Everything about John Rosworm totally explained
John Rosworm or
Rosworme (
fl. 1630 -
1660) was a
Dutch or
German soldier and military
engineer who served the
Parliamentarian cause during the
English Civil War.
After serving throughout
Europe, Rosworm settled in
Manchester in
1642 where the town engaged him on a
GBP30, six-month
contract to lead their defence against the
Royalist Lord Strange. Despite an approach from Strange to defect to the Royalists, Rosworm completed the town's makeshift
fortifications on
September 23, 1642. The
siege began the following day and the town was defended until Strange's withdrawal on
October 1.
Rosworm marshalled a counter-attack against the Royalists, capturing
Leigh as a base for Parliamentarian forces in
Lancashire. Now made
Lieutenant Colonel in
Ralph Ashton's
regiment, he organised the fortification of
Preston, following its capture on
February 9,
1643.
His original contract with Manchester having ended, he was retained on an annual salary of GBP 60, forgoing his
commission from Ashton and committing himself to the
garrison in Manchester, improving its fortification.
During service in the capture of
Wigan, Rosworm claimed that Colonel
Richard Holland had endangered his safety but Holland escaped censure owing to his strong political influence. A bitter enmity lingered between the two men.
Rosworm was in action in the assault on
Warrington and in the fortification of
Liverpool before returning to Manchester, then under threat of attack by the
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle. Rosworm's strategy included defenses as far afield as
Blackstone Edge and
Blackgate in the
Pennines above Manchester. Newcastle thought better of his plan.
Rosworm subsequently fought with Sir
Thomas Fairfax at
Nantwich and Sir
John Meldrum at Liverpool as director of the siege to regain the town. Liverpool was won by Parliament on
November 1 1644. The years 1644 and
1645 saw renewed approaches from the Royalist faction, friction with Holland and increasing pay arrears. The Manchester townspeople petitioned parliament to help Rosworm' financial situation but to no avail.
By
1648 Rosworm was in financially straightened circumstances and he visited
London to press his cause. Over the next decade he enjoyed sporadic and reluctant reward from the people of Manchester though he'd firmly established his family there. In reply to his repeated petitions of parliament, in
1651, he was rewarded with a post in
Yarmouth to oversee preparations for defence against feared enemy landings. He was subsequently appointed engineer-general for England.
After being appointed engineer-general of the army on
July 19 1659, there's no further record of him. It is thought that he died in exile following the
Restoration.
Further Information
Get more info on 'John Rosworm'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://john_rosworm.totallyexplained.com">John Rosworm Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
