[10] Ottley was already active in local politics before the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642,[2] so quickly emerged as a leading Royalist within Shropshire, playing a key role in the military conquest of the county by Charles I.

As newspapers were not yet in circulation in the Midlands,[12] he kept in touch with the national situation by having an agent in London, Robert Browne,[13] send him occasional newsletters, summarising developments in the capital, but also in provincial centres as news came in.

Letters from Browne still survive, relaying such news as the crisis in May 1641 over the execution of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford[14] and, a year later, the first hostilities between Charles I and Parliament at the Siege of Hull.

[18] Parliament authorised the training of militia for the defence of Shrewsbury and, under an act of 22 July, deputed three MPs, William Pierrepont, Sir John Corbet, and Richard More to establish its military control of Shropshire.

[10] Acknowledging that their Worcestershire neighbours had been first to pledge their support, the Shropshire gentry and burgesses declared: But wee alsoe doe with all thankfullnes and unanimously acknowledge our selves sensible of the good lawes which through his maiesties goodnes hath ben enacted this parliament ... And wee doe declare that we wilbee ready to attend and obey his maiestie in all lawfull wayes ffor the putting of the Countrey in a posture of Armes for the defence of his maiestie and the peace of this Kingdome And doe resolve according to our oathes of Supremacye and allegiance late protestacons to adventure our lives and fortunes in the defence of his Royall and sacred person...[20]Ottley was one of those who signed, although his name was close to the bottom of the list of gentry,[21] while his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Wolryche, 1st Baronet was close to the top.

[2] The king was based at Shrewsbury until 12 October 1642, shadowed by the main Parliamentarian army, under the Lord General, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, which had marched from Northampton to Worcester to block his progress southward.

However, there was informal recognition of his leading role: a proclamation, apparently from the king, notified all gentlemen and soldiers that they should be ready to rally in case of disturbance signalled by “the lawful warning of Captain ffrancis Ottley his Drome (drum)”.

[45] A letter from Hyde, written 9 February, significantly alludes to Ottley's commission, possibly still en route, before bemoaning his apparent inability to provide the promised arms.

Jonathan Langley, a native of Shrewsbury stranded in the Parliamentary stronghold of Birmingham, wrote to Ottley of his desire to return to his home and family, and pointing out that "my protestation already taken binds me both to King and to parliament.

It was not so easy to shrug off a letter from the king himself, alleging that Ottley's men had purloined goods belonging to an influential Staffordshire wool merchant and demanding they be released forthwith.

In March Ottley was compelled to issue an order allowing the royalist William Browne to draw £70 a year from Mackworth's confiscated estates, as he had bought an interest in them through an indenture of mortgage.

[63] Shortly afterwards he received a cutting but polite letter from Mackworth's mother, Dorothy Gorton, asking that he “not let me suffer for my sonns esteemed fault.” She was the widow of Ottley's own uncle and claimed that she held a jointure in the sequestered lands.

[40][48] The list began with William Webb, “charged with speacking of ill and malyticus speeches against the King's Matie,”[66] and the other accused were mostly men who had spoken out of turn, although the tailor Andrew Mills of Newport had induced a royalist soldier to desert to Brereton's forces.

Two days later William Blunden, Ottley's cousin and commander of the small royalist cavalry force from Bishop's Castle, wrote to him in confusion, trying to find out what his orders were.

[73] However, the royalist government had realised that local and informal initiatives were proving ineffectual and, by 1 April, had appointed Lord Capel as regional commander, with the title of lieutenant general.

[76] He followed this by insisting on a systematic survey of the resources of the townspeople to see what could be extracted: he deputed the lawyer Arthur Trevor to oversee the process: he attached a postscript demanding a huge quantity of musket ammunition.

[79] On 16 May Sir Richard Leveson wrote to ask Ottley's help in moving his household goods from Lilleshall Abbey into Shrewsbury for safe keeping, in view of the vulnerability to attack in the countryside.

It seems that Capel was at this time acquiring considerable regard for Ottley's efficiency and he kept him informed of wider developments: an account of his attempt to save Warrington from capture stressed success in minor skirmishes after the event rather than the loss of the town to the Parliamentarians.

On 13 June he demanded two horses from each gentry family[85] Apparently a good deal of casual requisitioning was going on and Sir Paul Harris, an enthusiastic but unpopular[67] royalist soon wrote to tell Ottley that soldiers from the Shrewsbury garrison had seized his weapons and threatened to break open his stored possessions.

[87] The economic and psychological impact of the war was variable: at about the same time Lettice Corbet was asking Ottley for safe-conduct passes and official protection so that her servants and mother could mount a business and shopping trip to London, the very centre of Parliamentarian power.

By late June, despite some royalist successes in Staffordshire, Capel was writing of his worries about the movements of Sir John Corbet,[89] who had been appointed head of the parliamentary committee and titular colonel-in-chief of any forces it raised.

[10] A letter arrived, perhaps from Oxford, purporting to be a warning from a friend but reporting that there were plots to replace Ottley as governor and suggesting that he was not issuing sufficient propaganda to counteract the widespread Parliamentarian pamphleteering.

[91] In October the Parliamentarians at Wem, only 300 strong and now commanded by Colonel Thomas Mytton, saw off an assault, by 5000 of Capel's troops - partly because the townspeople, including many women, rallied to their aid.

Prince Rupert who was appointed Captain-General of Forces in the region on 6 January 1644, had been briefed in unfavourable terms about the situation in Shropshire by Sir John Mennes, who had grievances about unpaid wages and expenses.

[96] Even before Rupert's arrival, the pace of fighting in the region rose rapidly, driven by an influx of battle-hardened royalist soldiers redeployed during a lull in the Irish Confederate Wars.

Later in the year, Rupert returned to campaign in Shropshire and replaced Hunckes with Sir Michael Erneley, a Wiltshire landowner who had no connection with the area[107] and considered the locals hostile.

On 25 January 1645 Erneley lambasted Ottley and the local gentry for their failure to make sufficient contributions to the war effort, claiming that they were responsible for fomenting mutiny: I hope you and the Gentlemen of the County will send mee not lesse then a thousand.

[115] The following evening, a small Parliamentarian force led by a Dutch professional soldier, William Reinking, entered the town by a door left open below the Council House.

On 24 July Prince Maurice sent out a letter from Worcester to the remaining governors and garrisons of Shropshire making clear that Ottley had a special direction from the king to raise the posse of the county – a last resort to rally forces as royalist resistance crumbled across the country.

[124] The collapse of morale was spreading into the leadership: Richard Cresset, one of the Commissioners of Array, wrote to Ottley for help in suppressing discussion of his decision no longer to attend meetings, which he asserted would lead to his ruin.