Although George Bard was the eldest son, the family estates near
Tealby and
Sixhills in Lincolnshire were left to his younger brother Thomas (1581-after 1627). Despite this, there was enough money for Henry to be educated at
Eton College and
King's College, Cambridge, where he became a
fellow in 1636. From 1638 to 1642, he traveled extensively through Europe and the
Near East, possibly acting as a trading agent for his brother. He obtained a copy of the
Quran while in
Egypt and presented it to King's College Library on his return where it remains. When the
First English Civil War began in August 1642, Bard enrolled in
Pinchbeck's Regiment, part of the
Royalist northern army based in
York. In February 1643,
Queen Henrietta Maria landed in
Bridlington with a large shipment of weapons purchased in the
Dutch Republic for transport to the Royalist war-time capital at
Oxford. On 16 May, Bard and Pinchbeck arrived in Oxford with a consignment of gunpowder; their regiment fought at
First Newbury in September, where Pinchbeck was badly wounded and later died of his injuries in January 1644. Shortly after Newbury,
Charles I agreed a
truce or "Cessation" with
Confederate Ireland, allowing him to use troops from the
Irish Royal Army in England. Promoted
colonel, Bard was sent to
Ireland to recruit additional regiments and was knighted on his return in December. He took over Pinchbeck's regiment and fought under
Sir Ralph Hopton at
Cheriton in March 1644; he was wounded and captured after launching an unauthorised attack which largely contributed to the Royalist defeat. Since his injuries led to the amputation of an arm, Bard was released in May but rather than retiring rejoined the king and took part in the 1644 western campaign, including the
Battle of Lostwithiel and
Second Newbury. He was made a
baronet in October and governor of
Chipping Camden, where he quickly established a reputation for brutality and extortion. By early 1645, the Royalists were short of men and to bolster the Oxford field army reduced their garrisons, including the one at Chipping Camden; before doing so, Bard destroyed his headquarters at Camden Hall. Now commander of a
brigade or
tercio, Bard played a leading role in the capture of
Leicester on 29 May, in which over 700 civilians and prisoners were massacred after surrendering. At
Naseby on 14 June, the Oxford field army was destroyed, reducing the Royalist presence outside
South West England to a few isolated garrisons. These included
Worcester, where Bard was appointed governor; he began raising money and men but in May Charles surrendered to the Scots
Covenanters outside
Newark on Trent and the war ended when Oxford capitulated in June. ; Bard's secretary, who recorded details of their journey to
Iran and India Despite military defeat, Charles attempted to regain his political position by building a coalition of moderate Parliamentarians and English, Scottish and Irish Royalists. On 8 July 1646, Bard was created
Viscount Bellomont and given a commission to raise a regiment of cavalry in Ireland but was captured by the Parliamentarian navy crossing the
Irish Sea and held in
Plymouth. With the help of his brother Maximilian, he was released in December 1647 after promising to go into exile and not to return without permission. He and his family joined the court of
Charles II in
The Hague, where he converted to
Catholicism. This meant he took no part in the 1648
Second English Civil War, which resulted in the
trial and
execution of Charles I in January 1649. On 12 May 1649, he was arrested and charged with the murder of
Isaac Dorislaus, newly installed
Commonwealth ambassador to the Dutch Republic, but was released without charge. In 1653, he was sent as an envoy from Charles to Shah
Abbas II of Persia, seeking payment of an alleged debt for English support in the 1622
capture of Ormuz. This proved unsuccessful and in 1655, he went onto India, hoping to obtain aid from
Shah Jahan. He reached
Surat in January 1656 but died at
Hodal on 20 June while making his way to Delhi and was later buried in the Catholic cemetery in
Agra. He was accompanied by
Niccolao Manucci, a 19 year old recruited in
Venice to act as his guide, who settled in India and wrote a comprehensive first hand account of the
Mughal Empire. ==References==