Posthumous abt 1611 KIRTON

• General Notes
  • POSTHUMOUS  KIRTON (or, as he signed himself: "POSTHUMUS")  -  (b. 1611, kia 1644) As can be seen from his given name he was born probably sometime after late January / or early February, 1611, soon after his father's evidently sudden death. We hear nothing further from him for the next twenty odd years, until a record of his name was found in Bernau's "Record of Town Depositions", which produced PRO Depositions C 24/569. This contains several depositions made in May, 1631 on behalf of a certain 'George Rodney', who had married, as her second husband, Lady Ann Ros, widow of William Cecil, Lord Ros, who had died without issue in 1618. Lady Ann was the daughter of Sir Thomas Lake of Cannons, co. Middlesex. Having married George Rodney, she made over her estate, which consisted of the Manors of Walthamstow, High Hall and Low Hall, by three deeds to her husband before she died in early September, 1630, at the age of 30. It seems that after her death certain of her relatives made an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of these deeds. From his Deposition it is clear that Posthumus Kirton had been a member of George Rodney and his wife's household for some time, at least during the period of their marriage, and so was an important witness as to what had occurred. Three witnesses, including evidently two servants and an attendant,  also gave testimony, while young  Posthumus Kirton, of Westminster, gent., aged twenty one, stated that he knew Lady Ann Ros, and had heard her say several times that she was minded to settle all her property on George Rodney. Furthermore that he had actually seen the signing of two of the three deeds by her, and had served as a witness to them, and had seen the deeds actually sealed by her. After finding this deposition It then took a very long time for this writer to finally confirm that this George Rodney who married Ann, Lady Ros, was, in fact, the same George Rodney who was the younger brother of Elizabeth Rodney, and of their brother, Sir Edward Rodney, Kt. (ref.: Sir Egerton Brydges, ibid, p. 560; and Sir Edward Rodney's own account, as reported in "The Genealogist", ibid, Vol. XVII, p. 102-3). It is thus becomes clear that Posthumus Kirton had been resident for a considerable period of time in the household of his maternal uncle, George Rodney, which, the writer is now convinced, confirms him as being the last son of James (the elder) Kirton and his wife, Elizabeth (nee Rodney). It must have been fairly soon after this that Posthumus Kirton also became a professional soldier, and we next find a record of him in 1640, when he is named as "Captain Postumus (sic) Kirton, serving under the Earl of Northumberland for an expedition, having recently returned from serving in the Anglo-Dutch Brigade fighting in the Low Countries (i.e. the Nederlands) - taken according to the Muster Roll after the Armies retreated from Newcastle into Yorkshire." (ref.:- "Rushworth's Historical Collections", Vol.II, part II, p.1274) And this is also supported by Reid (ibid); and is also shown in:- "The Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers" (ref.: Edward Peacock, F.S.A. (1874)), which in an Appendix gives: "The Names of all the Collonels (sic), Lieutenant Collonels, Sergeant-Majors, Captains, Lieutenants, Ensignes,, Preachers, Chirugeons, Quarter Mafters, under his Excellency the EARL OF  NORTHUMBERLAND, Captain General for the Expedition, 1640.  It then lists twenty one Regiments, of which Regiment 2 shows: The Earl of Newport, Collonel;  George Monke, Lieutenant Coll.: and Henry Warren, Sergeant Major. Seven Captains are listed, including Poftumus Kirton." (Also references: Rushworth (ibid)). By the spring of 1643 he had become a full colonel of one of the battalions of the Marquess of Newcastle's own Regiment of Foot, "The Whitecoats". (The Marquess of Newcastle, William Cavendish, (b. 1592, d. 1676), grandson of Sir William Cavendish of Chatsworth (d.1557) and his third wife, Bess of Hardwicke; son of Sir Charles Cavendish, (b. 1553, d. 1617) possesed of Bolsover Castle; William inherited Bolsover, and in 1620 was created Viscount Mansfield; and in1628 was created Baron of Bolsover and Earl of Newcastle-on-Tyne; in 1644 becoming Marquess of Newcastle. (ref.: BHO & Magna Britannia, Vol. 5 (1817) pages XLVIII-LXII) (It is very unlikely indeed that this has any connection with the fact that Posthumus' father's first cousin, Daniel Kirton of Almesford, co. Somerset and of London, was married briefly to Dudley Brooke, one of the daughters of Catherine Cavendish, a half-sister of Sir Charles Cavendish.) In 1642 King Charles I gave Newcastle command of the four northern counties; Newcastle then had a series of encounters with Lord Fairfax which culminated in the Battle of Adwalton Moor on 30 June, 1643 (ref.: "Cavaliers and Roundheads" by C. Hibbert, ISBN 0-586-09008-8, p. 122 and:-                                                                                         <http://www.theteacher99.btinternet.co.uk/ecivil/adwalton.htm> & "All the King's Armies" by Stuart Reid, p.78). "Thus far the pikemen had played no part in the battle, save on the left where they had stopped Sir Thomas, but now the pikes of the Marquis of Newcastle's own regiment, led by Colonel Posthumous Kirton, surged forward on the right and an astonishing collapse took place". Also: "The Royalists had been on the verge of withdrawal when one of Newcastle's infantry commanders, Posthumous Kirton, "a wild and desperate man", who had long experience of continental warfare, brought his pikemen against the Roundhead musketeers and sent them scattering in all directions, while Newcastle's artillery devastated Fairfax's cavalry." And also:- "Colonel Kirton attacked the enemy with his Royalist pikemen (Whitecoats) on the right and soon the Parliamentarian forces were beaten back in the 'push of pike' and finally routed as they were also outflanked by the Royalist cavalry." (ref:-Stuart Reid "Officers and Regiments of the Royalist Army", Partizan Press) which also supports these statements, and identifies Posthumous Kirton as being a professional soldier who came from co. Somerset, and was credited with leading the decisive counter-attack.
    
    Once again, on 2 July, 1644, Posthumus Kirton led his regiment of Whitecoats into the Battle of "Marston Moor, the biggest battle of the Civil Wars, and perhaps the biggest ever fought on English soil", the result of which was initially unclear, but turned into a terrible defeat for the Royalists.  The late Brigadier Peter Young ("Marston Moor 1644, The Campaign and the Battle" (1997)) relates the fate of the Whitecoats:-  "Somerville says of Cromwell's men "neither met they with any great resistance, until they came to the Marquis of Newcastle his battalion[sic] of white coats, who first peppered them soundly with their shot, when they came to charge stoutly bore them up with their pikes, that they could not enter to break them. Here the parliament horse of that wing received their greatest loss, and a stop for some time to their hoped for victory, .., when all their ammunition was spent, having refused quarters, every man fell in the same order and rank wherein he had fought"" (p.122-124) "At least three of the colonels slain probably belonged to Whitecoat regiments. They were Posthumous Kirton, Sir William Lambton and Sir Charles Slingsby." (p. 125); and, also, from "The Royal Martyrs" :-  "Col. Posthumus Kirton..............slain at Marston Moor".
    
    
    James and Elizabeth (nee Rodney) had their first child, John Kirton, son of James, who is recorded as being baptized at Rodney Stoke, co. Somerset, on 12 Dec.,1602 (ref.: Baptismal Register), which was by now the location of John Rodney's main residence. In 1604 James was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Wells, and at about the same time Elizabeth bore a second son, James (ref.:- Smith MSS, ibid. p. 100) and a year or so later had a third child, a daughter named Frances.  At about this time, in 1606 James resigned his positions, both as a Member of Parliament and as the Recorder for Wells, but, evidently considering that his membership had been of some worth, he submitted an accounting, for which he was granted ₤5 'by way of gratitude' for his services as burgess, which had been 'to his great charge as it is now alleged.' (Hassler, ibid)  By now James and Elizabeth had also acquired a residence in the country, at West Camell, co. Somerset, (modern West Camel, then, as now, a parish in the Hundred of Somerton, in the diocese of Bath and Wells) although James still maintained his chambers in the Middle Temple, so was evidently still living at least most of the time in London.
    In the year 1607 two events took place which effect our story; on 18 May,1607 a certain young man, Henry Norwood, a young attorney of the Middle Temple, was admitted to the chambers of Messrs. Thomas Warre & James Kirton (the elder), Masters of the Utter Bar, upon the surrender of Thomas Warre (fine, 40/- (shillings)) (Martin, ibid, p. 478). Also, sometime in that same year Elizabeth bore another son, Seymour Kirton (sometimes "Seymer Kyrton"), named undoubtedly after the family which had done so much to advance the Kirtons of West Wiltshire and Somerset. (ref.: "Alumni Oxonienses", Foster, vol.1. p. 859)  He was to matriculate in 1628, aged 21, and therefore had been born in 1607. Almost exactly a year later another significant event occurred when Elizabeth's younger brother, "Mr. Edward Rodney, son and heir of Sir John Rodney of Pilton, Somerset, Knt., SPECIALLY; fine ₤4," was bound with his brother-in-law, James Kirton (the elder), and Henry Norwood (who would later become Mr. Edward's brother-in-law after James's death) in their Middle Temple chambers. (Martin, ibid, p.492) Also, in that same year, Elizabeth had borne yet another son, named Maurice Kirton, who was baptized at Pilton, co. Somerset, no doubt from Elizabeth's father's home there, on 11 Sept., 1608. (ref.:- Pilton Parish Register), who was no doubt named after Elizabeth's late 2nd. cousin, Maurice Rodney. It appears that Maurice Kirton did not survive beyond childhood. Sometime during the next two years James and Elizabeth had yet another son, Theodore Kirton, who almost for certain had as his godfather, Sir Theodore Newton, Kt., of co. Gloucestershire, his mother's brother-in-law. Theodore appears here, as a child of James and Elizabeth Kirton, in part on the strength of later records which state that Theodore Kirton and Posthumous Kirton were brothers, but also on the positive proof that Seymour Kirton and Theodore were also brothers, details of which will follow, in Part 2.
    Then, evidently very unexpectedly, James Kirton (the elder) died, before 10 Feb.,1611, on which day the Middle Temple Records (Martin, ibid, p.535) show that he was being replaced in chambers, having already died. He evidently did not even find time to write a will, surely very unusual for an attorney, so that his estate went to administration: (British Record Society, Vol. 83 (1968) and PCC Administrations, Vol. 5, 1610-1619, p.76): "Kirton, Jas, esq. W. Camel, Som., to Eliz. K., rel., amd (i.e. relict, a married daughter) of Sir Jn. Rodney, Kt. Pilton, Som. 1611 p.10", the exact date being from PROB 6/8 f. 10b: "On the second day (of the month of March, 1610/11) a commission was granted to Elizabeth Kirton the relict of James Kirton late of [Pilton aforesaid - deleted] West Camell in the County of Somerset, esquire deceased having & c., and also of Sir John Rodney."
    Elizabeth was already expecting their seventh child, who, when he was born, was baptized as Posthumous Kirton. (Most unfortunately it seems that all the records of both the parish church at West Camel, co. Somerset, as well as of which ever church the members of the family may have attended when they were in London, for the period between 1538 and about 1700, have all been lost, so that there currently seems to be no other surviving record of  the baptisms of most of these children.) (We will discuss those that survived to adulthood in detail in Part 2.)
    
    POSTHUMOUS KIRTON (or, as he signed himself: "POSTHUMUS") - As can be seen from his given name he was born probably sometime after January / early February, 1611, shortly after his father's evidently sudden death. We hear nothing further from him for the next twenty odd years, until a record of his name was found in Bernau's record of Town Depositions, which produced PRO Depositions C 24/569. This has depositions made in May, 1631 on behalf of a certain 'George Rodney', who had married, as her second husband, Lady Ann Ros, widow of William Cecil, Lord Ros, who had died without issue in 1618. Lady Ann was the daughter of Sir Thomas Lake of Cannons, co. Middlesex. Having married George Rodney, she made over her estate, which consisted of the Manors of Walthamstow, High Hall and Low Hall by three deeds to her husband before she died in early September, 1630. It seems that after her death certain of her relatives made an attempt to challenge the legitimacy of the deeds. From the Deposition it is clear that Posthumus Kirton had been a member of George Rodney and his wife's household for some time, at least during the period of their marriage, in some capacity, and so was an important witness as to what had occurred. Three witnesses, including evidently two servants and an attendant, also gave testimony, while young Posthumus Kirton, of Westminster, gent., aged about 21, stated that he knew Lady Ann Ros, and had heard her say several times that she was minded to settle all her property on George Rodney. Furthermore that he had actually seen the signing of two of the three deeds by her, and had served as a witness to them, and had seen the deeds actually sealed by her. It then took a very long time to finally discover that this George Rodney who married Ann, Lady Ros, was, in fact, the same George Rodney who was the younger brother of Elizabeth Rodney, and of their brother, Sir Edward Rodney, Kt. (ref.: Sir Egerton Brydges, ibid, p. 560). It is thus becomes clear that Posthumus Kirton had been resident for a considerable period of time in the household of his maternal uncle, George Rodney, which I am now convinced, confirms him as being the last son of James (the elder) Kirton and his wife, Elizabeth (nee Rodney). It must have been fairly soon after this that Posthumus Kirton became a professional soldier, and we next find a record of him in 1640, when he is named as "Captain Postumus (sic) Kirton, serving under the Earl of Northumberland for the expedition (evidently as part of the Anglo - Dutch Brigade fighting in the Low Countries, i.e. the Nederlands) in 1640 - taken according to the Muster Roll after the Armies retreated from Newcastle into Yorkshire." (ref.:"Rushworth's Historical Collections", Vol.II, part II, p.1274) And this is also supported by Reid (ibid); as well as in: "The Army Lists of the Roundheads and Cavaliers" (ref.: Edward Peacock, F.S.A. (1874)) which in an Appendix shows: "The Names of all the Collonels (sic), Lieutenant Collonels, Sergeant-Majors, Captains, Lieutenants, Ensignes,, Preachers, Chirugeons, Quarter Mafters, under his Excellency the EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, Captain general for the Expedition 1640. It then lists twenty one Regiments, of which Regiment 2 shows: The Earl of Newport, Collonel; George Monke, Lieutenant Coll.: and Henry Warren, Sergeant Major. Seven Captains were listed, including Poftumus Kirton." (Also references: Rushworth (ibid)) Probably by 1642 he was back in England, and by the spring of 1643 had become a full colonel of one of the battalions of the Marquess of Newcastle's own Regiment of Foot, "The Whitecoats". (William Cavendish, (b. 1592, d. 1676), grandson of Sir William Cavendish of Chatsworth (d.1557) and his third wife, Bess of Hardwicke; son of Sir Charles Cavendish, (b. 1553, d. 1617) possesed of Bolsover Castle; William inherited Bolsover, & in 1620 was created Viscount Mansfield; & in1628 was created Baron of Bolsover & Earl of Newcastle-on-Tyne; & in 1644, Marquess of Newcastle. (ref.: BHO & Magna Britannia, Vol. 5 (1817) pages XLVIII-LXII) (It is very unlikely indeed that this is in anyway connected with the fact that Posthumus' father's first cousin Daniel Kirton of Almesford, co. Somerset and of London, was married briefly to Dudley Brooke, one of the daughters of Catherine Cavendish, a half-sister of Sir Charles Cavendish.) In 1642 King Charles I gave Newcastle command of the four northern counties; Newcastle had a series of encounters with Lord Fairfax which culminated in the Battle of Adwalton Moor on 30 June, 1643. (ref.: "Cavaliers and Roundheads" by C. Hibbert, ISBN 0-586-09008-8, p. 122 and <http://www.theteacher99.btinternet.co.uk/ecivil/ adwalton.htm> & "All the King's Armies" by Stuart Reid, p.78) "Thus far the pikemen had played no part in the battle, save on the left where they had stopped Sir Thomas, but now the pikes of the Marquis of Newcastle's own regiment, led by Colonel Posthumous Kirton, surged forward on the right and an astonishing collapse took place" & "The Royalists had been on the verge of withdrawal when one of Newcastle's infantry commanders, Posthumous Kirton, "a wild and desperate man", who had long experience of continental warfare, brought his pikemen against the Roundhead musketeers and sent them scattering in all directions, while Newcastle's artillery devastated Fairfax's cavalry." and "Colonel Kirton attacked the enemy with his Royalist pikemen (Whitecoats) on the right and soon the Parliamentarian forces were beaten back in the 'push of pike' and finally routed as they were also outflanked by the Royalist cavalry." Stuart Reid (ref.: "Officers and Regiments of the Royalist Army", Partizan Press) also supports these statements, and also identifies Posthumous Kirton as being a professional soldier who came from Somerset, and was credited with leading the decisive counter-attack. Once again, on 2 July, 1644, Posthumus Kirton led his regiment of Whitecoats into the Battle of "Marston Moor, the biggest battle of the Civil Wars, and perhaps the biggest ever fought on English soil", the result of which was initially unclear, but turned into a terrible defeat for the Royalists. The late Brigadier Peter Young ("Marston Moor 1644, The Campaign and the Battle" (1997)) relates the fate of the Whitecoats: "Somerville says of Cromwell's men 'neither met they with any great resistance, until they came to the Marquis of Newcastle his battalion [sic] of white coats, who first peppered them soundly with their shot, when they came to charge stoutly bore them up with their pikes, that they could not enter to break them. Here the parliament horse of that wing received their greatest loss, and a stop for some time to their hoped for victory,..., when all their ammunition was spent, having refused quarters, every man fell in the same order and rank wherein he had fought."(p.122-124) "At least three of the colonels slain probably belonged to Whitecoat regiments. They were Posthumous Kirton, Sir William Lambton and Sir Charles Slingsby" (p. 125). Very strangely Posthumus Kirton's name does appear on "The List of Indigent Officers" (Parizan Press) drawn up for King Charles II in 1663, whilst it is almost certain that he HAD been killed in 1644. Just possibly the entry may have been for his possible widow, who by then found herself in difficult circumstances, and may have made a claim against the king's proffered fund, maybe with the aide of her brother-in-law, Theodore Kirton, whose name is confirmed to be on the list.