Transcription from ‘Petitions in the State Papers: 1650s’, in Petitions in the State Papers, 1600-1699, ed. Brodie Waddell, British History Online, Thomas Kelsey, lieutenant of Dover Castle, Walter Walker, judge of the Admiralty of Cinque Ports, and others. SP 18/94 f. 1 (1655).
To his highness Oliver Lord Protector of the common wealth of England Scotland and Ireland.
The humble peticion of Thomas Kelsey esquier lieutenant of Dover Castle Walter Walker doctor of the lawes, judge of the Admiralty of Cinque Ports Thomas St Nicholas esquier steward of the Court of Chancery of the said Cinque Portes John Raven gentleman clerke of Dover Castle, and Richard Henly bodar of the said castle
Sheweth
That the severall yearely stipendes mencioned in the schedule annexed have been anciently and formerly paid to the petitioners predecessours and to some of the petitioners out of the publique revenue of this common wealth for the services by them respectively performed in the said severall places. And the petitioners have for the severall yeares also in the said schedule mencioned been exercised in, and discharged the said offices, and yet the said stipendes have not been paid, but are in arrere for the time in the said schedule expressed.
The petitioners therefore humbly pray your highnes to be pleased to grant your order for the payment of the said arreres
And they shall pray etc
[paratext:] The sixth day of December 1654 His highnesse pleasure is to referre this petition to the consideration of the councill Lisle Long
Peticion of the governor and officers of Dover Castle and Cinque Portes.
Report by Sheila Douglas
The petitioners, all officers of Dover Castle and the Cinque Ports, sought payment of arrears.
Thomas Kelsey
Thomas Kelsey, the lead petitioner, may have started from humble beginnings and could have been the son of a poor button maker of Birchin Lane, London. His early life is a mystery, possibly he was apprenticed to a trade at an early age.
Charles I on 22 August 1642 raised his standard at Nottingham initiating the Civil Wars and Kelsey opted for the Parliamentary side. The Parliamentary army was re-formed and renamed the New Model Army (the NMA) in 1645, (under Thomas Fairfax). It was the first ‘professional army’ England had known quickly becoming a highly efficient fighting machine. Further, aristocrats and members of Parliament were excluded from command, which meant Kelsey was very soon promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel. By the spring of 1646 all armed resistance to the NMA was beaten down. On the 25 June Royalist forces had no option other than to surrender Oxford. After the war Kelsey was appointed Deputy Governor of Oxford, enrolling at the university as a student, gaining his MA in 1648. He was a devout Puritan, playing a prominent role in ensuring Puritan views were expressed by university academics. In 1651 he was further appointed a lieutenant of Dover Castle.
As a member of the ‘fifth Monarchist’ congregation in London, led by John Simpson during the early 1650s, he supported Oliver Cromwell in the establishment of the Protectorate, was elected an MP for Sandwich in Kent for the First Protectorate Parliament and was appointed the Major-General for Surrey and Kent during the Rule of the Major–Generals. Kelsey was returned for Dover during the Second Protectorate Parliament and supported John Desborough’s move to establish the Major-Generals as a permanent form of government.
Following the collapse of the Protectorate in 1659, he supported John Lambert’s attempts to resist the Restoration. For this action Kelsey was deprived of his commands under the recalled Rump Parliament and in Jan 1660 was ordered to leave London. In May of that year with the return of King Charles II, Kelsey felt safer removing himself to the Netherlands. In 1666 along with others including John Desborough he was instructed to return to England. Little is known of his life after this time except a suggestion that he became a brewer and died around 1680.[1]
The petition
The petitioners (Kelsey, with Walter Walker, Thomas St Nicholas, John Raven and Richard Henly) are requesting payment for arrears of their stipends as holders of their posts and services given. It was not unusual for persons to be paid monies in arrears, but a statement by Philip Darell, auditor, of the yearly fees due to Dr Walter Walker and other officers of Dover Castle, dated December 1654, shows that some date back to 1649, 1650 or 1651 and go up to 29 December 1654. The total amount due to the petitioners totalled £226 13s. 4d.[2]
There are additional payments issued to Kelsey and Walker in 1655. On 9 May Thomas Kelsey, with a fellow officer, is allowed arrears of £300 and £400 a year each in the future for ‘having long attended as Admiralty Commissioners without compensation’.[3] On 24 May Dr Walter Walker, Advocate is paid £125 for one and a quarter year’s salary.[4]
On 23 May a report by the Committee to whom the petition of the officers of Dover Castle was referred confirmed the sums due to the petitioners. Payment was approved on 25 May.
A breakdown of the order for the arrears is below and differs slightly from the statement given by Philip Darell.[5]
- To Dr. Walker, judge, at 2s. a day, for 3 years, to Nov. 1654, £109 10s
- To Lieut.-Col. Kelsey, at 8l. a year, 3½ years, to Xmas 1654, £28 0s.
- To Thos. St. Nicholas, steward, at 6l. 13s. 4d. a year, 4 years, to Xmas 1654, £26 13s 4d
- To John Raven, clerk of the Castle, at 8l. a year, 5½ years, to Xmas 1654, £44 0s
- To Rich. Henley, bodar and bailiff, at 2l. a year, 5½ years, to Xmas 1654, £11 0s.
- Total, £219 3s. 4d.
References
[1] ‘Thomas Kelsey – Governor of Kent and Sussex and the Battle of Dover’, The Dover Historian, https://doverhistorian.com/2014/04/02/thomas-kelsey-governor-of-kent-and-sussex-and-the-battle-of-dover/; ‘Thomas Kelsey’, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kelsey.
[2] ‘Volume 94: January 1655’, in Mary Anne Everett Green (ed.), Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1655 (1881), pp. 1-30. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/interregnum/1655/pp1-30.
[3] ‘Volume 97: May 1655’, in Mary Anne Everett Green (ed.), Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1655 (1881), pp. 148-195. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/interregnum/1655/pp148-195.
[4] ‘Warrants of the Protector and Council for Payment of Money.’, in Mary Anne Everett Green (ed.), Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1655 (1881), pp. 601-608. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/interregnum/1655/pp601-608.
[5] ‘Warrants of the Protector and Council for Payment of Money.’, in Mary Anne Everett Green (ed.), Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1655 (1881), pp. 601-608. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/domestic/interregnum/1655/pp601-608.