Gerards in the ECW

GERARDS IN THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR

Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield (c.1618 - January 7, 1694) eldest son of Sir Charles Gerard, was a member of an old Lancashire family, his great-grandfather having been Sir Gilbert Gerard (d.1593) of Ince, in that county, one of the most distinguished judges in the reign of Elizabeth I. His mother was Penelope Fitton of Gawsworth, Cheshire.

Charles Gerard was educated abroad, and in the Low Countries learnt soldiering, in which he showed himself proficient when on the outbreak of the Civil War in England he raised a troop of horse for the King's service, as well as an infantry regiment gathered from men in North Wales and North West England.

Gerard joined his King at Shrewsbury and commanded a brigade of three regiments including his own with distinction at Edgehill. In this close run battle, Gerard is said to have been wounded by a sword cut, although prompt medical attention meant that he was soon fit again and ready to be wounded a second time at the siege of Lichfield in April 1643. In July of that year at the siege of Bristol he arranged the capitulation terms for the Parilamentary forces, and gained further honours at the first battle of Newbury just two months later.

In 1644, whilst taking part in the relief of Newark he was again wounded, thrown from his horse, and taken prisoner. Parliament allowed him parole and when the garrison fell to the Royalists, Gerard found himself a free man once more. Soon, he was appointed to succeed the Earl of Carbery as commander of the Royalist forces in South Wales, where he found himself faced with a most difficult task. Parliament held large areas of South Wales and the Royalist troops were poorly equipped, ill led and of low morale.

He went to work and by the 19th of May 1644 he was able to lead a force of 2500 men against the enemy. On a relatively short campaign through South Wales his operations were completely successful in reducing the Parliamentarians to subjection; but the severity with which he ravaged the country made him personally so unpopular that when, after the defeat at Naseby in June 1645, the King endeavoured to raise fresh forces in Wales, he was compelled to remove Gerard from the local command.

Gerard was, however, retained in command of the King's guard during Charles' march from Wales to Oxford, and thence to Hereford and Chester in August 1645; and having been severely wounded at Rowton Heath on September 23, he reached Newark, where winter quarters were prepared, with Charles on October 4. However, his good favour with the King was soon to change, and by the end of October, he had offended his Sovereign by being part of a group that had burst in on him during dinner and demanded redress for a number of ills. Gerard along with Rupert and about 400 others left Newark.

Within a year, Gerard was once again with the King at Oxford, having been forgiven his past indiscretion and he was created Baron Gerard of Brandon in the county of Suffolk. About the same time he appears to have forfeited Charles's favour by having attached himself to the party of Prince Rupert, with whom after the surrender of Oxford Gerard probably went abroad. He remained on the Continent throughout the whole period of the Commonwealth, sometimes in personal attendance on Charles II, at others serving in the wars under Turenne, and constantly engaged in plots and intrigues. For one of these, an alleged design on the life of Cromwell, his cousin Colonel John Gerard, was executed in the Tower in July 1654.

At the Restoration, Gerard rode at the head of the King's life-guards in his triumphal entry into London; his forfeited estates were restored, and he received lucrative offices and pensions. In 1668 he retired from the command of the king's guard to make room for the Duke of Monmouth, receiving, according to Pepys, the sum of £12,000 as solatium. On July 23, 1679 Gerard was created Earl of Macclesfield and Viscount Brandon. A few months later he entered into relations with Monmouth, and co-operated with Shaftesbury in protesting against the rejection of the Exclusion Bill.

In September 1685, a proclamation having been issued for his arrest by the new King James II, Gerard escaped abroad, and was outlawed. He returned with William of Orange in 1688, and commanded his body-guard in the march from Devonshire to London. By William he was made a privy councillor, and Lord Lieutenant of Wales and three western counties. Gerard died on the 7th of January 1694. By his French wife he left two sons and two daughters.

A work-in-progress encyclopaedia of the Civil War can be found here.