Thomas Mytton

For the earlier MP, see Thomas Mytton (died ?1563).

Thomas Mytton
Thomas Mytton, 1796 engraving of original portrait
Member of Parliament for Shropshire
In office September 1654 – January 1655
Vice-admiral, North Wales
In office 1647–1649
High Sheriff of Shropshire
In office 1644–1645
Personal details
Born	1597 Halston, Shropshire
Died	29 November 1656(1656-11-29) (aged 59) London
Resting place	St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury
Political party	Parliamentarian
Spouse(s)	(1) Magdalen Napier (1610-1648) (2) Barbara Leonard (1649-his death)
Children	Margaret (1626-1647), Richard (1637-1670), Mary (?) and Sarah (1638-1698)
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation	Lawyer, soldier and administrator
Military service
Allegiance	England
Years of service	1642 to 1648
Rank	Major General
Battles/wars	Wars of the Three Kingdoms Oswestry; Denbigh Green; North Wales campaign 1646; Battle of Red Hill 1648

Major General Thomas Mytton, circa 1597 to November 1656, was a lawyer from Oswestry who served in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and as MP for Shropshire in the First Protectorate Parliament.

Personal details

Thomas Mytton was born about 1597, only surviving son of Richard Mytton of Halston in Shropshire, and Margaret Owen, daughter of Thomas Owen (ca 1542-1598), a judge who owned nearby Condover Hall. His uncle Roger (1573-1617), was MP for Shrewsbury from 1601 to 1614 and High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1604. His sister Sarah (1598-1677) married Sir Edward Acton, 1st Baronet.

In 1629, Mytton married Magdalen Napier (1610-1648), daughter of Sir Robert Napier (1560–1637), and sister-in-law of Sir Thomas Myddelton. They had at least seven children who survived into adulthood, including Margaret (1626-1647), Mary (1626-?), Edward (1633-1660), Magdalen (1636-?), Richard (1637-1670), Sarah (1638-1698) and Christian (1638-?). He had no children from his second marriage to Barbara Leonard in 1649.

Early career and First Civil War

Oswestry

Wem

Shrewsbury

Conwy

Denbigh

Halston

Beaumaris

Harlech

Chester

Ruthin

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Shropshire and North Wales, key locations, 1642 to 1648

After attending Shrewsbury School, Mytton graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1615, then joined Lincoln's Inn in 1616 where he completed his legal training. There are few details available on his pre-war career but he supported Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, despite most of the Shropshire gentry being Royalist, including his sister's husband. Both his mother and wife's families were Puritan sympathisers who opposed the policies of Charles I, although Mytton himself seemed less committed to 'Godly reforms".

After the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642, Shrewsbury became a central location for assembling recruits and supplies from Royalist areas in Wales and the North West. In June 1643, Parliament appointed the Earl of Denbigh military commander of Shropshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire, Sir Thomas Myddelton filling the same role in North Wales.

Having returned from London, Mytton raised an infantry regiment in Cheshire and joined forces with Sir Thomas; in September, they captured Wem, the first Parliamentarian garrison in Shropshire (see Map). Over the next two years, Mytton used this as a base to support Myddelton and Sir William Brereton in their campaign to capture Chester and other Royalist positions in the region. In June 1644, he and Denbigh took Oswestry, isolating Shrewsbury from Chester and providing a route for Parliamentarian offensives into Wales.

Appointed Governor, he repulsed attempts to recapture the town before seizing Shrewsbury in a night attack on 22 February 1645, which forced the evacuation of remaining Royalist garrisons in central Shropshire. In a sign of the increasing bitterness with which the war was being fought, Mytton hung twelve Irish Roman Catholics prisoners taken at Shrewsbury, an act authorised by the October 1644 Parliamentarian "Ordinance of no quarter to the Irish". Prince Rupert of the Rhine promptly responded by hanging the same number of English Protestants, which did little to improve his reputation for brutality but effectively ended the practice.

When Myddelton and Denbigh resigned their military offices in April 1645 under the self-denying ordinance, Mytton became commander in North Wales and High Sheriff of Shropshire. By late 1645, the Royalists were close to collapse and at Denbigh Green on 1 November, he defeated an attempt to relieve Chester, which capitulated in February 1646. Mytton was ordered to reduce Royalist strongpoints in North Wales, which provided a potential bridgehead for their supporters in Ireland. On 10 June, Charles ordered his remaining garrisons in England and Wales to yield, although most ignored the instructions. By the end of August, Mytton had taken Ruthin, Caernarfon and Beaumaris on Anglesey. Denbigh Castle surrendered in October only after Charles sent its commander a personal note, Conwy held out until November, with Harlech Castle the last in March 1647.

Second Civil War and Interregnum

Beaumaris Castle; captured by Mytton in June 1646 and October 1648

Arguments over the settlement with Charles led to conflict between moderate MPs, who held a majority in Parliament, and a radical minority, who were supported by the New Model Army. The economic cost of the war, a poor 1646 harvest, and recurrence of the plague meant by March 1647 the troops in Wales had not been paid for eighteen months, while the New Model was owed over £3 million, an enormous sum at the time. Parliament ordered it to Ireland, stating only those who agreed would be paid; when their representatives demanded full payment for all in advance, the army was disbanded on 8 April 1647.

Since his troops were not part of the New Model, Mytton retained his army rank; in December he was appointed Vice-admiral of North Wales in place of Thomas Glynn and granted £5,000 of confiscated Royalist estates. The Second English Civil War began in April 1648 when unpaid Parliamentarian garrisons in South Wales defected but Mytton remained loyal. The revolt in the south was quickly suppressed, that in the north collapsed after he and Myddelton defeated a Royalist force at Red Hill on 1 October and recaptured Beaumaris Castle.

The king's execution did not shake his adherence to the parliament, and in September 1651 he agreed to act as a member of the court-martial which sentenced James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby to death. He represented Shropshire in the first Protectorate Parliament convened by Oliver Cromwell in 1654. He died in London in November 1656 and was buried on 29 November in St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury.

Sources

• BCW. "Colonel Thomas Mytton's Regiment of Foot". BCW Project. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
• Hutton, Ronald (2003). The Royalist War Effort 1642–1646. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-30540-2.
• Ibbetsen, David (2004). "Owen, Thomas (died 1598)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21032. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Rees, John (2016). The Leveller Revolution. Verso. ISBN 978-1-78478-390-7.
• Roberts, Stephen (2004). "Mytton, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19714. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Royle, Trevor (2006) [2004]. Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660. Abacus. ISBN 978-0-349-11564-1.
• Wedgwood, C.V. (1958). The King's War, 1641–1647 (1983 ed.). Penguin Classics. ISBN 978-0-14-006991-4.
• Williams, Richard. "Mytton of Halston". Retrieved 23 March 2021.