Chapter 5 - The Chorleys of Chorley in the 18th Century

Chapter 5

The Chorleys of Chorley in the 18^th Century

During the joint reign of William and Mary the Jacobites were inactive. After the death of Mary, however, their hopes began to revive, for many of their fellow Englishmen who had been content with the new regime whilst Mary lived, did not regard William as their lawful sovereign but only as a King-consort, whose claims upon them ceased with the death of his wife.

In Lancashire in the year 1701, the year in which James II died in exile and the year before the death of William himself, the Lancashire gentry and others began to discuss measures for helping the Jacobite cause they had at heart.

At the village of Walton-la-Dale, a suburb of Preston, they met together in a small public house, now called the Unicorn, and formed themselves into a mimic corporate body bearing the title of Mayor and Corporation of the ancient Borough of Walton. (The writer has seen this old Inn which is on the main road.) Every year they elected a mayor with much mock solemnity. Beneath all this outward appearance of combination for sport and merriment were concealed their real political motives. Their registers contain only just so much as it was deemed wise to commit to paper. They had a mace and sword of state and large staves ornamented with amulets of silver bearing the names of the mayors and officers engraved thereon.

This association was founded by the Duke of Norfolk who was mayor himself for the year 1709; other members included the gallant Earl of Derwentwater, Sir Thomas Sherburne, Sir William Pennington, Richard Chorley, and Ralph Standish of Standish, who had married the Duke of Norfolk’s daughter. The name of Charles Chorley is engraved on one of the amulets or hoops of silver on the first of the staves.

The plots against William of Orange came to nothing; and when Princess Anne came to the throne at his death in 1702 without any outward demonstration of change of sentiment, the Jacobites bided their time. With the death of Anne in 1714 and the coming of George I, a ‘German prince who could not speak a word of English,’ the long pent-up feelings could no longer be suppressed.

In 1715 Lord Mar raised the Royal standard of James III at Braemar. Whilst he rallied the Highland forces to fight for their rightful King a small army of North-countrymen and Scotsmen, mostly Lowlanders, marched south through England under the command of General Forster with the Earls of Derwentwater, Wintoun, Nithsdale, Carnwath, and Lords Kenmure, Nairn and Waddrington.

Reaching Lancaster on Monday, November 8^th, they stayed two days and secured some cannon. They reached Preston accompanied with stirring Jacobite airs played on the bagpipes. On November 10^th, at the obelisk, the site of the ancient cross in the Market Place, they proclaimed James III King of England.

On their arrival they numbered about 1600, all wearing cockades – the English, red and white; the Scots, blue and white.

They were joined by several local gentlemen with their tenants and servants. Amongst them were Richard Chorley and his son Charles, Ralph Standish of Standish and Sir Francis Anderton of Lostock.

The reader must picture Richard the head, and his son Charles, the heir of the ancient Chorleys of Chorley leaving their ancestral home on that fatal morning never to return, never to take their rightful place in the social life of the town whose name had been theirs for centuries.

Forster was not capable of playing the part of a general and too many gentlemen in his little army, fatigued by their long marches, spent precious time in feasting and merry making with the ladies of Preston, who showed great delight in the presence of the gallant Jacobites!

The strategy of the adherents of the Stuarts was first to recruit their forces at Preston, then to push on as speedily as possible to Warrington Bridge and Manchester, at which town they had good reasons for expecting large numbers to join them. With these re-inforcements they intended to advance and take Liverpool. If they could but secure and hold the pass at Warrington Bridge none of King George’s troops could advance to the relief of that important seaport and, in those days, a stronghold of Whiggism.

Orders had been given for the little army to march to Manchester on Friday, but that order was counter-manded and it was resolved to leave Preston on Saturday, but on Saturday morning Forster was taken by surprise when news arrived that the King’s forces under General Wells were already advancing to Preston by way of Wigan.

Accordingly a body of Scots Highlanders, about 100 strong, picked men, well armed under the leadership of Colonel John Farquharson of Invercale went out of the town to defend the bridge over the Ribble, over which Wells must of necessity pass. Bad generalship displayed itself, however when Forster ordered a retreat to the town.

The Jacobites had formed four main barriers in the town. Stripping himself to the waistcoat, the gallant Earl of Derwentwater encouraged his men by word and example. They were posted on the north side of the Churchyard and it is probable that Charles Chorley was included. The conflict, which was fought with great determination and courage, lasted till midnight. The first barricades were carried and houses set on fire, but the Jacobites kept their position and their opponents lost about 200 men in killed and wounded. The beleaguered adherents of the White Rose were virtually the victors, but at 10 o’clock on Sunday morning General Carpenter reinforced Wells with three regiments of Dragoons. The town was entirely surrounded and the Jacobites held a council of war at which all the noblemen and principals attended. It was decided to sue for a capitulation. At two in the afternoon General Forster sent Colonel Oxborough, with a trumpeter, and a promise to lay down their arms and become prisoners of war, on condition of mercy being shown to them. The answer was unconditional surrender. Negotiations were continued and then stopped by a message from Wells to the effect that if the surrender was not made at once, he would storm the town and put the garrison to the sword. There had been a disagreement between the Scotsmen and the English over the surrender. The Earl of Derwentwater and Brigadier MacKintosh became hostages on the Sunday and on Monday the whole force surrendered unconditionally.

Lord Forrester, on behalf of the King received the swords of the officers and, presumably, of Richard Chorley and his son in the Churchyard. The total number of prisoners is said to have been 1,569.

Richard Chorley and son were detained in Wigan from the 23^rd to the 25^th and it is recorded that at Wigan Richard fell ill. Subsequently both became inmates in the Lord Derby Tower at Liverpool prison and languished there during the months of December and January.

At the beginning of January 1716 the Government sent down a Commission of Oyer and Terminer to try the prisoners. Most probably Liverpool was selected as the place of trial because of its Whig reputation. The judges were Mr. Baron Burry, Mr. Justice Eyre, and Mr. Baron Montague. There are no records of these trials. All that is known is that the judges opened their Commission on the 12 Jan 1716 and adjourned for eight days in order to afford the prisoners time to prepare their defence.

The defendants were:

Richard Chorley of Chorley, Esq., Roman Catholic;

Charles Chorley, his son, Gent.

On the 9^th February on Gallows Hill at Preston, Richard Chorley, with many others, was hanged and dismembered, none of the horrible rigours of the law for treason being omitted. Charles Chorley later died in prison from jail fever.

In the account of the disbursements of Thos. Crisp, Esq., High Sherriff of Lancashire, attending the trial of the rebels and executing thirty-four of them, occurs the following gruesome entry, “Disbursement on executing old Mr. Chorley and others and setting up a head, etc., £5 10s 6d.” Nowhere can be found a description of the horrible butchery at Gallows Hill but from the fact that no name is mentioned in ‘the setting up of a head’ we may conclude that indignity was not inflicted on the corpse of Richard Chorley.

It is a comfort to know that no felon’s grave received the remains of “old Mr. Chorley” and that his bones lie interred in the family vault in the old parish Church of Chorley. Probably through the influence of friends his remains were quietly conveyed to the Church and buried during the night. In the Chorley parish registers there are the following entries for the years 1715-16 in the bold handwriting of the Rev. James Ryley, Curate of Chorley:

Feb 9^th, Mr. Richard Chorley;

Mar 8^th, Mr. Charles Chorley.

Richard Chorley, the third son, was convicted of recusancy at Lancaster on April 30, 1716, when all the family estates were declared forfeited. Mrs. Chorley did not die on the day of her husband’s execution as was generally believed, but survived him by more than six months. She was buried at Chorley Church on September 26^th, 1716. It is very probable that, after being turned out of Chorley Old Hall, she and her children found a welcome refuge at Gillibrand Hall, the residence of their kinsman, John Gillibrand, whose mother Elizabeth was the second daughter of Richard Chorley the Royalist. There is a tradition that Mrs. Chorley died of jail fever which was carried home from Liverpool by one of her sons who had visited his brother in prison, and another that she threw herself from an upper window of Chorley Old Hall. The Chorley estates in Chorley and Walton were sold by the Commissioners for the Crown to Abraham Crompton, a banker of Derby, on July 26^th, 1718, for the sum of £5,550. (Chapter 6 deals more fully with this story. It was by chance that the writer read the life of Beatrix Potter and came across this interesting information.)

Of young Richard Chorley, last surviving son of Richard and Catherine, nothing definite can be found. With the mournful ending of this historic and respected family scarcely anything but the name has survived. However, very interesting information later came to light and will be described in the following chapters.

Canon Porteous of Chorley states that he has notes from ‘Registration of Roman Catholic Estates’ of an interest in a farm at Buxton, dated 1718, registered by young Thomas Chorley, son of old Richard. Another entry was made later still by Richard Chorley of Chorley, Gent., in 1719, evidently a brother of Thomas. This indicates that some of the family were still in the district later than is generally believed. From the entry of the burial of Anne Chorley in 1721 until the year 1803 there is not a single Chorley entry in the Chorley registers.

In November, 1950, the writer met Mrs. F. Hayes, the secretary of the Preston Historical Society, at a meeting of the Royal College of Nursing in London and explained her interest in the Chorley family. Later Mrs. Hayes sent her the following information: “After the execution of Richard Chorley in 1715 his youngest son, also Richard, trekked to Westmorland and in Kendal married a Miss Fisher whose family were noted for their baking of Kendal-wigs or bath buns. The same family later managed the Railway Hotel at Kendal. From this branch descended Richard Fisher Chorley, solicitor, of the firm Watson and Chorley, and his son, R.T.S. Chorley rose high in the profession later becoming Lord Chorley.” At one time the writer was in correspondence with Gillian Chorley, a daughter of Lord Chorley, then a student at Oxford University. She also was investigating her family tree, and produced certain facts incorporated in this history.