Storia do Mogor 46: HENRY BARD, VISCOUNT BELLOMONT
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 46
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Contents
HENRY BARD, VISCOUNT BELLOMONT
46.1.1
Manucci's Lord Bellomont is an historical personage, a Cavalier whose biography will be found under his name (Henry Bard) in the 'Dictionary of National Biography,' vol. iii., p. 175. That account, in spite of its giving much interesting information, cannot be called satisfactory, being in many places not only deficient, but incorrect. The most important points are : (1) Erroneous year of birth ; (2) omission of Bard's doings in Persia and India ; (3) erroneous place and year of death. First, then, as to the year of Bard's birth. He was born at Staines, Middlesex, where his father, the Rev. George Bard, was Vicar (died 1616) ; but I am informed by the present Vicar, the Rev. S. Theodore Wood, that the earliest parish records date from 1644 ; nor is there any register at Eton College of a date early enough to show when H. Bard entered and left that school. Fortunately, through the kindness of Mr. W. H. Macaulay, M.A., of King's College, Cambridge, I have obtained a valuable note drawn up by Mr. J. C. Clarke, the bursar's clerk. From this it appears that Bard was admitted a scholar on August 23, 1632, at the age of sixteen ; thus the year of birth must have been 1615 or 1616, and not 1604, as in the 'Dictionary of National Biography.' On August 24, 1635, he was admitted a Fellow, took his degree of B.A. in 1636, and ceased to be a Fellow at Michaelmas, 1645 (no doubt owing to his marriage). There is no record of his proceeding M.A. In a MS.
46.1.2
Catalogue of the Provosts, Fellows, etc., by John Hall (who came to King's College in 1645), is the following : 'Henry Bard travelled on foot (what possibly might be so passed) in France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Palestine, Arabia, Egypt, etc. When he came home he gave to the college a fair Alcoran in Arabic, which he had to that end purchased in Egypt. He came home a little before the time that King Charles set up his standard at Nottingham [1642]. He went into the King's army, where for his worth he was soon made a Colonel. He was a man of very personable body, and of a stout and undaunted courage. He was made prisoner at Ailsford fight, in Hampshire, near Winchester, being very much wounded ; he there lost the use of one of his arms. But he was soon released, and at his coming to Oxford, the King's headquarters, he had the command of a brigade committed to him, and was made Knight Baronet, October 8, 1644, and soon after Viscount Bellomont, still continuing Fellow of this college until he married. He was sent by His Majesty the King of Scots from Bruges in Flanders Ambassador to the Great Mogul, in which embassy he died (1656).' The Quran is still preserved in the college library, and the following description is taken from Dr. M. R. James's 'Catalogue of King's College MSS.' (1895) : 'No. 29, A Koran of cent. xvi., xvii.
46.1.3
On paper 7^ + 4^, with two illuminated pages at the beginning, and the following inscription : "Henricus Bard, Eques Auratus et Baronettus [postea Vicomes Bellomontanus], Collegii Regalis Socius, postquam Collegiali commeatu impetrato Europam Asiam et Africam maxima ex parte perlustrassit, hunc librum Ægypte allatum amoris simul et peregrinationis monumentum Collegio Regali dedicavit, May 28, 1644."' In the life of Charles Mason (1616-1677), 'Dictionary of National Biography,' xxxvi., 416, and in Thomas Harwood's 'Alumni Etonensis,' p. 233 (under date A.D. 1632, Car. I., 8), it is said that H. Bard entrusted Mason with the manuscript account of his early travels. I have not been able to trace this manuscript ; it is not at King's College. Next, as to the embassy to Persia and India. Miss Eva Scott, in her recent work. 'The King in Exile' (1905), p. 285, speaks of Bard's appointment as Ambassador to Persia and Morocco ; beyond that fact she has no information. A rough draft of his instructions, undated, is to be found at the Bodleian, in the Carte MSS., vol. cxxx., fol. 144, and Miss Scott assigns this document to 1650. The terms of this draft are as follows : 'INSTRUCTIONS FOR OUR RIGHT TRUSTY AND WELLBELOVED VISCOUNT BELLAMONT NOW BY US EMPLOYED AS OUR EXTRAORDINARY AMBASSADOUR TO THE EMPEROURS OF PERSIA AND MOROCCOS. '1. You shall beginne your iourney with what speed you may, and shall repaire first to eyther of those princes as shall be most commodious for you.
46.1.4
'2. When you come to the Emperour of Persia you shall at your first audience deliver our letters to him, and shall as you have occasion acquaint him particularly with the circumstances of the King our late royal father's murther, and with the proceeding of the rebells since, and that the grounds upon which they proceede are such as are destructive to all Monarchy, and ayme only to sett up the power of the people, that accordingly they endeavour to exclude us from the right of our succession, have seised our revenew, palaces, Jewells, plate, and royal ornaments, together with our fleete, castles, forts, and forces within our Kingdome of England, of all which they now make use to invade and disturbe our right in our other Kingdomes, and that though we have considerable forces under our present command yet the Kingdome of England being by much the greatest, richest, and most populous of our dominions, we are much distressed for want of money to pay our armies and supply our other important occasions. '3. You shall therefore propose to the Emperour to fournish vs with some considerable summe of present money for our assistance in this great exigence of our affaires, and to pay it unto you for our vse to be returned or conveyed to vs, and we leave it to you to particularise the summe according to ye hopes you shall have of obteyning the same when you are vpon the place.
46.1.5
'4. You shall engage our royall worde for the repayment of the same at Ormuz, or elsewhere within the Emperour's dominions as soone as we shall be settled in iust rights of our kingdom of England. '5. We authorise you in like manner to negotiate with the Emperor of Maroccos (sic) and to procure what money you can from him for our assistance (the like with the Prince of Georgia). '6. You shall advise with Mr. John Webster of Amsterdam how money may be returned from eyther of those places to Amsterdam or other part for our service, or how you may dispose of any commodities you shall receyve to our use. '7. You shall not pay any of the money you shall receyve but by spetiall order from ourselfe under our hands except it be for your owne charges and for necessary disbursements in the service, and you shall keepe very secret from the knowledge of all persons except those that are trusted with this negotiation what money you shall procure for vs in this employment. '8. You shall keepe constant correspondence with our secretary Robert Long, esq., and shall from tyme to tyme signify your proceedings and success to him who will give vs an account thereof when you cannot immediately send to ourselfe. 'The like instructions you are to observe in the rest of the kingdomes you goe into.' Endorsement. 'Instructions for Lord Bard. Mr. Mason drew the other, whereof I have noe copy.' I infer that these instructions were drawn up in 1651, and not in 1650, for the following reasons.
46.1.6
In the same volume of the Carte MSS., fol. 238, there is another draft letter of a similar character, addressed to 'Mulay Mahomett Chek, King of Maroccos, Fez, Sus, and Ginie.' It has no day or month affixed, but professes to have been prepared in the 'third yeare of our Reigne,' and to be given 'at the head of our Army in our Kingdome of Scotland.' Now, the third year began in January, 1651, and Charles crossed the Border into England early in August, 1651 (E. Scott, 'King in Exile,' pp. 201, 202); therefore the draft was written between January and August, 1651, and I presume it is the 'other' referred to in the endorsement to the Persia instructions, and thus both would be of about the same date. It is possible that these letters were in existence in about June, 1651, for, as Mr. W. Foster has kindly informed me, at a court held on June 20, 1651, the committee of the then East India Company resolved : ' The Court having intelligence that there was a designe of sending some person by the King of Scotland or the late Queene of England to Persia to obstruct the Company's trade, and they considering how prejudicial it might prove unto them, if effected, They ordered Mr.
46.1.7
Sambrooke to write a letter to their President and Councell at Suratt requiring them in case any Englishman or other shall arrive there with any letter or commission either from the King of Scotts or his mother with a purpose to interrupt the Company's trade, that they should seize upon him as a prisoner and return him for England with the first opportunity.'
46.2.1
The germ of this insane attempt to obtain money from Persia is probably to be traced to a letter in French (undated) from one Hogia Pedre (Khwajah Petrus), son of Sefer (Safar), a Persian Christian (Carte MSS., vol. cxxx., fol. 145). It was probably addressed to the Queen Mother, Henrietta, and is a proposal to intercept the Customs dues of Hormuz, half of which had been received since the Treaty of 1622 by the East India Company's agents, who are held up as rebels and embezzlers. Petrus offers to collect the dues on the King's behalf, and remit two-thirds of the proceeds to Amsterdam or Paris ; or, in the alternative, proposes that someone be sent to Persia with him to receive there two-thirds of the proceeds on His Majesty's behalf. We have no record of the reasons for abandoning the projected visits to Morocco and to Georgia, nor have we any trace of Bard's appointment as Ambassador to the Great Mogul. Originally, as it would appear, that employment was assigned to Sir Andrew Cogan (who died 1660), the founder of Madras. At the Louvre, on April 11, 1652, Charles II. appointed Sir Charles (sic; should be 'Andrew ') Cogan, Knight and Baronet, as 'Ambassador Extraordinary to China, the Mogul, Japan, the Kings of Golcondes, Pegu, and Siam, and the Princes and Potentates of the East Indies.' The authority quoted is Drake's ' Hundred of Blackheath,' p. 79, note 8 (a work I cannot find).
46.2.2
This entry was communicated by Sir George Musgrave, Baronet, of Edenhall, Cumberland (a descendant of A. Cogan), to Mr. J. Livingstone Jay, treasurer of Greenwich Hospital, by him to Mr. W. Duncombe Pink, of Lowton, Newton-le-Willows, and by Mr. Pink to me. The year 1654 in the ' Complete Baronetage' of Mr. G. E. Cokayne,vol. iii.,p. 304, which rests on the same authorities, should be 1652. In any case, Andrew Cogan never returned to the East ; he was at Venice on February 7, 1653 (Calender of Clarendon State Papers, vol. ii., p. 176, No. 979, (3); and Hyde, writing to Nicholls on April 11, 1653 (ibid., vol. ii., p. 192, No. 1068) says : ' Sir A. Cogan is not an excellent ambassador.' Presumably, this is an allusion to his selection as Ambassador to India and the Farther East, and probably led to the substitution of Henry Bard, Viscount Bellomont.
46.2.3
If Bellomont's Letters of Appointment were drawn up in June, 1651, how came it to pass that no start was made till late in 1653 ? I guess that the cause was want of funds. I have not met with any direct evidence of the date on which Bard sailed ; it can only be inferred approximately from other dates. Several statements are found that Charles II. was at Bruges when Bellomont was despatched. Now, as far as I can make out from C. J. Lyon, 'Personal History of King Charles the Second' (1851), and O. Airy's 'Charles II.' (1904), Charles landed in France on October 16, 1651 (Airy, p. 106), and did not leave it again until July 8, 1654 (ibid., p. 111). He did not settle at Bruges until April 22, 1656 (ibid., p. 130), and this is too late to allow of that place being his residence when he gave authority to Bellomont. It is noticeable that Manucci says Charles II. was 'in France' when Bellomont started from Venice.
46.2.4
We learn from the Aleppo letter quoted below that Bellomont carried with him recommendatory letters from the States General of Holland to their agents at Isfahan. The Commonwealth was then at war with Holland, hostilities beginning in April, 1652, and peace being made in May, 1654 (see S. R. Gardiner's 'History of Commonwealth,' vol. ii., pp. 116, 370). I have not been able to procure any confirmation from the Dutch archives that any such letters were issued ; but, assuming the fact, they must have been anterior to the peace of May, 1654. Professor C. H. Firth has been kind enough to furnish me with a copy of a letter written from Aleppo on March 19, 1654-55 (Mercurius Politicus, No. 265, July 5 to 12, 1655, pp. 5466, 5467). Nine days before its date the East India Company's agent at Aleppo had received letters from Persia in which it was stated that 'a pretended ambassador from the late King of Scots at Cullen is come to the Persian Court with purpose to desturb the Companies affairs there, and to obtain the rights of Ormus Customs from them, having recommendatory letters (which if true were doubtless obtained in the time of the warr) from the States of Holland to the Dutch in these parts to assist him therein, unto whom he hath written to Spahan (Isfahan) from Khazbien (Qazwīn) — where the Emperor then kept his Court — to that purpose. . . .'
46.2.5
Manucci's date in the text, 1651, is hopelessly wrong, and the same chronological error recurs in his 'Storia' for many years up to about 1680. But by calculating backwards from several unimpeachable dates, it is possible to arrive approximately at the period when the journey from Venice commenced, viz., late in 1653. In a general letter from Isfahan (India Office, O.C. 2420), dated October 14, 1654, we find that they had just heard there of Bellomont's arrival at Tabrīz. Manucci's text (i. 33) fixes September as the month of arrival at Qazwīn, and elsewhere (i. 23) he states that on the journey he saw an eclipse of the sun at Julfah in Armenia. Dr. Downing, of the Nautical Almanac Office, has been kind enough to verify this, and fixes it as an eclipse of August 12, 1654, which would have been visible at that place. Assuming that they reached Qazwīn on September 1, 1654, I calculate from Manucci's entries of halts and journeys that 206 days were occupied (say six months and twenty days) from their landing at Smyrna until their arrival at Qazwin. Deducting this number of days, we get February 11, 1654, as the date of arrival at Smyrna, and since the voyage to Smyrna had occupied four months, we obtain October 11, 1653, as the approximate date of setting sail from Venice. This corresponds fairly well, as to the month, with Manucci, who says it was November. I have not been able to secure any verification on this subject from the Venetian archives.
46.2.6
As to Bellomont's proceedings in Persia, Manucci's text must be referred to as the only full account which has come down to us. Some additional facts are disclosed in the East India Company's records, now at the India Office, and these sufficiently confirm Manucci's story. An extract from John Spiller's and Henry Young's letter from Isfahan of October 14, 1654, is as follows :
46.2.7
'. . . The premenconed were no sooner sealed, but by advises from Tabreeze &c we were informed that there was an English embassador arrived in those parts by way of Turkey, haveing 3 English men more in his compy and was recd by all the Kings Governos wth greate respect ; wch also a letter to ye cheife of ye Carmelite Order heere in this place confirmes and sayes the Embassador goes by the name of my Lord Belamont, and so much does some frenchmens Lres averr that were sent from Khazbien where this King still keeps his Court, but at those advises date he had not spoken wth the King, whoe for some reasons defered awhile to admitt him unto his presents, one we are told is to inquire out exactly the quallitie of the person, and import of his message, that he may receive respect accordingly; for when wee heard of him first, wch was from Aierwan (Erivan), we were informed that hee was one of the Palsgraves brothers, and so went for currant awhile, but afterwards to be as above menconed, but there are so many reports raised of him that we cannot now say what he is ; though we have wrytten and made muche inquirie to finde it out ; nor beleive shall not iustly, untill our Linguist wrytes us, whoe is gone to Court about our Customes and some other businesses, of which the embassador is none of the least, though in or petition to the Atamaam Dowlatt, we have not in ye least made mention of him.
46.2.8
' The 24th last month [September 1654] we recd by the Pashaw of Buszorahs servts advises from that place dated the 18 August and wth them letters from the Consull of Alleppo of the 12th June in wch we were given to understand that the beginning of Aprill last a peace was concluded betwixt us and the Hollanders ; so we cannot thinke lesse but that the Eagle or such Shipps as you intend forth for these parts, will bring out the Articles thereof, and that we shall have shipps in Bandr suddainely. Wherefore Mr. Young is now journying thither, wth what estate wee have of yors ready in cash ; and John Spiller intends to follow as soone as he receives some newes from Court, of the aforemenconed Embassadors proceedings.
46.3.1
' One thing by all the informacon that we have yet recd is that he seekes for yor right of Customes of Gumbroon ; and for his assistance therein, hath brought recomendatory letters from the States of Holland, wch we are pers waded to give credence to ; being to our knowledg hee hath wrytten to the :'e of the Dutch heere ; therefore wee may easily iudg that he is not on our side, but against us ; but we hope yt he will doe yor affaires little hurt ; espetially now the premenconed peace wth the Dutch is concluded ; wch by our severall letters to Court the next day after we recd the newes, we have id abroad wth divers other particulars, as we recd them from Alleppo. . . .' [O.C. 2420.] Search in the Dutch Archives at the Hague has produced no trace of the suggested recommendatory letters from the States General ; but there is on record a Dutch translation of an Italian letter from Bellomont to Philips Angel, the Dutch company's chief merchant and agent in Isfahan. It is dated in, September 23, 1654, N.S. The original was received in Isfahan on October 22, and the translation was sent from Gombroon to Amsterdam on November 16, 1655 ; it is to the following effect : 'QAZBIN, ' This 23d September, New Style, 1654.
46.3.2
'SIR AND FRIEND, ' I am sending you the accompanying [letter] from Mr. Edward Blijdenberck, along with these two or three lines by way of salutation, and thereto I add that you must not accord credit to what is said here, that peace has been made with the unnatural monsters. The Devil is capable of much, and if this peace was made by him it cannot endure, as will soon be discovered. ' Moreover, having heard of your goodness of heart combined with much prudence, I greatly rejoice to have found a person of such great consideration in these regions with whom I can take counsel; and assuredly, as soon as possible, I shall transfer myself to Isfahan in order to procure that high honour. Here we have entered a little into business, but have been able to conclude nothing, until I know things better, and in this, by God's grace, Your Honour's advice will be of great benefit to the king.
46.3.3
'In his (the king's) letter I am styled "cousin," and he states, for his Persian Majesty's information, all my titles. As one reason of non-success is the fact that I present myself here with 8 to 10 followers only, while not many o the Mosbych (?) envoy left this attended by two to three hundred men. The second reason is that in regard to money, when giving a morsel to one, the other is opening his mouth. [The passage is obscure.] But this difficulty can be understood by those coming through Turkey. I fully sought opportunity to make it known that for many years we have red, and our means are exhausted. Where can we find [money] to uphold our position? Finally, they have been satisfied here with this explanation. 'Whenever anything is paid to me I shall try not to give to the Waqi'ah-navis [treasurer?] a "casbe-i" (?) of the coin I am soliciting for my king, but the same shall be placed in your hands in order to be transferred to those of the king. Then, I should return again by way of Aleppo, after my leave-taking. Here they are my good friends and treat me right royally. But as soon as I am through with a purge that I have taken for a cold which has troubled me continuously for eight months, I shall start from here [Qazwin]. Finally I beg of you to keep the English in ignorance. I am &c. [Undersigned] 'Your Honour's affectionate Servant, 'HARRIGO DE BELLEMONTE.' [Postscript.] 'Will you kindly get your servant to find a house for me for a month or six weeks.'
46.3.4
TO THE CHIEF MERCHANT AND AGENT, PHILIPS ANGEL, AT ISFAHAN. The Dutch agents at Gombroon wrote on the 1st January, 1655, that the English envoy was in favour at Court, and his negociations were so secret that neither they nor the English had heard anything. The latter were much concerned, as it was presumed that the affair was meant "to stick a needle into their Company here." The English had sent their interpreter to Qazwin to find out. The last notice to be traced is in a letter, also from Gombroon, of the 23rd October, 1655, where the Dutch say that, after a year's stay at Isfahan, Henrico Bellemonte had left it a month before, having received from the king on his leave-taking a sum of 100 tūman, equivalent to 4,000 gulden. The result of his negociations had remained secret, but they would enquire further. The story is carried on [O.C. 2426] in the transcript of a letter from J. Spiller and Anthony Daniell to the President and Council in Surat, dated from Isfahan November 2, 1654:
46.3.5
'By coppie of or last letter unto ye Compa you may please to perceive the reasons that John Spiller went not to Bahdr when Mr Young iournied thither; being about some Court business from whence lately we have recd a letter from or Linguist in wch he advises, that as yet he hath not delivered or Petition to the Atamaam Dowlatt by reason of his being abroad wth ye king a hunting; from which sport returning both king & nobles kept their houses for 3 or 4 dayes; and for ye English Embassadore his cheife businesse is such as we alwayes heard it to bee, to witte, for yor right of Gumbroo Customes, but what successe he hath had therin we have not yet heard, he haveing ben but once wth the king when our Servant wrote his letter; other advises we dayly & howerly expect; wch so soon as recd we intend to make our repaire to Bander; as we shall wthout them, if they be long acomeing, that as nigh as possible we may comply wth your commands. . . .'
46.3.6
Next there is a Surat letter in O.C. 2455, dated Swally Maryne, March 15, 1654-55, and signed by Edward Pearce, John Spiller, and Henry Gary. It says: '. . . Mr. Spiller from Psia hath not failed you in his Advices Overland, wherein wee finde hee hath not been wanting to give you the best informacon hee could concerning yor Affaires in those parts, you will reade that my Lord Bella-mount, the pretended Embassadore from wee know not whome, and supposed Brother to one Mr Bard Silkman in Paternoster Row was lodged 4 daies before he left Spahaun, since wch time wee reade from our Broker that hee hath shut up his doores and takes physick, we are perswaded hee will never prejudice yor Affaires now wee have Peace wth the Dutch, but had the Warrs continud by theire Assistance hee might have troubled you much in your Customes at Gombroone, which as wee hear is ye only thing hee aymes at.' On December 3, 1655 (with a postscript of the 4th), William Weale, Daniel Otgher, and Anth° Daniell wrote from Gombroon to the President and Council in Surat as follows :
46.3.7
[O.C. 2508]: '. . . The 30th (being Sunday at night) ye pretended English Embassador, whoe goeth under ye stile of ye Lord Bellamount, arrived heere from Asphahanne ; whoe pretendeth he is bound for India after a moneth or toos stay heere ; but his Linguist who was formerly a Jessuitt saith, he hath a Phirmaan from ye King of Persia for ye Compas Customes ; and that hee stayeth here in expectacon of 10 Sayle of Shipps, that should come from we cannot imagine whence ; also ye kings officers heere say that ye kings commaund is on them, that in case he will accept of ye Customes they should turn us out ; and settle them on him ; if not continue them as they are to vs ; but there are soe many reports in towne and soe little appearance of his acting anything therein, that we cannot believe anything thereof; however thought it good to acquaint you what we heare : . . .' Postscript.
46.3.8
'. . . In a former clause we acquainted you of ye Lord Bellamount's arrival here ; whoe to shew that he hath noe intent to injure the Compa or trouble thier Servants heere, hath desired his passage on ye Seahorse for Surratt ; wch we ye willinger granted that his presents heere might not raise any more rumours, for of a certayne ye Atamaam Dowlatt would faine have him accepted of ye customes a while ; thereby to have an occasion to turne vs out ; as he would alsoe him in a very short time afterwards ; soe yt we hope yor will not take it ill that we gave him his passage ; Mr. Young can acquaint yor more fully how much hee protested never to endeavour to injure ompany in Spahaunc or any place, to whose relacon please to be referred. . . .'
46.4.1678
The Seahorse reached Swalley on January 6, 1655-56 [O.C. 2525, Swally Marine, January 19, 1655-56], and we have one more notice in a letter from Surat, dated January 29, 1655-1656, and signed by John Spiller, Henry Gary, Thomas Reynardson, and Anty Smith. ' . . . The L. Bellamont is in Surat where he hath taken a house, so it should seem yt hee intends to remain there for some time, wee wish yt his remove from Persia may be a meanes to free you from all trouble aboutt ye Customes and allso cause of a greater annuall inlargemt. . . .' [O.C. 2534.] At this point the Company's records become defective, so that we have no further official evidence of Lord Bellomont's proceedings in India. But Manucci's account of their stay in Surat and journey via Burhanpur and Agrah towards Dihli may be accepted with some confidence.
Something is to be found, however, in the Dutch archives. On February 6, 1656, H. van Gent (and others) wrote to Jean Maatsuycker (Maatzuiker), Governor-General and Council at Batavia, that the envoy from the young King of England, named Henrico de Bellemonte, had arrived. He had been to the Persian Court about a share in the Customs, but had failed. He had fallen ill (in Surat), and had asked for aid from the Honorable (Dutch) Company's surgeon. He had a cancerous sore in his cheek, but he could not trust himself to the English there for any help. The request was willingly accepted, but they feared it would be a difficult business to heal him, as the cheekbone was exposed. 'The said lord seems a very well-informed, modest, and courteous man, who is very afflicted over this accident that has happened to him.' Maatzuiker was Governor-General from 1653 to 1678.
46.4.1616
Nor are there any reasons for declining to accept Manucci's statement that his Lordship died at Hodal on June 20 (1656). I have tried, but without success, through my friend, Mr. H. W. W. Reynolds, Commissioner of Agrah, to obtain from the Roman Catholic Bishop there a copy of any entry in the burial registers. As Bellomont had turned Catholic several years before his death, he must have been buried in their cemetery, which was, indeed, the only one at that period. Possibly there may be duplicate registers somewhere in Rome, but I have not been able to institute a search. A curious mention of Bellomont, which must refer to his stay in Agrah, is to be found on fol. 26 of B.M. Sloan MS., No. 811. John Campbell, speaking of placing the King of England's arms on some cannon he cast, says : 'I had one of his Maties great scales from my Ld Bellmount by wch I cast his armes.' The 'Dictionary of National Biography' places Bellomont's death in 1660, and Manucci in 1653. For these years I would substitute 1656, confirmed as it is by John Hall's memorandum at King's College, Cambridge, and the India Office records. Where the writer in the 'Dictionary of National Biography' got 'Arabia' as the place of death I know not; his own authorities say 'Persia.' But both statements must be wrong in the face of the official evidence that Bellomont left Persia and landed safely in India, from which he never returned.
His arms are delineated in W. Coles' 'Cambridge Collections,' vol. xv., p. 137 (British Museum Manuscript, No. 5816). As to his children, there is some difference in various authorities. The 'Complete Baronetage,' by Mr. G. E. Cokayne, ii., p. 228, gives him three daughters, but denies (in note) that he left a son who survived until 1686. On this point I think the author must be wrong. Bellomont's widow in her petitions to the King in 1660 (Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Charles II., vol. xvii., No. 98, p. 300), when speaking of her children, says, 'one your Majesty's godsonne'; and in her second petition (ibid., vol. xx., No. 3, p. 331) is the expression, 'having 4 children.' Mr. W. Duncombe Pink (on the authority of Maddison's 'Lincolnshire Pedigrees,' i. 78; Harleian Society, vols. 50, 51, 1902), gave me particulars which, if accepted, overrule Mr. Cokayne's suggestion of a confusion with Charles, Earl of Bellomont, d. 1683, of a totally different family (Van der Kirkhove). The year of Charles Bard's death was 1665, and not 1685. The result is as follows:
GEORGE BARD, Vicar of Staines, d. 1616.
46.4.82
Maximilian, of Caversfield, Bucks, d. Feb., 1690-91, aged 82.
46.4.52
Nathaniel (4th son), d. early in 1714; m. his cousin Persiana, and left issue.
Henry, b. 1616, d. 1656; m. Anne Gardner, 1645 (she d. 1668).
Charles, 2nd Viscount, b. Jan. 1, 1647-48; slain at St. Christopher's 1665, s.p.
Anne.
Frances, m. Rupert, Prince Palatine; d. Aug. 3, 1708, aged 52.
46.4.20
Dudley Bard, killed at the siege of Buda, July-Aug., 1686, aged 20.
46.4.162
Persiana, m. her cousin Nathaniel, of Caversfield, Bucks; d. 1739, leaving issue.
Anne was a spinster in 1668, when she took the oath as heir and administratrix to her mother's estate (Probate Office, Administrations, July 13, 1668, p. 105). The year of Frances' death is given in an inscription quoted by Miss E. Scott in her article in the Eng. Hist. Review, vol. xv., p. 760 (October, 1900), though I have not been able to verify it myself from the authority she quotes, viz., 'L'Histoire du Peuple de Dieu.' This is a work by I. J. Berruyer, S.J. (1681-1758), the first edition being of 1728 (Paris). It is a history of the people of Israel, in many volumes, and seems to have no possible connection with an inscription on Frances Bard's tomb. There is some error somewhere. If the lady was fifty-two in 1708, she was born in 1656, more than two years after her father left Europe; and if her son was twenty in 1686, he must have been born in 1666. Therefore, she had a son when she was ten years of age, and the marriage certificate being dated July 30, 1664, she was only eight when married. Everything points to an understatement of her age at death; more probably she was sixty instead of fifty-two. Mr. J. F. Chance thinks she must have been the eldest child, and born some time in 1646. The exact date of her death, which took place in the Elector of Hanover's camp at Mühlburg, close to Karlsruhe in Baden, is obtained from 'Briefe des Herzogs Ernst August zu Braunschweig-Lüneburg an Johann Franz Diedrich von Wendt,' edited by Erich, Graf Kielmansegg (Hannover, 1902), p. 162.
46.4.p7
The date of Persiana's husband's death is from Mr. J. F. Chance's paper in the Eng. Hist. Review, vol. xi. (1896), p. 527. There is no evidence at King's College, Cambridge, that Anne, Lady Bellomont, applied there for pecuniary relief, or was ever granted any, as stated by some writers.
Maximilian Bard seems to have been about seven years his brother's senior; he is said to have helped Henry with money, and had a great admiration for him. Maximilian must have made money by his trade of silkman or mercer, for on June 20, 1653, the manor of Caversfield, in Buckinghamshire, was conveyed to him and another. At his death it passed to Nathaniel as son and heir, who was followed by his son Thomas. He, with his two sons, Thomas and George, conveyed the estate on February 3, 1704, to William Vaux, an attorney, who held it till 1735, and so on (Lipscombe, 'History of Buckinghamshire,' 4 vols., 4to., 1847, vol. ii., pp. 594, 595). There is some discrepancy between Lipscombe's date for Nathaniel's death and that given in the table; the latter is taken from Mr. J. F. Chance's article already quoted.