Beschreibung:

Papers of Colonel Joseph Hawkesworth MP, nearly all addressed to him in his capacity of Governor of Warwick Castle during the Civil War, comprising: (i) Letter signed by Oliver Cromwell ("O: Cromwell"), ordering Hawkesworth to reduce the garrison at Warwick Castle by "one Ensigne one sergeant one Corporall two Drummers gentll of Armes one gunners mate the Marshall & forty common soldiers" by the twentieth of the month, paying them in the meantime and securing their arms, 8 October 1651; (ii) Commission signed by Cromwell as Lord Protector ("Oliver P"), appointing Hawkesworth captain of a troop of horse of 100 volunteers, 28 May 1655; (iii) Letter signed by Prince Rupert ("Rupert"), to Captain Delony of the Prince of Wales Regiment, ordering the arrest of four Royalist soldiers for robbing Francis Baskerville, servant of William Clempson [grocer] of Abingdon ("...unlesse they will give the said Clempson satisfaction... them presently to commit to the Provost Marshall Generall of his Ma.ties horse forces at Abbingdon..."), 31 January 1643[/4]; (iv) Warrant signed by Charles I's judge John Bradshaw ("Jo: Bradshawe President"), as President of the Council of State, committing Colonel Eyres to Warwick Castle for levying war against the Commonwealth, 28 July 1649; (v) Three documents signed by Sir Thomas Fairfax ("T: Fairfax"), all issued on the same day, ordering Hawkesworth to take possession of Warwick Castle, appointing him Governor of the Castle, and captain of a company of foot, 7 February 1648[/9]; (vi) Two commissions, the first signed by the Regicide William Purefoy MP, as Commander-in-Chief of Stafford and Warwickshire with Coventry and Lichfield, appointing Hawkesworth captain in his regiment, the second signed by six members of the Committee of Safety for the County of Warwick and City and County of Coventry, appointing Hawkesworth major in Purefoy's regiment, 25 April 1643 and 15 November 1644; (vii) Order signed by six members of the same Committee of Safety, ordering the destruction of Milcote House in Warwickshire, 4 December 1646; (viii) Three Parliamentary documents, the first signed by the Clerk Henry Scobell, the other two by the Speaker William Lenthall, the last also bearing a postscript to Purefoy by the Serjeant-at-Arms, Edward Birkhead, comprising the Resolution committing the bookseller Philip Chetwin to Warwick Castle, the warrant for his delivery, and the order of his release, 26 December 1649, 17 April 1650 and 12 February 1650[/1]; (ix) Return submitted on Behalf of Hawkesworth to the House of Commons, signed by William Purefoy and six other members of the Committee for Warwickshire, listing the sums owed to Hawkesworth by the state, totalling nearly £3000, Coventry, 11 October 1649; (x) Document signed by the four elected trustees of soldiers owed arrears of pay making over Kenilworth Castle to Hawkesworth for £2000, 1 February 1650[/1]; (xi) Order by the Council of State, signed by Arthur Annesley President, issued a month before Charles II's landing, thanking Hawkesworth for his loyal service and ordering him to disband the garrison at Warwick Castle and deliver it to Lord Brooke, 23 April 1660; together with earlier documents, including a letter signed by Henry Brooke 11th Baron Cobham, to his estate steward, 1 August 1601; a demand by Charles I for a forced loan, printed with manuscript insertions and signed by James Mylles, Clerk to the Privy Seal, whereby £20 is required from Anne Robins, a widow of Gloucester [ESTC S31123, one other exemplum of this variant recorded in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries], 30 July 1626; and a Letter by Charles I's Privy Council letter signed by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and seventeen others, to the High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, convening the county's Bailiffs and Justices, 12 February 1627[/8]; plus contemporary copies of two commissions, twenty items in all, five commissions on vellum, others on paper, some dust-staining, paper losses etc., t