Thomas Blagge

Thomas Blagge was baptised in Horningsheath, Suffolk on 13 July 1613, second surviving son of Ambrose Blagge (ca 1580–1662) and his first wife Martha (1588-1624). Six of their children lived to adulthood including Thomas, an older brother George (1611-1631), and four younger sisters, Martha, Katherine, Ann and Judith (1620-1707).[2]

Ambrose Blagge owned Little Horringer Hall near Bury St Edmunds and was part of a wealthy and well connected circle of Suffolk gentry; his father Henry (1549-1596) had been MP for Sudbury.[3] In 1625, his second wife became Margaret Snelling, widowed mother of the painter Matthew Snelling. From this marriage, Thomas had a half brother and sister, Ambrose (1626-1664) and Margaret (1635-1720), while three others died as infants.[4]

In 1641, Thomas married Mary North (died 1671), daughter of Sir Roger North (1577-1651), MP for Eye in Suffolk. They had three daughters who lived to adulthood, Henrietta Maria, who had 15 children with her husband Sir Thomas Yarborough (1637-1708), Mary and Margaret (1652-1678). In 1675, the latter married Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, then Groom of the Chamber to Charles II, who became one of the most powerful politicians of the late 17th and early 18th century.[5]

Wallingford

Bury

Yarmouth

Worcester

Naseby

Edgehill

Newbury

Oxford

Lostwithiel

London

Blagge's England; key locations. Note River Thames (blue line), London-Wallingford-Oxford

His family background placed Blagge firmly in the ranks of the middle to upper class county gentry, connections which resulted in an appointment as Groom of the Chamber to Charles I. During the political struggles of the early 1640s, most of Suffolk and East Anglia supported Parliament, including his father and father-in-law. However, like other Royal officials Blagge remained loyal to his master when the First English Civil War began in August 1642.[6]

He raised a regiment for the Royalists, participating in the indecisive Battle of Edgehill in October 1642 and subsequent attack on London.[7] After it failed, the main Royalist field army was divided between their wartime capital at Oxford, Abingdon and Wallingford.[8] Blagge was appointed Governor of Wallingford Castle, a Royal possession that controlled a vital crossing point over the River Thames, but whose fortifications had been allowed to decay over the last 50 years.[9]

Although present at the First Battle of Newbury in September, Blagge's priority was rebuilding Wallingford's defences, a process completed by the end of the year.[9] During the 1644 Royalist offensive in South West England, he commanded a brigade at Cropredy Bridge, Lostwithiel and Second Newbury.[10] Although Lostwithiel was a major victory, Charles had ignored advice from his nephew Prince Rupert, who cautioned the absence of the field army left Royalist garrisons around Oxford dangerously exposed (see Map). He was proved correct when the Parliamentarians captured Abingdon in July 1644, threatening the entire Royalist position in the Thames Valley. Coupled with the loss of Reading in 1643, retaining Wallingford became absolutely vital.[11]

Most of the Oxford army was destroyed at Naseby in June 1645; Charles surrendered to the Scots Covenanters outside Newark-on-Trent in May 1646, followed by the Oxford garrison on 25 June. Besieged by the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax, Blagge did not capitulate until 27 July when his men were starving and close to mutiny, although the stubborn defence meant he secured good terms.[12] Following the Execution of Charles I in January 1649, he joined Charles II in France, then accompanied him to Scotland in 1651.[13]

Blagge's youngest daughter Margaret (1652-1678)

When the Royalists were defeated at Worcester in September, he helped Charles evade capture; although arrested himself, he managed to escape from the Tower of London and rejoin the court.[13] He was appointed Groom of the Chamber and his wife Mary governess to Princess Henrietta, making them part of a close knit inner circle of royal servants. During the short-lived 1658 alliance between Charles and Spain, Blagge and other exiles served in the army defeated by an Anglo-French army at The Dunes in June.[14]

After the Stuart Restoration in May 1660, he was rewarded for his loyal service by being appointed Governor of Great Yarmouth and Landguard Fort. However, he died six months later and was buried in Westminster Abbey; the monument was replaced in 1757 with one commemorating Admiral Edward Vernon.[1]

Blagge's early death left his widow three young daughters and large debts which she settled only just before her own death in 1671. Despite this, she managed to have both Mary and Margaret appointed Maid of honour to the Duchess of York and all three of her girls married well. Margaret was greatly admired by the diarist John Evelyn, who wrote a short biography after she died in childbirth in 1678.[15]

• Ditchfield, PH; Page, William (1923). A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3. Victoria County History.
• Edmond, Mary (1987). "Bury St Edmunds; A 17th century art centre". The Volume of the Walpole Society. 53. JSTOR 42581373.
• Evelyn, John (1907). The Life of Margaret Godolphin. Chatto and Windus.
• Hervey, Sydenham Henry Augustus (1900). Biographical note 290 in Horringer parish registers. Baptisms, marriages, and burials, with appendixes and biographical notes. G Booth.
• JH (1981). BLAGGE, Henry (c.1549-96), of Little Horningsheath, Suff. in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603. Boydell & Brewer.
• Newman, P. R. (1998). Atlas of the English Civil War. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-19610-9.
• Plant. "Colonel Thomas Blagge's Regiment of Foot". BCW Project. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
• Royle, Trevor (2004). Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638–1660 (2006 ed.). Abacus. ISBN 978-0-349-11564-1.
• Sundstrom, Roy A (2011). "Godolphin, Sidney, first earl of Godolphin(1645–1712)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10822. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Wallingford Castle. "Thomas Blagge". Earl Rivers Regiment of Foote. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
• Westminster Abbey. "Thomas Blagge soldier". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
• Young, Peter (1939). "King Charles I's army of 1643-1645". Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research. 18 (69). JSTOR 44219782.

• Dewey, Judy; Dewey, Stuart (1996). Wallingford and the Civil War. Pie Powder Press. ISBN 978-0948598098.
• Griffin, S (2000). Wallingford in the English civil war, 1642-1646. Stuart Press.
• Hedges, J.K. (1881). The history of Wallingford, in the county of Berkshire. Wiliam Clowes.