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| Some information about George Monks |
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| George Monck, Duke of Albemarle (1608 1670), had served with distinction in the Parliamentary army and under the Commonwealth (Cromwell's regime). He was distinguished both as a general, naval commander and civil administrator under Cromwell. But on Cromwell's death, Monck realized that it was Charles on the throne, or chaos. His services were rewarded with the title of Duke of Albemarle and a large pension. |
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| Because of him, South Carolina began in a palace. |
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| As early as June, 1663, letters, agreements, etc., between the Lords Proprietors are datelined, "The Cock Pitt." This was not a tavern in London, but was a princely set of apartments in the old palace of Whitehall (destroyed by fire in 1698). Cromwell had lived in them, as had visiting nobles; Princess Anne (later Queen Anne) would occupy them. They were Monck's own private apartments where the Proprietors could gather and plan the new venture of Carolina. These state apartments were called the "Cock Pit" because they had been built over an area formerly used for cockfighting by Henry VIII. |
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| Monck or Monk, George, 1st duke of Albemarle |
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| 1608–70, English soldier and politician. He took part (1625) in the disastrous expedition against Cádiz and fought against the Spanish in the Netherlands. After service in the Bishops' Wars, he was given a command in Ireland and was there when the English civil war began (1642). He returned to England to fight for Charles I, was captured (1644) at Nantwich, and was not released until 1646. He gained the confidence of Parliament and was commissioned to help subdue the Irish rebellion. In 1650 he accompanied Oliver Cromwell to Scotland and in 1651 was left to complete the subjugation of the Scots. In 1652 he became a general of the fleet in the first of the Dutch Wars, and in 1654 he resumed his command in Scotland, which he held until 1660. Monck believed in the supremacy of civil authority over the military, and when the Protectorate of Richard Cromwell collapsed (1659), he supported the reassembled Rump Parliament (what remained of the Long Parliament after Pride's Purge of 1648) against the army under Gen. John Lambert. Having marched (1660) on London and seized control, however, he ordered the Rump to fill its vacant seats and then dissolve itself prior to the election of a “free” Parliament. Monck was an effective diplomat as well as an able soldier. In the next months he applied himself to the delicate task of reconciling the army (largely republican) to growing public sympathy for a restoration of the Stuart monarchy. Following the election of the strongly royalist Convention Parliament, he finally declared openly for the Restoration of Charles II, convinced that it was the only alternative to anarchy. Acting on Monck's advice, Charles issued the Delcaration of Breda, and Monck secured an invitation for Charles to return. After the Restoration, honors were heaped upon Monck: he was appointed gentleman of the bedchamber, privy councillor, master of the horse, and commander of all military forces; created duke of Albemarle; and granted estates and a pension. In 1666 he shared with Prince Rupert command of the fleet in the second Dutch War. He was left in charge of London at the time of the great plague (1665) and the great fire (1666). |
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| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1993, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Inso Corporation. All rights reserved. |
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| © Copyright The Family Education Company. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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| George Monk, duke of Albemarle, |
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| a distinguished military commander, and the great promoter of the restoration of Charles II., was the son of Sir Thomas Monk, of Potheridge, near Torrington, in Devonshire, and was born in 1608. Being a younger son, he entered the army as a volunteer, served under his relation Sir Richard Grenville, in an expedition to Spain, and afterwards for some years in the Netherlands. On the breaking out of the war between Charles I. and the Scots in 1639, he obtained a colonel's commission, and attended the king in both his expeditions to the north. When the Irish rebellion began in 1641, his services were so important, that the Lords Justices appointed him governor of Dublin. |
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| On his return to England he was sent to relieve Nantwich, was taken prisoner by the army of the parliament, and sent to the Tower, where he remained till 1646. The royal cause being ruined, he obtained his liberty on condition of taking a command in Ireland, and soon concluded a peace with the rebels, for which the parliament passed upon him a vote of censure. Cromwell, however, made him lieutenant general, and gave him the chief command in Scotland. Monk distinguished himself at the battle of Dunbar, and afterwards in the war with the Dutch, for his successes in which he received great honours. |
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| He resumed his command in Scotland. But the Protector had strong suspicions of Monk's sincerity; and not long before his death wrote him a letter, to which he added this postscript 'There be that toll me that there is a certain cunning fellow in Scotland, called George Monk, who is said to lie in wait there to introduce Charles Stuart; I pray you use your diligence to apprehend him and send him up to me. On the decease of the Protector, the resignation of power by his son, and the contest of parties which subsequently took place, Monk availed himself of the commanding situation which he occupied, to crush the republicans, and promote the recall and restoration of the Stuart family to the throne, in the person of Charles II. |
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| As the reward of his loyalty, he was created Duke of Albemarle, with a pension of £1000 a year, made a privy councillor, and invested with the order of the Garter. In 1664 he was appointed admiral of the fleet in conjunction with Prince Rupert, and in 1666 obtained a great victory over the Dutch, in a battle which lasted three days. He died in 1670, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Guizot has written a History of General Monk, which has been translated into English. A portrait of Monk, after a miniature by Cooper, is in the National Portrait Gallery. |
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| George Monk, commander in chief of the English forces in the kingdom of Scotland, was the most considerable instrument of the restoration of king Charles. the second to these realms, and was created by that monarch baron Monk of Potheridge Beauchamp and Tyes, earl of Torrington and duke of Albemarle. These titles became extinct upon the death of Christopher second duke of Albemarle, his son, 1687. |
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