40 Facts About Francis Ottley

Sir Francis Ottley was an English Royalist politician and soldier who played an important part in the English Civil War in Shropshire.

Francis Ottley was military governor of Shrewsbury during the early years of the war and later served as the Royalist High Sheriff of the county and helped negotiate the surrender of Bridgnorth.

The Ottley family belonged to the middling landed gentry and claimed descent from the Ottleys of Oteley, near Ellesmere, Shropshire.

Francis Ottley bought Pitchford Hall in 1473, and had a house in Calais, from which he could seek outlets for finished cloth.

Francis Ottley became wealthy and served as MP for Old Sarum.

Francis Ottley was reported to be a Catholic but this is uncertain.

Francis Ottley was educated at Shrewsbury School from the age of ten.

Francis Ottley was one of those who signed, although his name was close to the bottom of the list of gentry, while his brother-in-law Sir Thomas Wolryche, 1st Baronet was close to the top.

Francis Ottley sent out messengers to carry the resolution to gentry in outlying areas to keep them informed and supportive.

Francis Ottley was in contact with a group of Anglican clergy who were plotting to come out firmly on the king's side.

Francis Ottley plotted to bring the king to Shrewsbury to take advantage of the situation, using Thomas Eyton as intermediary, although he received information from other informants, like Sir Thomas Hanmer, the king's cupbearer.

Apparently Francis Ottley insisted on the appointment, as he was rewarded with formal appointment as governor later that month.

Birch's complaint was particularly audacious, as his arrest had been ordered by Francis Ottley and he had escaped only because he was a purveyor of wines to the royalist gentry of Bridgnorth, including Wolryche, the governor.

Francis Ottley was in arms on the side of Parliament, and proved a redoubtable Roundhead commander in Gloucestershire and Herefordshire.

Francis Ottley frequently received news of events in Cheshire and in the north of Shropshire from Orlando Bridgeman, who seems to have been a close friend: however, the news was not always good, and there was usually a request for more men and materials to fight the war.

Lettice Corbet, daughter-in-law of the Parliamentarian leader Sir John Corbet but a royalist, wrote to reclaim possessions she had left in Francis Ottley's care, fearing that she would be cut off by the advance of Lord Brooke's Parliamentarian forces in Staffordshire.

The seizure of Humphrey Mackworth's lands created problems for Francis Ottley, made all the sharper by the fact that they were, by contemporary reckoning, cousins.

Open discontent was building up in the town and its surroundings and Francis Ottley took repressive measures.

Francis Ottley issued an order for the detention of George Baxter, the widely respected puritan rector of Little Wenlock, who had fled the area.

Francis Ottley enclosed a letter for the sheriff, asking Ottley to open it if necessary, and in this he reported that his troops were completely out of gunpowder and ammunition.

Orlando Bridgeman wrote to get Francis Ottley to redistribute shot, grenades and artillery, both to make the best of their insufficient supplies and to protect them from capture, and he revealed that they still needed to pay for much of what they had.

Francis Ottley duly saw to the transfer of cannon between royalist forces and used his powers as governor to appoint Richard Millward as an ensign to train an infantry company, commanded by Richard Francis Ottley, his own brother.

Capel wrote to Francis Ottley to introduce himself and to arrange for the storage of gunpowder at Shrewsbury, sending his own troops to guard it.

Francis Ottley followed this by insisting on a systematic survey of the resources of the townspeople to see what could be extracted: he deputed the lawyer Arthur Trevor to oversee the process: he attached a postscript demanding a huge quantity of musket ammunition.

Francis Ottley immediately replied that he had hanged a corporal for dereliction of duty and assured the prince that everything would be ready for his arrival.

Francis Ottley continued in office for some time beyond this, although Rupert was clearly unimpressed by him and hoping for his dismissal or resignation.

Francis Ottley remained a Royalist soldier in Shrewsbury, despite his loss of the governorship.

Francis Ottley was made one of the Commissioners of Shropshire, attending Prince Rupert.

Francis Ottley was hoping that a fairer system of levies might be devised to meet the costs of the war, in line with the decisions of the Oxford Parliament.

Francis Ottley commissioned a cornet for a company of cavalry, clearly intending to lead a mixed force into battle.

Francis Ottley was appointed a commissioner, along with Wolryche, Sir Edward Acton, Sir Thomas Edwardes and others.

Evidently Francis Ottley wrote to him with concerns about growing dissensions and poor morale among the remaining garrisons.

The collapse of morale was spreading into the leadership: Richard Cresset, one of the Commissioners of Array, wrote to Francis Ottley for help in suppressing discussion of his decision no longer to attend meetings, which he asserted would lead to his ruin.

Francis Ottley was one of those who negotiated the surrender of the last important Royalist stronghold in Shropshire to Parliament, on relatively favourable terms, which were extended to cover himself.

Meanwhile, Lady Francis Ottley took steps to secure as much of her household property and land as possible.

Two days later Sir Francis Ottley begged the County Committee to hand over his father's will and all other documentation in their possession and to cease meddling with his estate.

Francis Ottley married Lucy Edwards, daughter of Thomas Edwards of the College, Shrewsbury, in 1624.

Francis Ottley was the widow of Thomas Pope, another Shrewsbury resident, and was about eight years older than Ottley.

Francis and Lucy Ottley had at least three children, whose baptisms are recorded in the Pitchford parish register.

Lady Lucy Francis Ottley long outlived her husband and at least two of her children.