Channel Islands in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

The Channel Islands were garrisoned by the Royalists (Cavaliers) Royalists during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In 1651 the English navy under the command of Admiral Robert Blake and the New Model Army under the command of Colonel James Heane captured the islands and held them during the Interregnum. After the restoration of monarchy in 1660 the Parliamentary general John Lambert was imprisoned on Guernsey.

History

During the 1640s, England was split by English Civil War and hostilities spread into Scotland and Ireland, as well. Jersey was divided, and while the sympathy of some islanders lay with Parliament, the de Carterets (see Sir George Carteret and Sir Philippe de Carteret II) held the island for the king. The population of Guernsey sided with Parliament, Castle Cornet was held by the Royalists.

Jersey

Sir Philippe de Carteret II, presiding over a meeting of the States of Jersey in 1642, refused to be arrested in the name of Parliament, declaring that "This Island has nothing to do with Parliament but only to the King in Council". He moved into Elizabeth Castle and his wife and a son took over Gorey Castle. Helped by his nephew, George Carteret, the Island was captured and following the death of Sir Philippe, George Carteret, who had been the Treasurer to the Navy, took to piracy/privateering (depending on your sympathies) to fund cost of guarding the Island.

The privateering was very successful, allowing Jersey to sell the proceeds of captured cargo ships to pay for the garrison in Jersey, support the garrison in Castle Cornet and to fund the costs of Royal visits.

The Prince of Wales, the future Charles II visited the island of Jersey in 1646 and again in October 1649 following the execution of his father. In the Royal Square in St. Helier on 17 February 1649, Charles was publicly proclaimed king after his father's death (following the first public proclamation in Edinburgh on 5 February 1649). Parliamentarian forces eventually captured the island in 1651 and Elizabeth Castle surrendered seven weeks later on 15 December 1651 with permission for the defenders to leave the Island.

In recognition for all the help given to him during his exile, Charles II gave George Carteret, Bailiff and governor, a large grant of land in the American colonies, which he promptly named New Jersey, now part of the United States of America.

Guernsey

Guernsey sided with the Parliamentarians. Guernsey's decision was mainly related to the higher proportion of Calvinists and other Reformed churches, as well as Charles I's refusal to take up the case of some Guernsey seamen who had been captured by the Barbary corsairs. The allegiance was not total, however; there were a few Royalist uprisings in the south-west of the island, while Castle Cornet was occupied by the Governor, Sir Peter Osborne, and Royalist troops. Castle Cornet, which had been built to protect Guernsey, was turned on by the town of St. Peter Port, who constantly bombarded it. The castle in turn bombarding the town, making sections untenable.

In 1651, the Island of Jersey, which was Royalist, was taken by Parliamentarian forces and Ensign Nicholas Robert from Saint Martin, Guernsey was with the Parliamentarian forces. Whilst there he recovered the Crown of England that had belonged to Charles I from the Court House in Jersey and brought it back to Guernsey, delivering it to the Governor of Castle Cornet.

The Castle surrendered on about 9 December 1651, with the garrison permitted to march out bearing arms and to leave the Island.

After the restoration of monarchy in 1660 the Parliamentary general John Lambert was imprisoned in on Guernsey.

References

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Further reading

• — Republished