George Knottesford Fortescue

“ Finding this small body of men totally inadequate to the defence of the place, and receiving no reply to his appeals to the lords justices, Fortescue threw up his commission and passed to England to endeavour to raise troops to serve against the rebels. ”

“ In 1642 he was appointed high sheriff of the county of Devon. It was an object of considerable importance to the king to secure as sheriffs trustworthy men of local influence, and the selection of so young a man as Fortescue, whose father was still living, implies that he had already secured himself a reputation for courage or ability.
In the beginning of December 1642 Fortescue summoned the posse comitatus of the county to meet him at Modbury, in order to join Sir Ralph Hopton, who was then marching from Cornwall to besiege Plymouth. ”

“ The fort was occupied in November or December 1644, and in January 1645–6 a force was sent from Plymouth who erected a battery of three guns in a commanding position on the mainland, exactly opposite and slightly above the small promontory on which the fort is situated. The siege lasted until May 1646, when Fortescue capitulated to Colonel Ralph Weldon, then in command of Plymouth. He obtained very favourable terms for the garrison, the articles of surrender stipulating that the whole force should be allowed to march out with all the honours of war and proceed in safety to their own homes ”

“ All the accused were convicted and condemned to death, but their lives were spared by the queen, and their sentences commuted to imprisonment in the Tower. There, between 1565 and 1578, both the Poles died, while Fortescue, at what date is unknown, was released or allowed to escape. He probably owed his freedom to the influence of his brother Sir John, who was highly esteemed by Elizabeth. Of the remainder of his career nothing is known; he is spoken of as living, probably abroad, in his brother Thomas Fortescue's will, dated May 1608.
Sir Anthony left three sons, Anthony, John, and George ”

“ That he enjoyed in a high degree the confidence of Elizabeth is clearly evident from these letters, which serve to confirm the words which Lloyd attributes to her: 'Two men, Queen Elizabeth would say, outdid her expectation, Fortescue for integrity, and Walsingham for subtlety and officious services' (State Worthies, ed. 1670, p. 556) . He had a considerable reputation for scholarship; Camden calls him ' an excellent man and a good Grecian' (Annales, ii. 27) ”

“ The election for Buckinghamshire in January 1604 gave rise to a serious constitutional struggle between the crown and the House of Commons. Fortescue was defeated in his candidature by Sir Francis Goodwin. When the writs were returned, the court of chancery at once declared that the election was void, on the ground that a judgment of outlawry had been passed against Goodwin, and on a second election Fortescue was returned, and took his seat in the parliament which met 19 March 1604. ”

“ The commissioners of parliament appointed to raise a force for the suppression of the Irish rebellion selected Fortescue in June 1642 for the command of the third troop of horse to serve under Lord Wharton, lord-general of Ireland. In addition to this body of cavalry, Fortescue also raised for service in Ireland a company of infantry, which was attached to the Earl of Peterborough's regiment, and was compelled to serve with the parliamentary army in England during the civil war (List of the Field Officers chosen for the Irish Expedition, &c., pp. 18, 28) . ”

“ Almost immediately afterwards he was commissioned by the Irish parliament to accompany Sir James Alleyn on a mission to England, to lay before the king the grievances of his Irish subjects. Again, in 1428, he was sent with Sir Thomas Strange by the lords and commons assembled in Dublin, with the concurrence of Sir John Sutton, the lord-lieutenant, with a number of articles of complaint to be laid again before the king. ”

“ While waiting at Bristol to cross to Ireland, Fortescue's troop was placed under the command of the Earl of Essex, and marched to the midlands to take part in the campaign on the side of the parliament. ”

“ It appears from this paper that Fortescue received from the queen a number of grants of land in several counties, leases in reversion of great value, and sinecure places, and from Burghley ‘many advantageous imployments in the custom-house,’ and other means of enriching himself. After a few years of office he grew to be a remarkably wealthy man, bought large estates in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, maintained a retinue of sixty or seventy servants, and lived in much state. ”

“ John, who was condemned by the same act of attainder, on the more definite charge of travelling to foreign courts in the interests of the king's enemies.
Fortescue has long been regarded by the order to which he belonged as a martyr, and according to Mr. Winthrop (Notes and Queries, viii. 191) his death was commemorated on 8 July. The first step towards his canonisation has been recently taken by his inclusion in the list of 261 persons executed during the reigns of Henry VIII, Elizabeth, and James I, on whom the title of venerable has been bestowed by the pope. ”

“ He was twice married, each time to an heiress, the first being Joan, daughter of Edmund Boyun and heiress of the estate of Wood, South Devonshire; and the second the daughter and heiress of Nicholas de Fallapit. He left sons by each wife, who each inherited their respective mothers' properties, and founded two branches of the Devonshire family of Fortescue. ”

“ FORTESCUE, Sir ANTHONY (b. 1535?) , conspirator, third and youngest son of Sir Adrian Fortescue [q. v.] , was educated at Winchester. Unlike his elder brother Sir John, chancellor of the exchequer [q. v.] , Sir Anthony adhered to the Roman catholic church. During the reign of Queen Mary he married Katharine Pole, granddaughter of Margaret, countess of Salisbury, and received the appointment of comptroller of the household of his wife's uncle, Cardinal Pole. After the accession of Elizabeth, Sir Anthony and his brothers-in-law Arthur and Edward Pole plotted against the new sovereign. ”

“ These conjurers had succeeded in raising a ‘wicked spryte’ who prophesied that all would go well with their designs, and that Queen Elizabeth would die a natural death before the next summer. A more serious clause of the accusation charged Fortescue with obtaining countenance and help from the French and Spanish ambassadors. ”

“ Fortescue died at his house in Fetter Lane on 2 Nov. 1633, and was buried in the private chapel of Cookhill, where his tomb may still be seen. He married Prudence, daughter of William Wheteley of Holkham, Norfolk, by whom he had five sons, William, Francis, Edmund, Nicholas, John, and two daughters. ”

“ He was twice married: first to Anne, daughter of Sir William Stonor, who died in 1518; and secondly to Anne, daughter of Sir William Rede, who survived her husband, and afterwards married Sir Thomas Parry, comptroller of Queen Elizabeth's household. ”

“ The following character of Sir Nicholas is given in Lloyd's ‘Memoirs:’ ‘Sir Nicholas Fortescue, a knight of Malta, slain in Lancashire, whose worth is the more to be regarded by others, the less he took notice of himself; a person of so dextrous an address that when he came into notice he came into favour; when he entered the court he had the chamber, yea the closet of a prince; a gentleman that did much in his person, and, as he would say, let reputation do the rest ”

“ Shortly after his departure Sir Henry Tichbourne was appointed by the lords justices governor of the place, and brought to its relief a force of a thousand foot and a hundred horse (Bernard, Whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda; D'Alton, Hist. of Drogheda, vol. ii.) ”

“ During 1622 and 1623 his name appears as serving on royal commissions, to inquire into the state of the plantations of Virginia and of Ireland, into the depredations committed by pirates on the high seas, and on royal grants of lands (Rymer, Fœdera, vol. vii. pt. iii. p. 247, pt. iv. pp. 46, 63) . ”

“ He also served upon a number of commissions, notably upon all those which concerned jesuits or seminary priests, and sat as a member of the Star-chamber, and as an ecclesiastical commissioner (Rymer, vol. vii.) ”