Rebels and Traitors (42 page)

Now Sir Samuel Luke’s scouts kept a closer than ever watch on Oxford. He had a paranoid fear that the King intended to strike at his garrison:
‘There is some treacherous plot against us at present, for they never had that confidence and cheerfulness at Oxford as they have now…’
Luke’s men were deserting; they knew the rival garrison at Aylesbury was better supported and more regularly paid than theirs. When Sir Samuel was recalled to sit in Parliament along with all the other members, he protested that he needed to stay at Newport or his unhappy soldiers would disband themselves.

None the less, he was forced to go up to Westminster. A new army was being proposed, in which no members of Parliament would hold commissions. At Newport Pagnell there was much troubled discussion of the impact this would have; Sir Samuel might never return. He might be forced, as a member of Parliament, to ‘volunteer’ to give up his command. So it happened that during the lull in fighting at the end of the year, Gideon Jukes was given leave to visit his family. The vexed officers at Newport Pagnell had written Sir Samuel Luke a letter of support:
‘Sir, we your poor and discontented officers are desirous you take notice how ready and cheerful we shall be to serve under you or any other body…’
Gideon thought it muddled and misguided, but he did not demur when his captain chose him to convey the letter. While Sir Samuel Luke was in London, he occupied a property that had been part of the King’s Printing House at Blackfriars. ‘You’re a printer, Trooper Jukes; I can trust you to find the house.’

Gideon was told he could spend a week among his family. ‘I’ll try and bring back new britches!’ he promised, for uniforms were in short supply.

The devil with britches; we can fight the King bare-arsed. Bring bullets!’ chortled a sergeant, sucking on an empty pipe as if the memory of old smoke that imbued the browned clay would bring him comfort. And remember, Cheapside boy, if you run into a great beast, square and bellowing, with a leg at each corner, it is a
cow.’

Jokes about Londoners never having seen cattle gave endless entertainment to the country-born.

There were more jests about whether Gideon could find his way back to London, but thanks to the ancient Romans, it was a perfectly straight ride for two days down Watling Street until he passed under the shadow of Old St Paul’s. He then simply had to turn off into Bread Street where his parents lived.

Approaching the city, when he came up to the Wardour Street Fort in the Lines of Communication, the sentries’ cadences of London speech gave him a deep pang. ‘Let him in, lads! It’s Private Jukes, wandering home from market with a bag of magic beans …’

Gideon had adapted his City vowels while at Newport. The Northamptonshire turnips pretended they could not understand him otherwise. As he thanked the sentries, grinning at their badinage, he heard his natural accent return and felt he had become himself again after living in a kind of disguise for many months.

Homesickness swept over him. He realised how tired he was of riding around alone among woods, fields and beggarly villages. He turned in through the city gate. As he entered the metropolitan clamour and bustle, an enormous yearning to be back here struck. Encountering the smoke from thousands of chimneys in coal-burning homes and businesses, Gideon Jukes took the deepest breath he could and let the old familiar choking smog of London fill every cranny of his lungs.

Although he had given his word he would return to the garrison, and meant it, Gideon was surprised just how strongly home exerted its call. He could understand soldiers who deserted. If they chose to slink away, there would be little comeback; so grim was the manpower situation, apprehended deserters were simply returned to their colours and not punished.

As he sat at his mother’s table, devotedly plied with pudding, Gideon was overwhelmed with yearning for ordinary life. ‘I have to go back!’ he warned, as much to remind himself. Parthenope pushed a wisp of greying hair under her cap, and nodded unconvincingly He worried about her; ten months had wrought too many changes. She looked older, thinner, more anxious about his father. John had altered even more. He sat like a wraith at the fireside, hardly communing.

‘He knows you!’ Parthenope had exclaimed in delight when Gideon first entered. He realised there must be times when John Jukes no longer did know people. The old fellow beamed happily, aware that this was Gideon back. Shocked, his son saw that next time he came home — if there was a next time — either or both of his parents might be gone.

Others were already lost. Parthenope formally told Gideon how his wife and child sickened and died, how and where they were buried. He dutifully listened. ‘I wrote to her mother, Gideon.’ He was surprised. ‘Oh, I am sure Elizabeth passed on the news. But we had taken Lacy into our family and I wanted to relate it in my own way … No answer came.’ Parthenope sounded disappointed, and a little put out. ‘Uncle Bevan and Elizabeth were at the funeral. They sat extremely quietly.’
Chastened!
thought Gideon bleakly.

When Parthenope fell silent he exclaimed, ‘I should like to have known the truth.’

‘Well, it is all finished.’ His mother patted his shoulder vaguely. She was too good a woman to admit, even privately, that Gideon had had a fortunate escape. ‘She was a strange girl, but she is gone, and so is the dear baby … It is all done with.’

He would never be free of it, however.

As if they knew Gideon was home, the Bevans came visiting like irritating ticks. Parthenope’s mood towards her uncle must have softened enough for them to be sure of seats in the upstairs parlour for half an hour, but Gideon remained obdurate. Hearing Elizabeth’s and Bevan’s voices, he lit off through the back door, hid in the yard temporarily, then escaped over a fence, though it was bitter January and he was coatless and hatless.

He marched to Basinghall Street, where he was welcomed by Robert Allibone. On hearing that the Bevans had swanned into Cheapside, Robert winced and at once locked up the print shop; they headed for a tavern. The Star in Coleman Street lay nearest, and had enough reputation for hatching revolution to deter Bevan Bevan if he came on a search for Gideon. ‘Being put into the horse-trough gave him an ague,’ sighed Robert. ‘I hear he is but a shadow of himself — yet it is an obnoxious shadow still.’

‘Don’t talk of him.’

‘Then I shall order instead.’ For all its political reputation, the Star had a quiet, almost dull atmosphere. It advertised a hearty beef roast, which the landlord was delighted to provide for Robert; devout revolutionaries rarely opened their purses for more than bread and butter, so the roast was close to expiry on the charger. After three days in his mother’s kitchen, Gideon groaned and could not think of food.

By chance they met a group from the Trained Bands’ Blue Regiment, Lambert’s regiment, men whom Gideon remembered from the Gloucester march. The Blues normally congregated at alehouses in Bread Street or on Huggin Hill, but they had come north for a change of scenery. Christmas was little celebrated in the City; shops remained open, though it was a quiet time for trade. At New Year there was an allowed spirit of renewal. The men were in a mood to gather and gossip, reviewing the previous year and making prophecies for the next.

The Blues and the Reds had spent the past autumn in the Parliamentary blockade, stationed at Reading and then in action at Newbury. Conversation inevitably turned on comparison between the two battles there. But first Gideon heard in more terrible detail what had happened at the defeat in Cornwall.

‘We met the few lads who managed to struggle back. Those poor devils had a time of it. Getting penned up in Cornwall was folly by Old Robin. They ended at Lostwithiel, in a deep valley with a river to one side and steep hills around them, and only open sea ahead. It was a desperate place, with the local people violently hostile. Many only spoke a foreign language, and claimed to know no English. There was neither food nor any provisioning to be had. Our fellows were starved to the bone there for eight days, under constant attack. The cavalry cut their way out, by good management and luck, but for the rest it was hopeless. Then Essex left them, very suddenly, to save himself from capture, and was fetched off in a fishing smack. He had not even told Skippon what he intended.’

‘This is a bad story!’

‘True enough.’ More wine was downed despondently. ‘Skippon made the best surrender he could, and upon terms. Luckily the King was also hard pressed, too deprived of supplies to remain there himself. And so it was agreed that our infantry could march out, every man above corporal keeping his weapons, on a promise that they would not fight again until they came to Southampton. They marched through the enemy, who said they hung their heads like sheep. The very lice upon them were more alive than they. But the terms were broken. Our men were fallen upon, stripped, battered. The King and some of his officers tried to drive off troublemakers with the flats of their swords — but they did not try hard enough. Locals and disobedient Royalist soldiers tore the very shirts from our boys’ backs, stole their weapons, reviled them, shoved them in the mire and kicked them, harried and taunted them. There was no food. The enemy went ever ahead of them, taking all from the villages. Our men shuffled through driving wind and rain, shivering, naked and unshod. Skippon had his coach, but to his credit he stayed right with them until he brought that miserable band safe into Southampton. Most never made it. They dropped in mid-stride, then they died where they dropped. We heard from those we met that only one in ten men came through their hardship alive. There are rotting bodies like milestones all along the roadside from Fowey to Southampton.’

Respectful silence fell. Eventually Robert prompted, ‘When you met the survivors at Newbury …?’

‘Dismal as ghosts.’

The Blues were sombre. They hunched over their cups, each man turning into himself as he imagined what Essex’s humiliated infantry had endured.

‘Well, they were afforded some revenge —’ Empty flagons and trenchers skidded swiftly across the worn oak taproom table to illustrate the battle at Newbury for Gideon and Robert. ‘This is Shaw House … Donnington Castle … Speen village. The first encounter was at Shaw. The plan was for a double-pronged attack. In the hours of darkness Waller and Skippon, with a large contingent, had marched right around —’ A sweep with goblets, scraping on the board, indicated a flanking move. ‘They were to invade Speen, while Manchester was to charge on Shaw as soon as he heard their cannon. Waller duly did the business. That was when we saw the broken-hearted relics of Lostwithiel regain their manhood. They marched on, valiantly singing psalms, despite a hail of case-shot that ravaged the ranks. When they came to the very cannon that had been taken from them at Lostwithiel, their emotion was pitiful. Some embraced the gun-barrels with tears in their eyes. Prince Maurice had Cornishmen in his forces — they ran for it, shrieking. They knew what to expect. Our fellows raced after them and gave no quarter.’

No need to describe the Cornishmen’s bloody end.

Though all had been confusion, these men who served at Newbury were certain what went wrong. ‘Manchester failed to busy himself when he heard the guns. Men fought like furies at Speen, expecting Manchester’s attack on Shaw to come at every moment; he did nothing. He took an hour to engage, and was then repulsed by Sir George Lisle —’

‘Lisle, it was said, threw off his buff coat and fought in his white shirt, so his men could still see him in the gloom.’ Robert had already read about this.

‘Aye, while our dreary commanders dithered like blushing flower-girls … So the joint attack failed. Manchester would not bestir himself until half an hour from sunset. As soon as darkness came, the enemy reorganised and got safe away.

‘So where is the blame in this?’ asked Robert, thoughtfully.

‘Chaos at the top. We boys put our lives at hazard while the commanders niggle.
“He stole my toy!” “I’m the eldest!” “I hate him — I shan’t play with him!”
The whole past season has been that way. And they were quarrelling days later, when the King came back. Reinforced by Prince Rupert, he danced in and carried his cannon out of Donnington, just as he had always intended. Our generals stood passive and refused battle.’ Gideon knew this had annoyed Sir Samuel Luke. He related how Luke was livid when the King was allowed to retrieve his cannon from Donnington Castle, since they needed some great guns for Newport.

Disgusted, the Blues summoned another round of drinks. Robert Allibone tried to tell them lessons had been learned in Parliament. Oliver Cromwell, whose own role at Newbury had been less than stellar, had none the less been furiously lambasting the Earl of Manchester for ‘backwardness’, virtually accusing him of dereliction of duty. Even so, Cromwell now argued that it was pointless to assign blame; a remedy was needed. A committee was ordered to consider ‘a frame or model of the whole militia’. All serving members of both Houses would voluntarily resign from army command and return to government, so the jealous earls and their fractious juniors would be removed at a stroke. The newly modelled army would be a national force, under one commander.