A List of Officers and Forces under the command of General Venables, March 21st, 1654[1]
The 1655 Invasion and Conquest of Jamaica
Data source: The Narrative of General Venables: With an Appendix of Papers Relating to the Expedition to the West Indies and the Conquest of Jamaica, 1654-1655
- Robert Venables
Edited for the Royal Histrical Society by C. H. Firth
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The Regiment of General Venables
| Officers | Soldiers | Staff Officers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generall's Company | 12 | 69 | 8 |
| Lt. Col. Dawley[2] | 12 | 88 | -- |
| Maj. Mercer[3] | 12 | 80 | -- |
| Capt. Disney[4] | 12 | 82 | -- |
| Capt. Handcock[5] | 12 | 95 | -- |
| Capt. Butler[6] | 12 | 82 | -- |
| Capt. Hinde | 12 | 85 | -- |
| Capt. Parsons | 12 | 89 | -- |
| Capt. Cooke | 12 | 87 | -- |
| Capt. Pawley[7] | 12 | 80 | -- |
| Capt. Paris | 12 | 75 | -- |
Officers 120; Soldiers 912, besides 10 staff officers.
[1] From the MSS. of the Duke of Portland. See the Hist. MSS. Comm. Report
on the Portland MSS. ii. 90. An earlier list, dated December 1654, is to be found
in the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, Addenda 1574- 1674, p. 90.
[2] Lieut. Col. Edward Doyley, made Colonel of another regiment about this date.
[3] Francis Mercer, who became subsequently Lieut.-Col. of Doyley's regiment.
[4] Henry Disney, died April 3, 1655. Thurloe, iii. 505.
[5] Thos. Hancock, killed April 26, 1655. Thurloe, iii. 506.
[6] George Butler, killed on the same occasion as the last named officer, as was
also Captain Obadiah Hinde.
[7] Was this Captain Pawlet of the firelocks, mentioned on pp. 31, 131, 133?
This regiment apparently contained eleven companies, and the total of officers
should be 132, not 120. The regiment of the General in the armies of the time
frequently contained one or more extra companies.
Major-General Heane's Regiment
| -- | Officers | Soldiers | Staff Officers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major Generall[s company] | 12 | 119 | 10 |
| Lt. Coll. Clarke[1] | 12 | 111 | -- |
| Major Barry[2] | 12 | 111 | -- |
| Capt. Walter[3] | 12 | 112 | -- |
| " Tom[4] | 12 | 97 | -- |
| " Willett | 12 | 99 | -- |
| " Young[5] | 12 | 119 | -- |
| " Smith | 12 | 90 | -- |
| " Bamford[6] | 12 | 85 | -- |
| " Archbould[7] | 12 | 110 | -- |
Officers 120; 1058 private soldiers [sic], besides 10 staff officers.
[1] Clarke died at sea on May 9, 1655, of wounds received on April 26.
Memorials of Sir William Penn, ii. 99, 100. The petition of his widow, Amory, is
in Cal. S. P. Dom. 1655, p. 306.
[2] Samuel Barry, subsequently Colonel of this regiment, who survived all the
hardships of the first colonists, and became after the Restoration a member of the
Council of Jamaica and Governor of Surinam.
[3] Possibly this was Adjutant-General Walters, killed on April 18. Thurloe,
iii. 506.
[4] Gregory Tom, a member of the Jamaica Assembly in 1665.
[5] Richard Young, who became later Adjutant-General of the army in Jamaica
and died there. Cal. Colonial State Papers, 1574- 1660, p. 454.
[6] Richard Bamford, subsequently Major, died in Jamaica. Ib. pp. 454, 462.
[7] Henry Archbold, became finally Lieut.-Col. of the regiment of Colonel Carter
and was a member of the Council of Jamaica after the Restoration. See also
Thurloe, v. 102, 128, 139; vi. 235.
[8] 1053 soldiers?
Colonel Fortescue Regiment
| -- | Officers | Soldiers | Staff Officers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Col. Fortescue | 12 | 120 | 10 |
| Lt. Coll.[1] | 12 | 100 | -- |
| Major[2] | 12 | 120 | -- |
| Capt. Bartlett[3] | 12 | 116 | -- |
| " Leverington[4] | 12 | 76 | -- |
| " White[5] | 12 | 89 | -- |
| " Davis[6] | 12 | 123 | -- |
| " Wells[7] | 12 | 111 | -- |
| " Keene | 12 | 113 | -- |
| " Edwards | 12 | 96 | -- |
Officers 120; 1052 soldiers [sic][8], besides 10 staff officers.
[1] Richard Holdip was originally Lieut.-Col. of this regiment, but at the end of
March he became Colonel of the regiment raised at St. Christophers and in other
islands.
[2] William Hill, previously Major of Fortescue's, apparently succeeded Holdip
as Lieut.-Col. See Clarke Papers, iii. 56. Hill died, seemingly, before arriving at
Jamaica. See Cal. State Papers, Col. 1574- 1660, p. 454.
[3] Henry Bartlett, became Lieut.-Col. of the regiment and died in Jamaica. Ib.
p. 455.
[4] Samuel Leverington, died of his wounds in April 1055. See p. 32.
[5] Thomas White, subsequently Major. He was probably the author of the narra-
tive printed in Clarke Papers, iii. 54. See Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655-6, p. 61.
[6] Bartholomew Davis, died in Jamaica. Cal. State Papers, Col. p. 454.
[7] Richard Wells, became Major and commanded this regiment from Sept. 1656.
He died about January 1657.
[8] 1064 soldiers?
Colonel Anthony Buller's Regiment
| -- | Officers | Soldiers | Staff Officers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coll. Buller | 12 | 135 | 10 |
| Lt. Coll. Barrington[1] | 12 | 95 | -- |
| Major Bland[2] | 12 | 86 | -- |
| [Capt.] Barnard[3] | 12 | 96 | -- |
| " Minne | 12 | 83 | -- |
| " Poulton | 12 | 68 | -- |
| " Throgmorton[4] | 12 | 98 | -- |
| " Bingham | 12 | 82 | -- |
| " Cooper[5] | 12 | 88 | -- |
| " Corbet[6] | 12 | 85 | -- |
Officers 120; 196 priv[ate] sould[iers] besides 10 staff officers.
[1] Francis Barrington, once of Henry Cromwell's regiment of horse in the Irish
Army; author of an excellent account of the Jamaica expedition printed in 7th
Report Hist. MSS. Comm. pp. 571-5. Letters of his are also printed in the
Thurloe State Papers, iii. 646; vi. 376, 390, 512. He was accidentally shot about
January 1660. Cal. State Papers, Col. Addenda, 1574- 1674, p. 132.
[2] Michael Bland, Captain in Col. Phayre's regiment in Ireland in 1649, became
Lieut.-Col. of Col. Holdip's regiment, and seems to have died in Jamaica.
[3] Edward or Adam Baynard? He died in Jamaica. Cal. State Papers, Col.
1574- 1660, p. 454.
[4] Subsequently Major; executed for mutiny about 1656. See Thurloe, v. 152;
Cal. State Papers, Col. Addenda, p. 124.
[5] Christopher Cooper, died in Jamaica. Cal. State Papers, Col. 1574- 1660
p. 436.
[6] Vincent Corbet, became Major of the regiment and died in Jamaica. Ib. p. 454.
Colonel Andrew Carter's Regiment
| -- | Officers | Soldiers | Staff Officers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coll. Carter | 12 | 97 | 10 |
| Lt Coll. Bushell[1] | 12 | 82 | -- |
| Major Forgeson[2] | 12 | 112 | - |
| Capt. Holford[3] | 12 | 87 | -- |
| " Bowers[4] | 12 | 112 | -- |
| " Blunt | 12 | 63 | -- |
| " How[5] | 12 | 83 | -- |
| " Salkeild[6] | 12 | 62 | -- |
| " Fincher[7] | 12 | 64 | -- |
| " Filkins[8] | 12 | 72 | -- |
Officers 120; 834 private soldiers, besides 10 staff officers.
[1] Died in 1655. Cal. State Papers, Col. p. 454.
[2] John Ferguson, killed April 26, 1655. Thurloe, iii. 506, 510. He appears to
have been transferred to the regiment of General Venables after this muster took
place.
[3] Nicholas Halford, one of the few officers who survived. Cal. State Papers,
Col. 1661-8, p. 117.
[4] Nathaniel Bowers, died before 1657. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1656-7, p. 134.
[5] See pp. 40-46, ante.
[6] Died in Jamaica. See Cal. State Papers, Col. p. 454.
[7] Abraham Fincher, died in Jamaica about August 1656.
[8] Filkins. Possibly the Lieut. John Filkins of Sir Hardress Waller's regiment
in 1647. Clarke Papers, i. 32. He became Major of this regiment about October
1655. Mercurius Politicus, p. 5947.
Colonel Edward Doyley's Regiment
| -- | Officers | Soldiers | Staff Officers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coll. Morris, but now Col. Dawley[1] | 12 | 184 | 6 |
| Lt. Coll.[2] | 12 | 60 | -- |
| Maj. Read[3] | 12 | 114 | -- |
| Capt. Tho. Thornhill | 12 | 75 | -- |
| " Noell | 12 | 122 | -- |
| " Smith | 12 | 30 | -- |
| " Stevens[4] | 12 | 60 | -- |
| " Vavaster | 12 | 84 | -- |
| " Thornehill[5] | 12 | 66 | -- |
| " Downes | 12 | 35 | -- |
Officers 120; soldiers 830, besides 10 [sic] staff officers.
[1] This was the Barbadoes regiment, and Col. Lewis Morris, a planter there who
had helped to raise it, finally declined to go on the expedition unless his debts
were paid. Thurloe, iii. 250. Venables consequently gave its command to Edward
Doyley, his own Lieutenant-Colonel.
[2] Major Francis Mercer, from the General's regiment, seems to have been
appointed Lieut.-Colonel.
[3] John Reade, died about April 1656.
[4] Richard Stevens, subsequently Major. See Mercurius Politicus, December
1657, p. 152, and April 1658, p. 448.
[5] On January 20, 1656, George Smithsby was appointed Captain of the company
late Capt. Augustine Thornhill's.
Total of the Six Regiments
| Officers | 720 |
| Private Soldiers | 5702[1] |
| Staff Soldiers | 60 |
| 6482 |
Miscellaneous Forces
| Scoutmaster Generall's Company[2] | 260 | ||
| Traine of Artillery[3] | 50 | ||
| Capt. Johnson, Officers | 12[4] | 120 | |
| Capt. Carpenter | 10[5] | 56 | |
| Reformados | 2[6] | 100 | |
| Capt. Haines and part of Capt. Jones Troope[7] | 65 | besides 12 officers. | |
| 455 | |||
Officers 36, soldiers 455
[Grand total 6482, 455, 36 = 6973.]
[1] There is some mistake in the figures. The total of the private soldiers in the
different regiments, taking the numbers given, only amounts to 5602.
[2] Isaac Berkenhead was Scoutmaster-general. See Thurloe, iii. 157, 523.
[3] Captain Hughes commanded the artillery. See p. 82, and Thurloe, iii. 507.
[4] This is evidently a foot company, possibly firelocks attached to the train.
[5] Philip Carpenter. See p. 31 and Thurloe, vi. 691. This was a troop of horse
raised in Barbadoes. See Thurloe, iii. 325.
[6] Capt. Jennings of the Reformados was killed on April 18, and on the 26th the
Reformados were cut to pieces, only seventeen escaping. Thurloe, iii. 506.
[7] Captain Haines, or rather Captain Heane, son of the Major-General, com-
manded a troop of horse raised at Barbadoes. Captain Jones commanded the troop
raised in England, but he himself and most of them had been driven back by a
storm.
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