Thomas Myddelton (younger)

Man identified as Sir Thomas Myddelton, after Civil War-era print by Thomas Hinde (1635-52). Myddelton served as an active field commander in the war, despite being 57 years old at its outbreak

Elected to the Long Parliament, Myddelton was a member of the large Presbyterian faction that dominated it, but other than involvement on a few committees was not particularly active. His main concern appears to have been to find common ground with his fellow Puritan MPs, a term encompassing those who wanted to reform or "purify" the Anglican church, in order to present a united front against Catholic influence on the country.[2]

The outbreak of the First English Civil War in 1642 saw him sent to enforce the Militia Ordinance in Denbighshire, where many of the local gentry were Royalist.[2] In August the county presented a petition to the King for "protection against the orders and ordinances of Parliament" along with a regiment of volunteers and £1000;[3] on Charles's orders Chirk was attacked in Myddelton's absence, the following January, by local Royalist commander Robert Ellice, who installed a garrison and requisitioned Myddelton's money and plate to fund a foot regiment.[2] The loss of his property is supposed to have antagonised Myddelton enough to turn "a moderate politician into an active fighting man".[4]

He was appointed Sergeant-Major General for North Wales in June 1643; despite lacking any previous military experience, he proved a reasonably competent field commander and was respected for "fair treatment" by his men.[5] Parliament gave him authority to raise troops and levy the expenses on the estates of Royalists, though later claimed the arrangement left him £35,000 out of pocket.[2] From August 1643 he joined his brother-in-law Thomas Mytton and Cheshire commander Sir William Brereton in a campaign against Royalist garrisons through the Borders, though resistance by William Salesbury at Denbigh and the landing of an experienced Royalist force from Ireland in November meant they failed to retake North Wales.[2]

Myddelton's command in North Wales was confirmed by a fresh commission in 1644. His forces captured Newtown on 4 September, and secured the surrender of Montgomery Castle the following day. Myddelton, Mytton and Brereton defeated a Royalist attempt to retake Montgomery on 17 September in a major victory which destroyed much of the Royalist field army in North Wales.[2] However, Myddelton still failed to gain control of Denbighshire or retake his own castles of Ruthin or Chirk, which he besieged in late December.[6]

The self-denying ordinance of May 1645, which stipulated MPs could not hold military command, led to Myddelton being recalled to Westminster and his command transferred to Mytton.[2] He regained control of his estates at the war's end in 1646.[6] During the Second English Civil War he was again given overall responsibility for North Wales, where a short-lived rebellion under Sir John Owen was suppressed at Y Dalar Hir in June 1648, but left command in the field to Mytton.[2]

By the end of the Second Civil War many in Parliament felt Charles could not be trusted to keep to any peace settlement, and he was tried for treason. Along with many other political moderates, Myddelton strongly opposed the trial and Charles's subsequent execution.[6] He was one of the MPs excluded during Pride's Purge, and his increasing disillusionment with the direction taken by Parliament led to him being linked with the Royalist exiles.[6] In 1651 the government placed a garrison in Chirk, after Myddelton was suspected of being in contact with Charles II; it was not withdrawn until he had entered into a bond of £20,000 for "good behaviour".[7] Although Royalist conspirators unsuccessfully attempted to draw him into a 1655 plot, he spent much of the 1650s at Chirk developing his commercial interests in coalmining, limiting his public life to attending the occasional horse race or cockfight.[2]

Welsh Royalist John Owen of Clenennau; Owen was alleged to have served under Myddelton in Booth's Uprising of 1659, despite the two men being opponents in the previous conflicts

In the summer of 1659, Myddelton joined an attempt by a group of conspirators, led by John Mordaunt, to instigate a Royalist rising across several regions of the country. Only the Cheshire insurgency, led by George Booth, had initial success; Myddelton nevertheless joined the rebels, who included previous opponents such as Sir John Owen and Edward Broughton, with an enthusiasm he had failed to show during previous conspiracies in 1651 and 1655.[8] Welcoming a detachment of rebel cavalry to Chirk, he sent a trumpeter to invite the Oswestry militia to join them: they refused, but Myddelton instead led a group to Wrexham where on 7 August he drew his sword in the marketplace and declared Charles II as king.[9] [8] The gesture was not appreciated by Booth, who had been hoping to attract political moderates by avoiding mention of Charles entirely in his proclamations.[10]

The government ordered a force under John Lambert to suppress the rebels, and after Booth's defeat at Winnington Bridge on 19 August, where Myddelton was probably present, the insurgency collapsed. Lambert besieged Chirk, where Myddelton's eldest son Thomas and a number of other Welsh rebels held out, until 24 August; Myddelton himself went into hiding and was suspected to have left the country. He was ordered to have his estates confiscated but before this could be carried out, was recalled to Parliament in February 1660 along with the other expelled members, ultimately leading to the restoration of the monarchy.[2]