{"id":257136,"date":"2026-07-13T15:19:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/cromwells-spy-dennis-sewell\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:19:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:19:52","slug":"cromwells-spy-dennis-sewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1kitap1.com\/en\/cromwells-spy-dennis-sewell\/","title":{"rendered":"Cromwells Spy – Dennis Sewell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By the second week of December, Cromwell\u2019s patience was stretched. A Captain Hammond, one of Colonel Goffe\u2019s officers, had been down to inspect progress at the mine \u2013 the Derbyshire men were fully recovered and back at the rockface. All of a sudden Hammond dropped down dead, shot by a sniper from the battlements. This brutal reminder of unfinished business came as two members of the Council of State, Sir Arthur Hesilrige and Thomas Scot, came on a visit to Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

The latter\u2019s arrival provided Scoutmaster Downing with an opportunity to brief the spy chief in person about an operation that was, according to the most recent missive dropped down to him, heading towards a satisfactory conclusion. Ideally the visiting grandees would themselves be able to witness the long-delayed denouement of the siege. On the Monday, Thomas Scot watched the snowfall leaving a thick covering all over the castle and reported back to London.<\/p>\n

On the Wednesday, he watched a grenado kill five of the enemy and wound half a dozen more. As it happened, these final noisy bombardments, though deadly and carried out with guns and mortars brought in from as far away as Holland, were mostly for show. They provided plausible military cover for decisions actually being taken for reasons of politics and religion.<\/p>\n

There remained an all-night negotiation to be held at Colonel Overton\u2019s lodgings between Colonels Monck and White for the English and two of Dundas\u2019s officers for the castle; but as Thomas Scot drily noted, these talks were \u2018chiefly on point of time\u2019 rather than about the substantive issue of capitulation. Strachan had done his work and the fix was in. Dundas was ready to hand over the castle. It is not clear what argument had been the clincher.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was the King\u2019s insincere covenanting, or the news that engagers and malignants were being allowed back, or Lord Craighall\u2019s resignation from the Committee of Estates over these same issues. What Dundas told his own soldiers was that he \u2018would not own the malignant interest\u2019.4 So it was that on Christmas Eve 1650, the entire garrison of Edinburgh Castle marched out under their colours, dressed in their finest uniforms, heads held high and still bearing their arms. They faced no prosecution or sanction.<\/p>\n

All ranks were free to go home to their families. Their commanding officer, Colonel Walter Dundas, had an appointment that evening for dinner \u2013 at the Lord General\u2019s lodgings in the Canongate.<\/p>\n

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George Downing (1623\u201384) \u2013 scholar, preacher, spy, diplomat, politician, American Roundhead, member of the Cavalier Parliament, Envoy Extraordinary, property developer, antihero. Emmanuel Downing (1585\u20131660) \u2013 George\u2019s father. Puritan, barrister-at-law, New England pioneer, entrepreneur, shameless opportunist, crook. Lucy Downing (n\u00e9e Winthrop) (1600\u201379) \u2013 George\u2019s mother. Stalwart promoter of the interests of her many offspring. John Winthrop Senior (1588\u20131649) \u2013 George Downing\u2019s uncle.<\/p>\n

Leader of the Great Migration to New England. Twelve times elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1630 and 1649. Puritan, intolerant, politically savvy. John Winthrop Junior (1606\u201376) \u2013 George Downing\u2019s favourite cousin, friend and collaborator. College drop-out, alchemist, metallurgist, founder of Saybrook Colony, governor of Connecticut Colony, markedly more liberal than his father. Hugh Peter (1598\u20131660) \u2013 Puritan pastor noted for his theatrical style of preaching.<\/p>\n

A radical political activist during the English Civil Wars. A close ally of Oliver Cromwell and George Downing\u2019s early mentor. Oliver Cromwell (1599\u20131658) \u2013 Parliamentarian, Civil War general, man of destiny, Lord Protector, political and spiritual sphinx. George Downing\u2019s most important patron. Thomas Scot (n.d.\u20131660) \u2013 Commonwealth spymaster and George Downing\u2019s overseer in the intelligence office at Whitehall. Archibald Campbell (1607\u201361) \u2013 1st Marquis of Argyle, leader of the Whiggamore or Kirk Party in Scotland.<\/p>\n

Covenanter, unreliable friend, one of the spied upon. Lord Wariston (Archibald Johnston) (1611\u201363) \u2013 Presbyterian zealot, Covenanter, Argyle\u2019s political sidekick, instinctively suspicious of George Downing. George Monck (1608\u201370) \u2013 professional soldier, general, reliable in a crisis, indulgent of and avuncular towards George Downing, ultimately Earl of Albemarle. John Thurloe (1616\u201368) \u2013 Thomas Scot\u2019s successor as spymaster, Secretary of State, George Downing\u2019s boss under the Protectorate and his match in intellect and energy.<\/p>\n

Charles Howard of Naworth (1628\u201385) \u2013 Cumberland aristocrat, religious and political chameleon, commander of Oliver Cromwell\u2019s Life Guard, George Downing\u2019s brother-in-law, eventually Earl of Carlisle. Frances Howard (1625\u201383) \u2013 Charles Howard\u2019s sister, George Downing\u2019s wife and mother of his children. Woman of mystery. Johan de Witt (1625\u201372) \u2013 Grand Pensionary of Holland, dominated the States General \u2013 the parliament of the Dutch Republic \u2013 and was effectively political leader of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

De Witt was the champion of the merchant class and an anti-monarchist. He and George Downing tried constantly to outsmart one another. Another of the spied upon.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.<\/em><\/p>\n

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