Nicholas Slanning (1606 - 1643)

Born 2 Sep 1606 in Hele, Devon, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Gertrude (Bagge) Arundell — married 25 Sep 1625 (to 1643) in St Andrew's Minster Church, Plymouth, Devon, England

Descendants

Died 1643 at about age 36 in Bristol, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Lois Tilton [send private message]

Biography

Sir Nicholas Slanning was a Royalist in the English Civil War. Although he is often associated with Cornwall due to his military career, he was in fact a scion of a family in Devon that began to accumulate property at the dissolution of the monasteries, most notably in the area of Buckland Monachorum and Plymouth. ^[1]

Origins

Nicholas Slanning was the only son of Gamaliel Slanning and his wife Margarett Marler. Based on the Inquisition Post Mortem of his father on 9 October 1612, he was age 6, born on 2 September 1606. ^[1]

On 23 September 1625, at St Andrew Plymouth, he married Gertrude, daughter of Sir James Bagge of Little Saltram, Devon, Vice-Admiral of South Cornwall. ^[2] The marriage produced two sons: one, who died young, named Nicholas, and a second of that name, doubtless born between his brother's death in February 1637/8 and his father's, in 1643. There were also two daughters: ^[3]

Margaret - bp. 20 February 1630/1; m. Sir John Molesworth

Elizabeth - bp. 11 January 134/5; m. Sir James Modyford; d. 30 March 1724.

When the Slanning estate was sequestered following the royalist defeat, a petition stated that the heir had three sisters. If this is so, the third must have died young.

Nicholas Slanning pursued a military career. In 1628, he entered the Inner Temple, ^[4] where he did not long remain, entering instead onto the "wars of the Low Countries", where he remained for perhaps four years, although records of his activities there are hard to access.

His military accomplishments apparently impressed King Charles I, as, returning to England, he was knighted at Nonesuch Palace on 24 August 1632 ^[5] and later, in 1635, given the command of Pendennis Castle. However, it is possible that these favors were owing to the influence of his well-connected father-in-law. ^[2] In 1638, when Sir James Bagge died, Nicholas Slanning succeeded to his appointment as Vice-Admiral of South Cornwall. ^[6]

Civil War

Sir Nicholas Slanning appears to have been an artilleryman, sometimes named General of the Ordnance. ^[7] In February 1639, Sir Nicholas Slanning was ordered to deploy an artillery force from Pendennis to support King Charles' war on Scotland. He also took part in the second war against the Scots. Losing both wars, Charles was forced to call Parliament to ask for funds.

By 1640, Sir Nicholas Slanning held the post of Recorder of Plympton St Maurice; in March, he was elected to represent that borough in the Short Parliament; in November, he sat for Penryn in the Long Parliament, He found himself there in a royalist minority, one of fifty-nine Members who voted against the Bill of Attainder for Charles' commander Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, their names being publicly posted as "Straffordians, betrayers of their country." By September 1642, he was summoned by the House of Lords as "delinquent," but replied that this was a breach of privilege.^[8]

By that time, Parliament and King Charles were at war, and when Sir Ralph Hopton raised the king's standard, ^[9] Sir Nicholas Slanning raised a regiment of musketeers. These were largely Cornishmen and known as the "tinners". The unit was heavily engaged during Hopton's 1643 campaign that took Cornwall for the king, notably the battles of Stratton (16 May), Lansdown Hill (5 July), and Roundway Down (13 July). The high point of the royalist campaign came with the 26 July Storming of Bristol, in which Sir Nicholas Slanning commanded a brigade of his own regiment, along with those of Lord Mohun and Colonel John Trevanion, under Prince Maurice. This force attacked first, at the south section of the Bristol city walls, but was repulsed with heavy losses, including Sir Nicholas Slanning, who died of his wounds sustained in the assault. ^[10]

The exact date of his death is not known, nor his burial place. A well-known but variable couplet memorializes the leaders lost in the 1643 campaign: ^[1]

Gone the four wheels of Charles’ wain,
Grenville, Godolphin, Trevanion, Slanning slain’

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Jones, Winslow. "The Slannings of Leye, Bickleigh, and Maristow". p. 451. Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, vol 19, 1887. Jones
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Duke, H E. "The Metamorphoses of James Bagg", p. 352 ff. Plymouth Institution and Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society, vol 13, 1903. Bagg
3. ↑ Vivian, John Lambrick. "Slanning of Ley" The Visitations of the County of Devon, p. 689. 1895. Vivian
4. ↑ The Inner Temple: Archives: Slannyng, Nicholas - 12/07/1628. Temple
5. ↑ Shaw, William A. The Knights of England, p. 200. London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1906. Shaw
6. ↑ Military Wiki: Nicholas Slanning Slanning
7. ↑ Hopton, Ralph. Bellum Civile p. 38. London : Harrison and sons, p. 1902. Hopton
8. ↑ HL/PO/JO/10/1 - House of Lords: Journal Office: Main Papers 1509-1700 TNA
9. ↑ Manganiello, Stephen C. The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660 - Slanning, Sir Nicholas, p. 498. United Kingdom, Scarecrow Press, 2004. Concise
10. ↑ Reid, Stuart. All the King's Armies, p.66. (Staplehurst (1998)

See Also:

• Prince, John. "The Worthies of Devon" (Danmonii orientales illustres), p.713. London: Printed for Rees & Curtis, 1810. Slanning

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 52/ Slanning, Nicholas by Charles Harding Firth Firth

• Wikipedia: Nicholas Slanning Slanning

• Burke, Sir John Bernard. A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies ... "Slanning, of Maristow", p. 489. 1838. Burke