Rowland Laugharne was born
in Wales in about 1610. He worked as a page
to Robert
Devereux, Earl
of Essex, who owned large estates in Carmarthenshire. Laugharne joined
the army and saw action in the Netherlands.
At the outbreak of the
Civil War Pembroke was the only town
in Wales that declared support for Parliament. Soon afterwards Laugharne
was appointed parliamentary
commander of the town.
Charles
I gave orders
for Pembroke to be attacked. Richard Vaughan, the Earl of Carbery,
lieutenant-general of the king's army in south-west Wales, decided
to make sure that other towns in this region were secure before dealing
with Pembroke.
The Earl of Carbery did
not begin his assault on Pembroke until the beginning of 1644. However,
before he could capture the town, parliamentary reinforcements arrived
by sea from England. The Earl of Carbery now decided that he was not
strong enough to capture Pembroke, and withdrew his forces.
Laugharne took this opportunity
to go on the offensive. His troops soon gained control of Haverfordwest,
Tenby and Carew Castle. His forces then marched east and it was not
long before Carmarthen and Cardiff were also captured by the parliamentary
army.
In 1645, the king ordered
Colonel Charles
Gerard and 2,700
of his soldiers to leave Wales and go and help the royalist campaign
in England. With the royalist forces weakened in South Wales, Laugharne
decided to go on the offensive again. After defeating the royalist
army at Colby Moor, Laugharne was able to capture Carmarthen and by
the spring of 1646 the whole of western Wales was under the control
of the parliamentary army.
After its successful victory
over the royalist forces in 1647, Parliament began to make plans to
disband its army. This created a great deal of concern as many of
the soldiers had not been paid for several months. Others were worried
about the increase in taxes imposed by the parliamentary government.
On 24th December, Parliament
declared that all soldiers who had enlisted after 6th August, 1647
were to be dismissed without pay. Those that had joined at an earlier
stage of the war were to receive only two months wages.
John
Poyer, the governor of Pembroke Castle, was furious when he heard
the news and began making speeches to his soldiers attacking Parliament's
decision to disband the army. When Parliament discovered that Poyer
was making hostile speeches they sent Colonel Fleming to replace him.
Poyer refused to give
up the castle and instead sent a letter to Parliament demanding the
payment of £1,000 in wage arrears for his men. Colonel Fleming
offered £200, but this was rejected. Other soldiers based in
South Wales, who had heard about Poyer's actions, began to head for
Pembroke to give him their assistance. John Poyer's supporters included
the two most senior army officers in South Wales, Major-General Rowland
Laugharne and Colonel Rice Powell.
Parliament now realised
that they had a major rebellion on their hands. The situation became
even worse when news arrived that Charles
I had made an
agreement with the Scots. In return for the support of a Scottish
army, Charles agreed to accept the establishment of the Presbyterian
religion in England.
On 10 April 1648, Colonel
Poyer declared that he now supported the king. Encouraged by Poyer's
declaration for the king, ex-royalist soldiers began joining Poyer
in Pembroke.
When Parliament heard about
Poyer's actions in Pembroke they sent Colonel Thomas
Horton with 3,000 troops to deal with the rebellion. Rowland
Laugharne and nearly 8,000 rebels left Pembroke and engaged Horton's
parliamentary army at St. Pagans
in Glamorgan. Although outnumbered, Horton's experienced and well-disciplined
army was able to defeat Laugharne's poorly armed soldiers. Over 200
of Laugharne's men were killed and another 3,000 were taken prisoner.
Laugharne and what was left of his army, managed to escape back to
Pembroke.
The rebellion now spread
to other parts of Wales. In North Wales Richard Bulkeley and the people
of Anglesey declared their support for the king and Sir John Owen
attempted to take Denbigh Castle from the parliamentary army. In the
south of the country Rice Powell took control of Tenby and Sir Nicholas
Kemeys and other local royalists captured Chepstow Castle.
Realising that the rebellion
had to be put down quickly, Parliament decided to send Oliver
Cromwell and five regiments to Wales. Cromwell's troops won back
Chepstow Castle on 25th May and six days later Rice Powell was forced
to surrender Tenby.
Cromwell now marched on
to Pembroke to deal with John Poyer and
Rowland Laugharne. The castle, built
on a great mass of limestone rock and nearly totally surrounded by
the Pembroke River, was considered one of the strongest fortresses
in Britain.
Oliver
Cromwell did not have canons large enough to break through walls
that were in some places 20 foot thick. Nor did he have besiegers'
ladders that could deal with the 80 foot high walls. Attempts at storming
the castle failed and so Cromwell was forced to wait and starve the
rebels into submission.
Cromwell wrote back to
Parliament forecasting that Poyer and his men would be forced to surrender
in about two weeks. However, he was initially unaware that the castle
had its own excellent water supply. Eventually, a local man betrayed
the secret to Cromwell and the besieging army was able to cut the
exposed water pipe on the outskirts of the town.
After a siege of eight
weeks and completely without food and water, the rebel soldiers in
the castle were forced to surrender. Cromwell dealt leniently with
the ex-royalist soldiers. His main anger was directed towards those
who had previously been members of the parliamentary army.
Laugharne, Poyer and
Rice Powell were tried by court-martial in London and after being
found guilty were all sentenced to death. Thomas
Fairfax, the
leader of the armed forces, decided that only one should die. The
three men refused to take part in the lottery to decide who would
be executed. The military authorities chose a young child to draw
the lots. The papers drawn for Laugharne and Powell read: "Life
Given by God". Poyer's paper was blank and he was shot in front
of a large crowd at Covent Garden on 21 April, 1649.
Rowland Laugharne was imprisoned
but survived until the Restoration
and was released by Charles
II in 1660.
(1)
Earl
of Clarendon, The Civil
Wars in England (1667)
Colonel Poyer... had from a low trade raised himself in the
war to the reputation of a very diligent and stout officer, and was
at the time trusted by the Parliament with the government of the town
and castle of Pembroke.
(2)
Declaration by Colonel Poyer and Colonel Powell (10 April 1648)
A few men... have already
gotten too much power into their hands, and want to disband us...
So they can enslave the people... and establish taxes. We promise
to protect the people from injury and maintain the Protestant religion...
as established by the law in this land. We therefore crave the assistance
of the whole kingdom.
(3)
Major General Rowland Laugharne,
letter to the Parliamentary Commissioners (4 May, 1648)
As commander of these counties... I cannot ignore the affronts
put upon my men... Instead of receiving their pay allowed them by
Parliament... they have been disbanded... This happened in my absence,
and to my knowledge, still unrighted... I believe that my past service
for your country... merited much better treatment.
(4)
Colonel Thomas
Horton, letter to Lord Fairfax describing
his victory over. Major-General Laugharne
at the Battle of St Fagans (8 May, 1648)
On Monday morning... the
enemy advanced towards us... we took the best ground... About sixty
men on horses charged once, but we beat them back, and after that
none of the men on horses appeared again... The enemy tell us they
were 8,000. We had a sharp dispute with them for about two hours.
Our men on horses charged the enemy, who were wholly routed... Many
of the enemy were slain... We have taken 3,000 prisoners... we have
not lost many soldiers and not one of our officers.
(5)
Oliver
Cromwell, letter sent to the Committee of Carmarthen (9 June 1648)
I desire that we have your
assistance in procuring some necessaries to be cast in the iron-furnace
in your county of Carmarthen, which will enable us to reduce the castle
of Pembroke. The principal things we need are mortar shells, the depth
of them being fourteen and three-quarter inches... We also desire
some cannon-shot... This service being done, these poor wasted lands
may be freed from the burden of the army.
(6)
Oliver
Cromwell,
report to Parliament (14 June, 1648)
We have not got our guns
and ammunition yet. We only have two little guns... we made an attempt
to storm the castle but the ladders were too short... so the men could
not get over. We lost a few men but I am confident the enemy lost
more... we hope to take away his water supply in two days.
(7)
Hugh
Peters
was Cromwell's chaplain during the siege of
Pembroke Castle (23 July, 1648)
Pembroke Castle was the
strongest place that we ever saw... We have had many difficulties
in Wales... We have a desperate enemy, and few friends, but a mighty
God.
(8)
Oliver
Cromwell,
letter sent to John
Poyer and
Rowland Laugharne (11th
July, 1648)
I must tell you that if
this offer is refused... misery and ruin will befall the people with
you, I know where to charge the blood you spill. I expect the answer
within two hours. If this offer be refused, send no more letters to
me on this subject.
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