given passes to allow them to return home after first swearing an oath not to take up arms against Parliament again. The people of Colchester paid £.14,000 in cash to protect the town from being pillaged by the victorious Parliamentarian forces.
Within a year or so Robert broke any parole given to obtain his release as a “prisoner of mercy” when he took up duties as the Royalist governor of the castle at Gowran in Co. Kilkenny in Ireland. Cromwell began a campaign in Ireland against Royalist forces in the autumn of 1649 and on 19th March, 1650, Gowran was surrounded by Cromwell’s troops. Robert Hammond refused Cromwell’s generous terms of surrender which forced Cromwell to deploy his artillery and begin a siege. When the castle walls were breached on 21st March, 1650, Colonel Hammond asked for a treaty, which Cromwell refused to give the Colonel. However, Cromwell did offer the ordinary soldiers quarter for their lives which they promptly accepted and the officers were subsequently handed over to the Parliamentary forces.
Cromwell ordered the summary execution by firing squad of all but one of the officers, this one exception was a priest captured in the castle and he was hanged!
Colonel Robert Hammond of St. Alban’s Court should not be confused with his name sake Colonel Robert Hammond (1621– 24 October 1654), best known for acting as Charles I gaoler at Carisbrooke Castle from 13 November 1647 to 29 November 1648, for which service Parliament voted him a pension. He served an officer in Cromwell’s New Model Army during the early part of the Civil War and sat in the House of Commons in 1654.
