THE MANUSCRIPT AND ITS CENTRAL FIGURE

The life of Sir Samuel Luke of Cople, Bedfordshire (d. 1670), Parliamentary commander, has been summarised in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1823 and in the Dictionary of National Biography: and in an edition of his Journal I. G. Philip gave details of his early career. Its chief point of interest is that he was governor of the Buckinghamshire town of Newport Pagnell from late in 1643 till almost the end of June 1645, when he laid down his command in accordance with the Self-Denying Ordinance.

At Newport Pagnell letter books were kept, in which apparently a clerk copied almost all the letters Luke sent out or received, together with warrants, passes, safe-conducts, requisition notices etc. Five have been preserved and are now in the British Museum (Egerton 785, 786 and 787, acquired by the Museum in 1840; Stowe 190, acquired in 1883; and Egerton 3514, acquired in 1948).

SCOPE

The extant letter books cover the period October 1644 to June 1645, with scattered items for February to September 1644. Little relates to January 1645, however, as Luke was then sitting in the House of Commons: he returned to Newport Pagnell early in February 1645 as a result of an order of the House on 31 January. Also included (in Egerton 785) are 261 scout reports covering February 1644 to April 1645 and complementary to those printed by Philip, twenty being duplicates.

During the period September 1644 to June 1645 the royalists forced the capitulation of the Parliamentary foot at Lostwithiel, the second battle of Newbury was fought, the New Model army was formed, and the King sacked Leicester and was defeated by Sir Thomas Fairfax at Naseby. Echoes of these events are to be found, as well as the doubts of Luke and his father, both Presbyterians, of the quality of the untried New Model army, with its numerous sectaries and the rising importance of the Independents.

The contents of the letter books fall into seven main groups, with points of interest for national, military, local, family, social and political history.