Up until now, our fugitive King, Charles Stuart, has hidden in a tree, fought off a deranged miller, crouched in a priest’s hole, sparred with a Republican smith, and ridden past a sea of enemy dragoons, all while picking up lessons on the speech and comportment of a country fellow. He’s had a busy time of it, but now we get to the final stretch. Our King must find a ship. After Charles had left the Nortons of Abbotsleigh, he arrived at Trent, the home of a close acquaintance, Colonel Frank Wyndham, who set to work to find him a…
Tag: Jane Lane
Finding the Fugitive King (Part 3): Damsel saves the day
By the time Charles Stuart left Moseley Old Hall on September 9, 1651, Parliament had circulated a £1000 reward for his capture. This was no mean sum. To put this in perspective, a labourer made an average of £9 per year*, and it would have taken him over 110 years to earn the value of the reward. In today’s dollars, based on the average UK farmer’s salary** of £24,500 the reward would be approximately £545,000. The stakes were definitely high. Our old friend Thomas Whitgreave recommended the services of Colonel John Lane of Bentley Hall to Charles. The Colonel had…