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Philip Skippon

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For his son, the English traveller, writer, diarist, landowner and MP, seePhilip Skippon (1641–1691).
Philip Skippon

Philip Skippon(c. 1600,West Lexham,Norfolk – c. 20 February 1660) supported the Parliamentary cause during theEnglish Civil Waras a senior officer in the New Model Army. Prior to the war he fought in the religious wars on the continent. During theInterregnumhe was a member of Parliament, an active soldier and on occasions a government administrator.[1][2]

Life

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Background

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Philip Skippon was the son of Luke Skippon (c. 1567–1638), the son of Bartholomew Skippon ofWeasenham St Peter,Norfolk.[3]Luke and his elder brother William (born c. 1566) went to school atDerehamand studied atGonville and Caius College, Cambridge.William lived atTawstockin northDevonwhere he was Secretary toLord Bath,and died there on 1 January 1633/34. Luke (born c. 1567) had his seat atWest Lexham,Norfolk, and was father of two notable sons, Philip, and Luke (died 1676), who enteredPeterhouse, Cambridgein 1614 and made his career there, becomingjunior Proctorin 1633–34, and being nominated forMastership of the collegein 1663 but not appointed.[4][5]

To 1638

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Philip entered the military profession at an early age and in July 1620 volunteered to join SirHorace Vere's expedition to aidFrederick V of Bohemiain theElectorate of the Palatinate.He served in it until the Bohemian defeat in 1623, participating in the two sieges ofFrankenthal(where he was married in 1622). He then went on to serveMaurice of Nassauin the Netherlands, receiving a commission in 1625. At the sieges ofBredain 1625 and 1637 he was wounded, and under his old commander, Lord Vere, he was present when's-HertogenboschandMaastrichtwere attacked in 1629. By 1632 he was a sergeant major and led many of the sorties atMaastrichtwith distinction. He also became deeply interested in religion, writing small private religious volumes for his family.[6]

1639–1644

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A veteran of 18 years' experience, Captain Skippon returned to England in 1638. On 23 October 1639 he was recommended byCharles I of Englandfor a command in theHonourable Artillery Companyand he moved to London to take up this command. With civil war looming, on 10 January 1642 he was made major-general and commander of theCity of London'sTrained Bandsby Parliament in defiance of the king's authority, and two days later he mustered them to welcome the five members who Charles had failed to arrest. On 13 May Charles ordered Skippon to join him atYork,but Skippon replied "I desire to honour God and not to honour men", and Parliament declared Charles's order illegal. Skippon was absent at the Parliamentarian defeats atEdgehillandBrentford,but continued to train his men before marching them out of London to strengthen the forces of theEarl of Essex,Captain-Generalof the Parliament's forces. He then faced Royalist forces at theBattle of Turnham Green,encouraging his under-trained militiamen with the words:

Come my boys, my brave boys, let us pray heartily and fight heartily. I will run the same hazards and fortunes with you. Remember the cause is for God, and for the defence of yourselves, your wives, your children. Come, my honest brave boys, pray heartily and fight heartily, and God will bless us.[7]

Within a week of the battle Essex made Skippon hisSergeant-Major-General,a post which carried with it the command of the foot and the complicated duty of arranging the line of battle. In 1643 his religious tracts written in the Netherlands were collected and published asThe Christian Centurion,one of many devotional tracts he published for his troops to read. However, his high level of experience meant that Parliament was unwilling to risk him in action early in the war, though he did serve alongside Essex atGloucester.His first field command came on 20 September 1643, with command of the left wing and reserves at theFirst Battle of Newbury.He continued serving with Essex during the disastrousLostwithiel campaignand was left in command of the Parliamentarian garrison of 6,000 there on 1 September 1644 when Essex andLord Robartesfled to Plymouth. The following day, without hope of reinforcement, Skippon negotiated with King Charles: having gained very reasonable terms for his forces, he surrendered and marched his force out of the town. He then gathered the infantrymen from that force in October and marched them to take part in thesecond Battle of Newbury,occupying the centre of the high ground nearStockcrossand recapturing seven of the guns they had lost at Lostwithiel.

1645

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The appointment as Sergeant-Major-General of theNew Model Armysoon followed, as, apart from his distinguished services, there was scarcely another man in England with the knowledge of detail requisite for the post. In this capacity he supportedThomas Fairfaxas loyally as he had supported Essex. He led the centre at theBattle of Naseby,where he refused to leave the field while victory was still in the balance despite being dangerously wounded. For his conduct on this decisive occasion, the two Houses of Parliament thanked him, and they sent him special physicians to cure him of his wound. It was a long time before he was fit to serve in the field again. He only reappeared at thesiege of Oxford,which he directed. At the end of the war he was selected for the command of the forthcoming Irish expedition, with the rank of marshal-general. The discontent of the soldiery, however, which ended in open mutiny, put an end to a command which Skippon had only accepted under great pressure. He bore a part in all the movements which the army leaders now carried out.

Post-war

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Skippon endeavoured to preserve a middle position between his ownPresbyterianismand theIndependents,and to secure a firm treaty with the king by any means. The army outstripped Fairfax and Skippon in action. The major-general was named as one of the king's judges, but, like Fairfax, did not take his place. After the war he was returned as MP forKing's Lynnin 1654, 1656 and 1658 during theCommonwealth.He also held high military and civil offices. During theRule of the Major-Generalshe was appointed to command the London military district (withJohn Barksteadas his deputy, who was zealous in suppressing immorality and ungodliness in the area under Skippon's control), where his popularity was always high[8]— but ceased to influence passing events. He said little in Parliament, though his comment onJohn Naylor( "If this be liberty, God deliver us from such liberty!"[9]) is well known. He was one of the members ofCromwell's House of Lords,and, in general, was universally respected and beloved. On Cromwell's death he was made head of the London Militia again by the restored Long Parliament. Age and infirmities prevented him from taking any part in the revolutions which culminated in theRestoration,and in March 1660 he died.

Family

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He had first married Maria Comes ofFrankenthal,Lower Palatinate,in the Netherland church there on 14 May 1622, by whom he had several children, most of whom did not survive infancy. These were Anna (Utrecht,1623–1624), Anna (Montfoort,1625), William (Amersfoort,1628-1646/47), Marie (Amersfoort, 1631), Phillip (Amersfoort, 1633-1633), Susanna (West Lexham, 1635), Luke (Foulsham, 1638) and Philip (Hackney,1641).[10]Their son and surviving heirPhilipbecame MP forDunwich.[11]The General's wife Maria Skippon died at Acton on 24 January 1655/56, and had a monument in the church there.[12]There was a second marriage, for his widow Dame Katherine Skippon is first-named in his will written atActon,Middlesex,which leaves lands there, and atBletchley,Buckinghamshire, and in Norfolk and Suffolk.[13]The will also refers to his son Philip and daughters Anne Bragge, Mary Skippon and Susan Meredith. Susan was the wife ofSir Richard Meredith, 2nd BaronetofLeeds Abbey,Kent.[14]

References

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  1. ^M. Noble,Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period,2 vols (Birmingham, 1784), II,pp. 480-81(Google).
  2. ^Firth, C.H. (1897)."Skippon, Philip".InLee, Sidney(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 52. London: Smith, Elder & Co.;Gentles, I.J. (2004). "Skippon, Philip, appointed Lord Skippon under the Protectorate (d. 1660)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25693.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  3. ^T. Quarles,The History and Antiquities of Foulsham: In Norfolk(Joseph Cundall, London 1842),pp. 80-108(Google).
  4. ^J.A. Venn and J. Venn,Alumni Cantabrigienses,Part I vol 4 (Cambridge University Press 1927),p. 86(Internet Archive).
  5. ^I. Pells, 'Philip Skippon: The Norfolk Genesis of a Parliamentary General',Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological SocietyXLVII, Part 2 (2015).
  6. ^'Skippon, Phillip: Parliamentarian soldier', in S.C. Manganiello,The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1639-1660(Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland; Toronto; Oxford, 2004),p. 497(Google).
  7. ^'Skippon, Phillip: Parliamentarian soldier', in S.C. Manganiello,The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1639-1660(Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland; Toronto; Oxford, 2004),p. 497(Google).
  8. ^Philip Skippon, Parliamentary General
  9. ^J. Vicars,English Worthies(1647, reprint 1845),pp. 50-59.
  10. ^J.J. Howard (ed.),Miscellanea Genealogica et Topographica,New Series Vol. I (Hamilton, Adams & Co., London 1874),pp. 37-40, at pp. 38-39(Google).
  11. ^P. Watson, 'Skippon, Sir Philip (1641-91), of Edwardstone, Suff.', in B.D. Henning (ed.),The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690(from Boydell and Brewer 1983),History of Parliament online.
  12. ^Quarles,History and Antiquities of Foulsham,p. 97.
  13. ^Will of Major-General Phillipp Skippon of Acton, Middlesex (P.C.C. 1660, Nabbs quire).
  14. ^E. Hasted,The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent,Vol. II (Author/Simmons and Kirkby, Canterbury 1782),pp. 481-82(Google).

Attribution

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