[4] At the outbreak of the English Civil War in the late summer of 1642, the royalists under Francis Ottley, a relative of the Mackworths, seized the initiative and occupied Shrewsbury[13] and began arresting or expelling the Puritan clergy.
[16] Moving south, the king paused at Bridgnorth to issue a proclamation ordering the arrest of "some persons of good quality," whom he intended to put on trial for high treason.
[18] It is not clear exactly where and how family life continued over the succeeding two or three years, as the elder Humphrey was constantly mobile, participating in Parliamentarian county committees and their offshoots all over the West Midlands, and helping to organise the reconquest of Shropshire from an initial foothold at Wem.
With the capture of Shrewsbury by the Parliamentarians in February 1645, Mackworth senior was acclaimed governor by his colleagues of the Shropshire committee,[22] although he had to wait until June 1646 for confirmation by Parliament.
The most serious threat came in 1651 with the appearance of Charles Stuart at the head of a large Scottish army, to whom Colonel Mackworth refused to surrender.
Oliver Cromwell decided on a parliamentary experiment later in the year, and elections were held under the Instrument of Government for a single-chamber legislature with a new distribution of seats and a £200 property qualification.
He describes himself in action, confidently making decisions and issuing orders, in a letter to John Thurloe, Secretary to the Protector's Council and Cromwell's spy chief, on 8 March 1655.
[37] A "troope or smalle army of cavalleers," under Sir Arthur Blaney, was to eliminate Parliamentarian gentry in the Oswestry area before seizing Chirk Castle.
Cromwell had written to William Crowne, the husband of Mackworth's aunt, on 5 March, "it being justly apprehended that the Cavalier party intends speedy execution of a very evil design in the parts about Shrewsbury, which they specially intend because of the weakness of the garrison, and the multitude of Malignants thereabouts,"[38] that reinforcements were on the way, together with commissions to raise more troops, and that he was to join Mackworth at Shrewsbury.
Mackworth wrote to warn Sir Thomas Middleton at Chirk Castle[35] and summoned reinforcements from Hereford but, as the matter was becoming too urgent to wait, he and Crowne were thrown back on their own resources to disrupt the royalist arrays.
A short first-hand account of the affair was given some years later in a petition of John Evanson of Shrewsbury to Richard Cromwell: The attempt on Chirk Castle also was foiled.
[41] By 9 March Kynaston had been captured and revealed under interrogation by Thomas Lloyd, High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire, that the plotters had intended to gain access to Shrewsbury by sending in soldiers in female dress to pose as sight-seers to help secure the gates.
On 10 March Crown wrote to Cromwell, reporting that Harris still denied involvement in any plot, but that many local people wanted the conspirators pursued, something he was keen to do if he only had the money and manpower.
Mackworth wrote to Colonel Philip Jones, a member of the Protector's Council, to beg his intercession for more resources, as they had insufficient forces even to guard the prisoners.
Reynolds wrote to Thurloe on 17 March, praising Mackworth's zeal: "The young governour hath behaved himselfe verry discreetly and faithfully, and will, I hope, receive encouragement in these his hopefull beginings.
"[49] Although some of those detained later alleged torture,[50] little real evidence emerged, partly because Mackworth's prompt action had itself prevented large numbers from committing themselves to the rising.
[12] Harris's confidant Eyton escaped from Shrewsbury prison down a bedsheet, although wearing leg-irons: an incident for which Mackworth apologised to Oliver Cromwell in August.
Although related by both blood and marriage, the elder Humphrey Mackworth and Sir Francis Ottley had taken radically opposed stances during the Civil War and participated closely in the sequestration of each other's estates.
Her petition to Cromwell had resulted in the matter being referred to Mackworth on 13 October for him to find a speedy resolution or else report back.
Referring to the uprisings, he recommended Ottley to come to an arrangement, as he would "find his Highness so far Exasperated to the King's party or any that did Adhere to him that upon Mrs. Molloy's proofe of her Petition I am very Confident he and his Councell will Adjudge her the Whole, which how you will be able to withstand I know not.
[58] It is unclear whether the younger Humphrey Mackworth was pursuing a family feud as the available evidence is insufficient to show whether he had encouraged Moloy to bring the action or was simply trying to find a fair settlement.
It seems unlikely that he considered the Ottleys easy to intimidate, as both Richard[59] and his brother Adam[60] were fellow members of Gray's Inn, at least as well versed in the law as himself.
[61] He appeared at the remaining sessions of the year, on 17 July and at Michaelmas, alongside his brother Thomas and various Roundhead veterans like Robert Corbet of Stanwardine and Lancelot Lee.
[62] The business was varied, including much that could be seen as local government alongside the administration of justice: cautions and warrants for good behaviour, appointment of a gaol keeper for Bridgnorth and constables for Walford and Yockleton, orders for payment of arrears and support of illegitimate children, settlement of vagrants, repairs to churches and bridges, ale licences.
Mackworth apparently did not share it in great measure and meanwhile seems to have become happily attached to the town of Shrewsbury, giving up all larger ambition.
[72] There is a possibility of confusing him in the records with his brother Thomas, who sat for Shropshire, but there are few mentions of Mackworth in the House of Commons Journal for the parliament.
Mackworth was also returned to a Parliament, with the old, unreformed distribution of seats and a small upper chamber, that assembled to hear an opening address from Richard Cromwell on 27 January 1659.
[2] As early as October 1658 Mackworth had organised a petition to the Council, complaining of the seditious activities of John Tench, a local royalist who was now agitating openly.
However, when Mackworth himself was replaced, some time in late 1659, it was with Edmund Waring, a steadfast Puritan and Commonwealth man who was to suffer repeated persecution after the triumph of Charles II,[79] often at the hands of Richard Ottley.