"He Cared Not a Fart!" Fake News 1641; Sir Thomas Revisited

Assuming you have the time, patience and stomach to keep up with current news cycles, you don't have to be a professional historian to realize that there really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to politics. The current trend in "fake news" and outright fabrications may seem new to some, but it has been going on ever since humans assembled into political groups vying for power.

Case in point, Sir Thomas Lunsford (1611-1653), Royalist Colonel, cavalier hero of the British Civil War (1642-1646), lieutenant of the Tower, Knight, General of the Virginia militia (1649), member of Council and Northern Neck gentry. At one time or another, almost everyone researching the Lunsford surname seems to be enamored with the life and times of this fellow. And why not? His biography is the stuff of legend. A movie script ripe for the picking.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, St. Martin's Place, London (Creative Commons License obtained)

Life in England

Any present day Lunsford would relish a connection to this man; and yet, the genealogy records are just not there. Many bibliographic sources are on the web about Sir Thomas and I won't do a rehash here. Most do a fairly good job of describing his early life; his violent temper, the infamous Pelham feud, his exile to France and subsequent redemption in support of Charles I against the Scots and of course his time in Virginia. For example see: British Civil War Project, and the William and Mary Quarterly (WMQ) (1) for summary overviews.

Since earlier US sources are quite old, it was refreshing to have come across the 2016 paper by Mark Stoyle (University of Southampton); titled "The Cannibal Cavalier: Sir Thomas Lunsford and the Fashioning of the Royalist Archetype"(2). In his paper, Professor Stoyle details Sir Thomas' career in England and gives many new insights into the political turmoil leading up to the civil war. Foot notes are numerous and the citations go directly to the primary British sources; often lacking in the contemporary US literature.

From Professor Stoyle:

"......On the contrary, Lunsford has been almost universally condemned by scholars, who have variously characterized him as ‘brutal’;‘notorious’;'unscrupulous’;‘thuggish’;and straightforwardly ‘murderous’. The present article does not seek to turn this hostile view of Lunsford on its head; to suggest, with Peter Newman – one of Sir Thomas’s few scholarly defenders – that he was the blameless victim of ‘innuendo and hearsay’. Rather, what it sets out to do is to provide a slightly more nuanced view of Lunsford than the one which appears in the standard histories – a view which occasionally comes perilously close to being a simple restatement of what was said about Sir Thomas by his enemies at the time......"

Take the time to read this paper closely (no paywall link above) and you will see that Sir Thomas definitely was a victim of the fake news of his time right down to his appointment as lieutenant of the Tower which lasted a mere five days (December 22 - 26, 1641) due to the rioting it caused in London. And no, it is highly unlikely that he was a cannibal preferring baby flesh!

More from Stoyle:

"What does not remain open to doubt is that, for a brief moment in 1641 - 42, Thomas Lunsford stood at the very centre of the developing political conflict, and that, as a result of the determination of parliament’s supporters still further to blacken his already woefully tarnished name, he was transformed into a popular bogeyman: the first in a long line of royalist officers on whom this transformation would subsequently be wrought." Sound familiar?

Sir Thomas in Virginia (1649 - 1653)

But what concerns US-based genealogists is his time in Virginia, having fled to the Commonwealth in 1649, one of the few colonial refuges left at that time for loyalist cavaliers looking to keep their heads. Because of his military background, he was immediately made General of the Virginia Militia by Governor Berkeley and also appointed to the Council.

On his voyage to Virginia it is noted in several sources that Sir Thomas transported 65 persons and for his trouble was granted a patent for 3423 acres on the south side of the Rappahannock River; Portobago (1). Among those listed in this group were the Lady Catherine Lunsford, and their three daughters; Elizabeth, Philippa and Mary. There also was a William Lunsford  Esq. We don't know if this was the William of his previous marriage to Anne Hudson (1). Other than this William, of unknown parentage, we have no record of Sir Thomas leaving a male heir in either Britain or Virginia.

The Thomas Ludwell slab, Burton Parish Church, Williamsburg, VA, 2007

Lady Catherine died soon after their arrival in Virginia and Sir Thomas married the widow Kemp (Elizabeth) of Claiborne's Neck the estate of Richard Kemp. They had one daughter, Katherine who married Ralph Wormeley. When Thomas died in 1653 the estate was bought by Thomas Ludwell. Subsequent owners renamed the property "Rich Neck" as it is known today (3).

There is some confusion about the final resting place of Sir Thomas. The WMQ article states that he died at Green Spring, the estate of Governor Berkeley, and is buried near there. Hagemann (3) on the other hand claims that not only was Thomas Ludwell and his slab moved to Burton Parish Church in Williamsburg but that the bodies of Richard Kemp and Sir Thomas remain at Rich Neck. But the archaeological survey turned up no adult burials at Rich Neck. Only one set of human remains were found at the site, that of a 10 - 12 year old female of probable African ancestry.

So if Ludwell was disinterred and moved to Williamsburg, and if both Kemp and Sir Thomas remain at Rich Neck, how did the survey miss them? Rich Neck is now a subdivided housing community so if they are there who knows what state they are in. This is very unfortunate as the soils in that area are well buffered and skeletal remains often times can be well preserved as noted for the 1607 burials on Jamestown Island (5). There are many folks who would be interested in Sir Thomas' DNA profile if his remains could ever be found.

Ludwell's slab inscription is as follows:

Under this Marble lieth the Body

of THOMAS LUDWELL Esqr

Secretary of Virginia, who was born

at Bruton in the County of SOMERSET

in the Kingdom of ENGLAND, and

departed this life in the Year 1678 And

near this place lye the Bodies of RICHARD

KEMP, esqr, his Predecessor in ye Secretarys

Office and Sr THOMAS LUNSFORD KT

in Memory of whom the Marble is placed

by the Order of Philip Ludwell esqr

Nephew of the said THOMAS LUDWELL

In the year 1727 (Anonymous 1911)

R. Dwayne Lunsford, PhD

(1) Sir Thomas Lunsford, William and Mary Quarterly. Vol 8, January 1900, p. 183-186.
https://archive.org/stream/jstor-1920203/1920203_djvu.txt

(2) Stoyle, Mark. 2016. The Cannibal Cavalier: Sr. Thomas Lunsford and the Fashioning of the Royalist Archetype. The Historical Journal, Vol 59:293-317

(3) The Heritage of Virginia, James Hagemann, 1988. The Donning Co., Norfolk, VA. p. 53-54.

(4) Muraca, David; Levy, Philip and McFaden, Leslie. 2003. The Archaeology of Rich Neck Plantation (44WB52): Description of the Features. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Department of Archaeological Research, Williamsburg, VA
https://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/view/index.cfmdoc=ResearchReports\RR0386.xml&highlight=

(5) The Remains of the First Colonists; 1607 Burials.
https://historicjamestowne.org/archaeology/map-of-discoveries/1607-burials/