Richard Ingle (1609–1653) was an English colonial seaman, ship captain, tobacco trader, privateer, and pirate in the

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

n colony of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to it ...

. Ingle took over the colonial capital of the proprietary government in

St. Mary's City St. Mary's City (also known as Historic St. Mary's City) is a former colonial town that was Maryland's first European settlement and capital. It is now a large, state-run historic area, which includes a reconstruction of the original colonial se ...

removing Catholic Governor Lord Baltimore from power in 1645. Along with another Protestant rebel, Captain

William Claiborne William Claiborne also, spelled Cleyburne (c. 1600 – c. 1677) was an English pioneer, surveyor, and an early settler in the colonies/provinces of Virginia and Maryland and around the Chesapeake Bay. Claiborne became a wealthy merchant ...

, he waged war with the Catholic colonial Governor Lord Baltimore and Maryland Catholics in the name of English Parliament after his ship was seized and confiscated and siding with the Maryland Puritans, in a period known as the "

Plundering Time The Plundering Time (1644–1646), also known as "Claiborne and Ingle's Rebellion", was a period of civil unrest and lawlessness in the English colony of the Province of Maryland. Causes of rebellion The causes of the rebellion included William ...

" in which unrest and lawlessness existed. Ingle and his men attacked ships and conquered the colonial capital,

, Province of Maryland. Most of the Richard Ingle's life and background are unknown.

Early life

Richard Ingle was born in England, possibly in London, into a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

family that schooled him. He became a trader and ship captain. He transported the goods of Maryland colonial traders from England and back"Richard Ingle (1609-1653)", ''Exploring Maryland's Roots'', Maryland Public Television
/ref> and later became a prominent trader of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus ''Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the chie ...

War with Lord Baltimore and Catholics in Maryland Colony

When the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

broke out, Ingle sided with the

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

. He fell out with the Catholic leaders of Maryland, and when the

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

governor

Leonard Calvert The Hon. Leonard Calvert (1606 – June 9, 1647) was the first proprietary governor of the Province of Maryland. He was the second son of The 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), the first proprietor of Maryland. His elder brother Cecil (1605� ...

seized his ship, he escaped. Richard Ingle returned in February 1645 with the ship ''Reformation'' and attacked the Maryland colony in the name of

English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...

. He attacked the settlement of

, the colonial capital and imprisoned leaders of the colony. Calvert, the royalist proprietary governor, fled to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

Plundering Time

Captain Richard Ingle took control of the Maryland colonial government and along with fellow Protestant Captain William Claiborne, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

church adherent, ushered in a period of unrest and lawlessness from 1644 to 1646 known as the "

" and "Claiborne and Ingle's rebellion".Maryland State Archives
Governors of Maryland 1634 – 1689 Under Ingle's leadership, his men looted property of wealthy Roman Catholic settlers. Ingle claimed that he had a letter of marque to cruise the waters of Shesapeake (

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / E ...

) and the permission of a new government in England. Local settlers regarded him as a pirate. He put two Jesuit priests Andrew White and Thomas Copley in chains and transported them back to England.

End of Rebellion

Governor Calvert returned in August 1646 and reestablished his control.

Death

Though most of his men were granted

amnesty Amnesty (from the Ancient Greek ἀμνηστία, ''amnestia'', "forgetfulness, passing over") is defined as "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of people, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power offic ...

, Richard Ingle according to some sources was specifically exempted from being released, made an example of and executed as a pirate in 1653.

References

Sources

*Donnelly, Mark P. and Daniel Diehl. ''Pirates of Maryland: Plunder and High Adventure in the Chesapeake Bay''. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2012.
Ingle, Edward. ''Captain Richard Ingle: the Maryland pirate and rebel, 1642–1653''
Baltimore: John Murphy & Co., 1884] *Maloney, Eric John. "Papists and Puritans in Early Maryland: Religion in the Forging of Provincial Society, 1632–1665". PhD. Dissertation. Stony Brook, NY: State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1996. *Riordan, Timothy B. ''Plundering Time: Maryland and the English Civil War, 1645–1646''. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2004.

External links

Richard Ingle In Maryland – Maryland Historical Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingle, Richard 1609 births 1653 deaths English businesspeople Executed English people People executed by the Province of Maryland St. Mary's City, Maryland