Fact and Fiction in The Last Roundhead.

“Limp-wristed wordsmiths! They snigger and snipe like naughty little schoolboys, but what do they really know of me?

I creak like an old tree in the wind. The greatest pleasure in life comes on the rare occasion I manage to piss easily. My hands are claws, their joints flamed livid red, agony in the winter. When I look in the glass, I scarce recognise the face that peers back at me. Sunken eyes, dark and heavy lidded with age, deep creases cutting through the leather skin. My hair, once golden, is now reduced to a few white wisps on a bald mottled pate. Where did my youth go?

My father gave me the name Blandford, after the town where he owned a tannery. An insalubrious beginning, as I am sure you agree, but take not my candour for bitterness: Father was not the cause of my failings; my sins are my own.

I was a soldier and a spy, a murderer and a thief. In my time, I met kings and princes, even the Lord Protector. Yet now I sit drenched in my own mess, with only an idiot nephew left to read my words.

At least my eyes are still good enough to write.

They have heaped opprobrium upon me for half a century and more. Scorned my sacrifices, mocked my dreams, and named me traitor.

Now they say I am the last of them alive. They say I am the last Roundhead.”

The Last Roundhead is a work of fiction, but based on meticulous research. The protagonist, Sir Blandford Candy, was inspired by the records and a dash of 1930’s satire. Blandford’s fictional descendant Clive Candy (Colonel Blimp) was created by the cartoonist David Low in the 30’s. The later satirical film ‘The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp,’ starring Roger Livesey and Deborah Kerr, was hated by Churchill, and attacked for pro-german (if anti-nazi) sentiment during the Second World War. The real Candy family hailed from Frome in Somerset, and were involved in the local cloth trade. One of Blandford’s real cousins, was the first Candy (or perhaps the second) in America in the 1680’s. The name Candy itself seems to have come to England during the Norman Conquest as a variation of Conde.

All of Blandford’s grandparents existed, most prominently on his Luke side. Blandford’s mother Elizabeth was the daughter of Oliver Luke, but little else is known of her. The Luke’s were a prominent Buckinghamshire family with a large manor at Woodend in Cople. Oliver Luke’s wife Elizabeth was the daughter of Sir Valentine Knightly. Their daughter’s marriage to the ‘charming’ Christopher Candy is an invention, but such matches were not unusual. The period saw the growing strength and wealth of the merchant class, and even a family that had made their money from trade, could aspire to a good marriage and a seat in Parliament.

The Last Roundhead is populated with such people; even minor characters owe their part to the historical record. Where possible, and especially for major historical figures, the words they speak are the ones written down in the sources. Blandford’s fellow scouts were detailed in Samuel Luke’s journal, along with their activities as intelligencers. William Everard would become the most famous when, along with Gerard Winstanley, he founded the Digger Movement. John Hurry’s chequered career shocked even his contemporaries, whilst Anne Crosse, Margaret Cavendish, Jane Whorwood and Lucy Hay show the growing influence of women in a patriarchal society.

Many of Blandford’s actions in the novel, were carried out by unnamed individuals, and in this respect Blandford is a composite of those unknown men. Similarly, the battles and skirmishes Blandford describes were well documented at the time. Edgehill, Turnham Green, Reading and Chalgrove were all reported in the newsbooks and described in letters. Blandford’s focus was the army under Essex, and the actions of his troop at Edgehill and Chalgrove in particular are recorded.

The battlefields at Turnham Green and Brentford have been obscured by four hundred years of building, and the trench works that surrounded London and Reading are long lost, although some remnants exist in the gardens of the Imperial War Museum. Caversham Bridge was replaced in the 18th Century, but Staverton Bridge is much as Blandford describes it. The battlefield at Kineton is mostly unchanged, although some MOD buildings impinge on the Parliamentarian positions and access is difficult. The view from the Edgehill escarpment down into the vale is, however, spectacular and must have been even more so in October 1643, when the two armies faced off against each other.

Other places written about existed, and can still be visited today. The Spotted Cow (now

The Turf Tavern) in Oxford is the venue where former US President Bill Clinton ‘did not inhale.’ The Devil’s Tavern or Pelican in Wapping, is now called The Prospect of Whitby, and lays claim to being the oldest riverside pub in London. The Prospect’s former clientele include the infamous Captain Kidd and Hanging Judge Jefferies. This author can vouch for its wonderful selection of cask ales and great food! The Ship Inn at Beaconsfield and it’s grisly collection of heads were documented. The pub changed its name at the restoration to the Royal Standard of England and is still open today.

The Great Hall of Christ Church is in use at Oxford University, although it is probably better known as the refectory of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter movie franchise. Somerset House is along the Thames in London, but the old Tudor building was rebuilt in the eighteenth century. Syon House in Brentford is as spectacular as ever, still owned by the Percy’s, and well worth a visit on a sunny day. Alexander Pope’s villa was pulled down, but the grotto can be visited by special arrangement during the Twickenham Festival in June.

Fire, slum clearances, and finally the Blitz would make London unrecognisable to a 17th Century visitor. Little remains of the old city apart from street names. The Fleet River now flows under Londoner’s feet, and the Phoenix Theatre was destroyed around the same time as the Great Fire; although the conflagration did not reach Drury Lane. The wooden tenements and crowded narrow streets that Blandford describes went the same way. The inset image is of Seventeenth Century buildings that survived until the Victorian redevelopment. St Paul’s Cathedral was, of course, rebuilt by Christopher Wren, and the Thames, once thronging with traffic, now hosts only houseboats and pleasure cruisers. The Tower remains, still watching over London after nearly a millennium. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, and houses collections of royal jewellery alongside the weapons used during the civil war period. A great outing for anyone interested in British history.

Images

Colonel Blimp by David Low.

Lucy Hay, The Countess of Carlisle.

The Prospect of Whitby.