Europe and Africa; 1673-1684 The 1638-1651
Wars of the Three Kingdoms created strong resistance in Scotland and England to a
professional army and those who wanted a military career usually did so in foreign service. In the 1670
Treaty of Dover,
Charles II of England agreed to support a French attack on the
Dutch Republic and supply a British
Brigade of 6,000 troops for the French army.
Louis XIV paid him £230,000 per year for this, a secret provision not revealed until 1775. circa 1670; Trelawney served in the garrison from 1680 to 1684 When the
Franco-Dutch War began in 1672, Trelawny joined the Royal English Regiment, recruited as part of the brigade. The alliance with Catholic France was deeply unpopular; many doubted its reliability against the Protestant Dutch and so it served mainly in the
Rhineland. However, some officers took part in the 1673
siege of Maastricht as volunteers, including Trelawny and
John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough. The
Third Anglo-Dutch War ended with the February 1674
Treaty of Westminster, the wider Franco-Dutch War continuing until 1678. While many Brigade members transferred to the
Dutch military, Charles encouraged others to remain in order to continue being paid by Louis. In March 1674, Trelawny became a captain in the second battalion of the Royal English, led by
Bevil Skelton. From 1674 to 1675, his unit served under
Turenne at the battles of
Enzheim and
Altenheim; declining numbers and domestic opposition meant the brigade was dissolved in 1676. In July 1680, Trelawny was appointed major in the
2nd Tangier Regiment, raised for service in the
Tangier Garrison. An
English possession since 1662, its garrison suffered heavy losses from disease and combat; his eldest brother,
John was killed there in May 1680. The regiment was commanded by an illegitimate son of Charles II, the
Earl of Plymouth, who died soon after arrival. He was replaced by
Percy Kirke, who commanded until 1682 when Trelawny took over and remained in Tangier until it was abandoned in 1684.
The Glorious Revolution; 1685-1688 , one of the
Seven Bishops acquitted on 30 June 1688 Like most Tories, and even some
Whigs, Trelawny supported James when he became king in 1685, despite his Catholicism. His family formed a powerful and well-connected regional bloc that included his brother,
Sir Jonathan, then
Bishop of Bristol, and his uncle
Sir Edward Seymour, who was
Treasurer of the Navy from 1673 to 1681. This secured the
West Country during the
Monmouth Rebellion and he fought at
Sedgemoor in July. At the
1685 election, he was returned as
MP for
East Looe, a constituency controlled by his family; in November, James suspended
Parliament for refusing to pass his measures of tolerance. Over the next two years, James' attempts to ensure a Parliament that would vote as instructed eroded the traditional power base of the landed aristocracy, both Tory and Whig. The army expanded from 9,000 to 34,000, and seeing his co-religionists as more reliable, James used the
Royal prerogative to over-ride the 1673
Test Act and appoint Catholics to senior positions. The Association of Protestant Officers was formed to resist what they considered an erosion of their rights and privileges, its members including Trelawny, Marlborough and Kirke. Concern over religious policy increased in May 1688 with the prosecution for
seditious libel of the
Seven Bishops, one of whom was Sir Jonathan Trelawny. Many were prepared to tolerate James on a short-term basis while his Protestant daughter
Mary was heir, but the birth of
James Francis on 10 June 1688 raised the prospect of a Catholic dynasty. The acquittal of the bishops on 30 June resulted in widespread anti-Catholic riots throughout England and Scotland. The same day, an
Invitation was sent to Mary's husband
William of Orange, 'inviting' him to take the throne on behalf of his wife. Written by
Henry Sydney, it was signed by seven individuals selected from key elements of the political nation, including Tories, Whigs, the Church of England and the
Royal Navy. Sydney's brother-in-law was the
Earl of Sunderland, James' chief advisor; alarmed by the regime's unpopularity and growing unrest, he secretly supported negotiations with William. They were joined by the Association, the Trelawny family and Seymour, who despite his support for James during the 1679 to 1681
Exclusion Crisis had opposed his use of arbitrary measures from the beginning. This meant that unlike 1685, James could not rely on the West Country, enabling William to land unopposed at the southwestern port of
Torbay on 5 November 1688, the so-called
Glorious Revolution. As he advanced, Trelawny and other officers defected to join him; desertions reduced the Royal army from 34,000 to less than 4,000 and James went into exile on 23 December.
Ireland and England; 1689-1731 Briefly deprived of his regiment by James, Trelawny was restored by William and spent the next two years fighting in the
Williamite War in Ireland. Promoted to
Brigadier-general in March 1689, he led a brigade at the
Battle of the Boyne in July, before serving in Marlborough's campaign; he was briefly Governor of
Dublin, before serving under Marlborough in his
capture of Cork in September 1690. Appointed
major-general on 2 December 1690, he returned to England when the war ended with the October 1691
Treaty of Limerick. In January 1692, he resigned as colonel in favour of his brother
Henry; various reasons have been suggested, including his friendship with Marlborough, who was dismissed from his military and political offices at the same time. Another suggestion was the death of his wife in childbirth and a desire to 'live quietly in the country.' , near
Pelynt, where Trelawney was buried in 1731 In 1694, Trelawny was suggested as colonel of the
Coldstream Guards but the Whigs who dominated Parliament insisted it be given to
John Cutts. Family was as important as ideology in determining party membership, the 'Whig' Granvilles competing with the 'Tory' Seymours for political power in
Devon and
Cornwall. Following Tory gains in the
1695 English general election, Trelawny replaced
John Granville as
Governor of Plymouth, and became MP for
Plymouth in 1698, which he held until his retirement in 1713. In
1701, Henry Trelawny was returned as the second MP for Plymouth and on his death in 1702, was replaced by another Tory. Charles Trelawny acted as political manager in the West Country for his fellow Cornishman,
Sidney Godolphin,
Lord High Treasurer from 1702 to 1710. In 1702, Trelawny was given the largely ceremonial title
Vice-Admiral of South Cornwall and in 1706 his elder brother became
Bishop of Winchester, one of the wealthiest and most important bishoprics in the Church of England. A
Hanoverian Tory who supported the
succession of
George I in 1714, Trelawny stood down as MP in 1713 but continued as Governor of Plymouth. Described by Defoe as ‘a town of consideration and of great importance to the public’, Plymouth was also a significant military base and his retention of the post under the fiercely anti-Tory George I was testimony to his reliability. He relinquished the position in 1720 and thereafter lived in retirement at Hengar. He died at home on 24 September 1731 and was buried in the church of
St Nonna, near
Pelynt beside other family members. He left his lands and property to his nephew Edward, MP for
West Looe from 1724 to 1732. ==Notes==