Sir Edward Rodes (c. 1600 – 19 February 1666), also called Edward Rhodes, of Great Houghton, Yorkshire, served as

High Sheriff of Yorkshire The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...

and colonel of horse under

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...

; he was also a member of Cromwell's privy council, sheriff of Perthshire, and represented Perth in the parliaments of 1656–8 and 1659–1660. Rodes' sister Elizabeth was third wife and widow of

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford (13 April 1593 (New Style, N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English people, English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament of England, Parliament ...

.Genealogy of John & Sir Godfrey Rhodes of RI, & Yorkshire, ENG
Retrieved 18 March 2010. DOD month and children listed by

William Dugdale Sir William Dugdale (12 September 1605 – 10 February 1686) was an English antiquary and herald. As a scholar he was influential in the development of medieval history as an academic subject. Life Dugdale was born at Shustoke, near Colesh ...

after his visitation.

Biography

Notwithstanding the near connection which subsisted between Sir Edward Rodes and the Earl of Strafford (his sister Elizabeth was Strafford's third wife and widow), there was a wide difference in the political and religious views of each. Few entered more eagerly into the objects contemplated by the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

, when affairs were advancing to a crisis; and it was for the most part to Rodes, and his two friends the Hothams, that the scheme, for maintaining the peace of Yorkshire (the Treaty of Neutrality), arranged by the two great parties at Rothwell on 29 September, before the war began, was frustrated. Rodes' zeal that may have been quickened by personal injury—One of the stipulations at the treaty was that reparation should be made to "Sir Edward Rodes for the injury done him"—for at the beginning of September 1643, an attack was made on his house at Great Houghton, by a party of royalists under the command of Captain Grey, when, according to the diurnals of the time, all the outhouses were burnt, his goods plundered to the amount of £600, his lady uncivilly treated, some of his servants wounded, and one slain.Burke (1838)
pp. 563,564
A footnote entry quotes: ''Hunter's History of Doncaster'' Later during the First Civil War Rodes was taken into custody by Parliament, and with the Hothams committed to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

, but as nothing could be proved against him he was liberated,Fox
p. 243
/ref> ( John Hotham and his son,

John Hotham the younger Sir John Hotham the younger (1610, Yorkshire – 2 January 1645, London), known as Captain Hotham, was an English member of parliament and military commander who fought for the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War. He was execu ...

, were beheaded for treason after they were found guilty of conspiring to hand Hull over the Royalists). During the Second Civil War, Royalists gained control of

Pontefract Castle Pontefract (or Pomfret) Castle is a castle ruin in the town of Pontefract, in West Yorkshire, England. King Richard II of England, Richard II is thought to have died there. It was the site of a series of famous sieges during the 17th-cent ...

and started to plunder and capture prominent local Parliamentarians. To counter the threat, the Parliamentary committee of the militia of Yorkshire appointed Rodes with Henry Cholmley to

levy Levy, Lévy or Levies may refer to: People * Levy (surname), people with the surname Levy or Lévy * Levy Adcock (born 1988), American football player * Levy Barent Cohen (1747–1808), Dutch-born British financier and community worker * Levy ...

troops and advance on

. They were ordered to

invest Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

the castle, but if their forces were insufficiently strong to besiege of the castle, then they to endeavour to keep in the garrison in the castle and to protect and preserve the surrounding countryside. It seems that Cholmley took overall command while Rodes commanded the cavalry, as Rodes was ordered by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

to pursue the

Duke of Hamilton Duke of Hamilton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, created in April 1643. It is the senior dukedom in that peerage (except for the Duke of Rothesay, Dukedom of Rothesay held by the sovereign's eldest son), and as such its holder is the pr ...

, the commander of the combined English Royalist and Scottish

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

armies after his defeat by Cromwell and the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

at the Battle of Preston. At the end of August on his return from Scotland Cromwell took overall command for the sieges of Scarborough and Pontefract (at which point Rodes came under his direct command again). Cromwell reinforced the besiegers at Pontefract so that the Parliamentarians now had five thousand men and Sir Edward's squadrons besieging the castle. That the siege of Pontefract Castle was ineffective was highlighted when on 31 October Colonel

Thomas Rainsborough Thomas Rainsborough, or Rainborowe, 6 July 1610 to 29 October 1648, was an English religious and political radical who served in the Parliamentarian navy and New Model Army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. One of the few contemporaries who ...

was killed at Doncaster, by a party of Cavaliers who sallied out of Pontefract, to capture him, but when he shouted for his guard and attempted to defend himself with a pistol, they cut him down and returned to the castle. Rainsborough was on his way to take command of the siege which was proving to be a difficult fortress to subdue as it was " ..one of the strongest inland garrisons in the kingdom". Cromwell took direct command of the siege and fully invested the castle with lines of

circumvallation Investment is the military process of surrounding an enemy fort (or town) with armed forces to prevent entry or escape. It serves both to cut communications with the outside world and to prevent supplies and reinforcements from being introduced ...

. Cromwell had to leave on other business and so General Lambert took command on 4 December. The Royalist garrison finally surrendered on 24 March 1649. During the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

Rodes served as

in 1650, and was commissioned as a colonel of horse under Cromwell in 1654; he was also a member of Cromwell's privy council. It would seem that Rodes was much in Scotland during the protectorate,Rhodes may have had family connections there (Burke p.564) for he was sheriff of Perthshire, and represented Perth in the parliaments of 1656–8 and 1659–1660 and at the same time that his son was returned for Linlithgow, Stirling, and Clackmannan. After the restoration Rodes was allowed to live quietly at Great Houghton, which became an asylum to the ejected ministers, who refused to comply with the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 ( 14 Cha. 2. c. 4) is an act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Cha. 2. c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayer ...

. Rodes was still living at Great Houghton when

visited, but died soon after.

Family

Rodes married Mary (or Margaret), the daughter of Hammond Whichcote and Millicent Markham in 1629. They had a number of children, but only one son, William. William had two sons, Godfrey (d. unmarried 1709) and William Rodes of Great Houghton, the last male heir of this branch of the family, who died unmarried in 1740, leaving his two sisters as his co-heirs.

Notes

References

*Barnard, Ella K. (1909), "Early Maltby with some Roades history and that of the Maulsby Family in America descendants of William and Mary Maltsby, emigrants from Nottinghamshire, England to Pennsylvania. Baltimore 1909, Carnman Printing Company Carlisle, Pennsylvania * Burke, John (1838). ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland enjoying territorial possessions or high official rank: but uninvested with heritable honours'', Volume 3, Colburn, 1838. *Fox George (1827). ''The history of Pontefract, in Yorkshire'', Printed and sold by John Fox, 1827. * *Roebuck, Peter (1990), "Yorkshire baronets, 1640–1760: families, estates, and fortunes", Published for the University of Hull by Oxford University Press

Attribution

* *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodes, Edward 1600s births 1666 deaths Roundheads High sheriffs of Yorkshire English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1659