Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sir Richard Grenville
MP for Fowey
In office 1628–1629
Personal details
Born	26 June 1600 Stowe, Kilkhampton, Cornwall
Died	21 October 1659(1659-10-21) (aged 59) Ghent
Spouse	Mary Fitz (1596–1671)
Relations	Sir Bevil Grenville (1595–1643) Admiral Sir Richard (1542–1591)
Children	Richard (ca 1631–1657?) Elizabeth (1632-after 1671)
Parents	Sir Bernard Grenville (1567–1636); Elizabeth Bevill (1564–1636)
Alma mater	Leiden University
Military service
Allegiance	Dutch Republic 1618–1623  England 1625–1628 Royalist 1640–1646
Years of service	1618–1646
Rank	Major General
Commands	Governor Trim 1642–1643
Battles/wars	Thirty Years War War of the Three Kingdoms

Sir Richard Grenville (born June 26, 1600 – died October 21, 1659) was a skilled soldier from Cornwall, England. He fought in major conflicts like the Thirty Years War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was the younger brother of Sir Bevil Grenville, a famous Royalist who died in battle in 1643. His grandfather was Admiral Sir Richard, a naval hero.

Richard Grenville started his military career during the Bohemian Revolt (1618-1624), which was an early part of the Thirty Years War. He later served under the Duke of Buckingham. In 1628, he became a Member of Parliament (MP) for Fowey. He married Mary Fitz, a wealthy widow, but they divorced in 1632. He was then put in prison because of his debts.

In 1633, he escaped to Europe. From 1634 to 1639, he fought with the Swedish army and then the Dutch Republic's army. He returned home to England to join the Bishops Wars. He served in Ireland from 1642 to 1643. After that, he briefly joined the Parliamentarian army before switching sides to the Royalists in March 1644.

He spent the rest of the war fighting in the West Country. In 1646, he was arrested for not following orders from Sir Ralph Hopton. He was released when the Royalists gave up in March. He had disagreements with the Earl of Clarendon, which meant he was not allowed to be part of King Charles II's court while they were in exile. He died in Ghent on October 21, 1659. Even though he was a brave and capable soldier, he was also known for focusing on his own interests and having a quick temper.

Who Was Richard Grenville?

Richard Grenville was one of two children of Sir Bernard Grenville (1567–1636) and Elizabeth Bevill (1564–1636). He was the grandson of the famous Elizabethan hero, Sir Richard Grenville. His older brother, Sir Bevil Grenville, was a Royalist hero who died in the Battle of Lansdowne in July 1643.

In 1628, Richard Grenville married Lady Mary Fitz. She was a wealthy widow and this was her fourth marriage. Mary was involved in a legal fight with her former brother-in-law, the Earl of Suffolk. He refused to give back property she had brought into her previous marriage. Even though the courts said Mary was right, Suffolk would not accept the decision. This drew Grenville into an expensive legal battle.

Because of this, Mary insisted on a special agreement before they married, which was unusual at the time. This agreement soon caused problems between them. They had two children, Richard (born around 1630) and Elizabeth (born around 1631). However, their marriage broke down due to the high legal costs and Grenville's own spending habits. To protect herself, Mary worked with Suffolk and divorced Grenville.

Richard Grenville's Military Career

Early Life and the Thirty Years War (1618–1640)

Grenville's supporter, the Duke of Buckingham, who was killed in August 1628

We don't know much about Grenville's early life. It's thought he went to Exeter College, Oxford, like his brother, but his name isn't in their records. Like many younger sons of noble families, he chose to become a soldier. From 1618 to 1623, he served under Horace Vere in the Eighty Years' War (the Dutch war with Spain) and the Palatinate campaign.

Some of his fellow soldiers included future Civil War generals Sir Ralph Hopton and William Waller. They were likely part of the English army that surrendered at Frankenthal in March 1623.

When he returned to England, Grenville took part in naval missions against Cádiz in 1625, Saint-Martin-de-Ré in 1627, and La Rochelle in 1628. These missions were very costly and did not succeed. However, they helped him get noticed by King Charles I's favorite, the Duke of Buckingham. With the Duke's help, Grenville became a Member of Parliament for Fowey, Cornwall, in 1628.

The Duke of Buckingham was killed in August 1628, which meant Grenville lost his important supporter. However, in November, he married Mary Fitz, who owned Fitzford House in Devon. He used her money to buy a special title called a baronetcy and to live a very expensive life. Both Richard and Mary were strong-willed, and they often argued. Mary eventually divorced Grenville. He was then put in prison for debt in March 1632.

He escaped in 1633 and went to the Dutch Republic. There, he studied mathematics at Leiden University. Mathematics was popular with soldiers because it was useful for planning sieges (when an army surrounds a city to capture it). For the next five years, he fought with the Swedish army in Germany. Then he joined the Dutch Scots Brigade, which was led by a distant relative. In 1639, he came back to England to join the Royal army for the Bishops Wars. In return, King Charles cancelled his 1632 conviction.

The English Civil War (1640–1646)

In February 1642, Grenville was part of the army sent to stop the Irish Rebellion of 1641. There, he became known as a capable but tough leader. He was made governor of Trim, County Meath. Because he was in Ireland, he missed the start of the First English Civil War, which began in August 1642. In June 1643, the rebels in Ireland made a truce with Ormond, the leader of the Irish Royalists. This truce was officially signed in September. It allowed Royalist soldiers to leave Ireland and fight in England, including Grenville.

When Grenville arrived in Liverpool in August, Parliamentarian soldiers arrested him and sent him to London. The Irish soldiers had not been paid for over a year. Parliament promised to pay any soldier who joined their side. Grenville swore loyalty to Parliament and received his pay. He was made Lieutenant-General of Horse in the Army of the South Eastern Association, led by his old colleague, William Waller.

However, in March 1644, he switched sides to the Royalists. They put him in charge of the siege of Plymouth. He also helped them win the Battle of Lostwithiel in September.

In England, just like in Ireland, Grenville became known for being harsh. He treated Parliamentarian prisoners badly and always looked for ways to get rich. However, he also made sure his own soldiers were paid on time. Unlike other commanders, he did not let his troops take food or supplies for free, and he stopped them from stealing.

As the war started to go against the Royalists, there were more arguments within their army. Grenville refused orders from Prince Rupert to help attack Taunton. He then argued with Lord Goring, who was the commander of the Western Army. In July, Grenville quit his command. When he did, most of the Cornish soldiers also left the army. They refused Goring's requests to help fight the advancing New Model Army.

Ruins of the castle on St Michael's Mount, where Grenville was held in January 1646

By the end of 1645, the Royalists in the West Country were almost defeated. Grenville suggested that Cornwall should become its own independent area, led by the Prince of Wales. He also wanted to make a truce with Parliament. He placed local soldiers along the River Tamar, which was the border between Cornwall and Devon. He gave orders to keep "all foreign troops out of Cornwall," which included the remaining Royalist soldiers under Lord Goring.

His leaders did not accept this plan. It showed that he struggled to see the bigger political picture. When Hopton replaced Goring as commander in the West, Grenville refused to serve under him. In January 1646, he was arrested for not following orders and put in prison on St Michael's Mount. He was released when Hopton surrendered in March. He was allowed to go into exile (leave the country) because he would likely have been executed if Parliament had captured him.

Exile and Death (1646–1659)

The Earl of Clarendon; Grenville's disagreements with him led to his banishment from the exiled King's court

He joined the exiled King's court in Jersey. Parliament said he would not be pardoned for his actions. After King Charles I was executed in 1649, King Charles II made Grenville Lieutenant-General. This was for a planned uprising in the West of England that never happened. In 1653, he was involved in a failed plan against the Earl of Clarendon. Because of this, he was banned from the King's court.

He spent the next few years in Italy and the Netherlands. He also secretly visited England, hoping to get his property back. In 1654, he published a book called Single defence against all aspersions of all malignant persons. In this book, he shared his side of the story about events in the West. It was meant to counter Clarendon's book, The History of the Rebellion.

At some point in the 1650s, his son Richard died. In 1657, his daughter Elizabeth joined him in exile. She then became involved in his ongoing legal fight with the Howards family. Richard Grenville died on October 21, 1659, and was buried in Ghent, in the Spanish Netherlands. His grave has since disappeared.

His nephew, John Granville (1628–1701), played a key role in bringing the monarchy back to England in 1660. Elizabeth was still alive in 1671, as she is mentioned in her mother's will. It is thought she married a Royalist sea-captain, but there are not many details about her later life.

In Books

The author Daphne du Maurier wrote a novel called The King's General (published in April 1946). This book tells the story of Sir Richard Grenville's life and time in exile. It includes made-up characters but is based strongly on real historical facts.

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