An abortive duel in 1623

 Tobacco Gifts and Sales by the 2nd Earl of Warwick and Sir Nathaniel Rich in 1623-1625

The significance of gift-giving in societies stretching as far back as the period of classical antiquity has long been appreciated by scholars. Normally, records of such gifts even in the early modern period are rare and, when they survive, often incomplete. Fortunately, one detailed account of the disposal of tobacco on the part of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, and his second cousin, Sir Nathaniel Rich, does survive for the two years up to January, 1625. Just over 7,000 lbs of tobacco were held by them in a cellar in Old Jewry in London. It is not clear where this tobacco came from but it is likely that the bulk, if not all, of it had originated from the shares of land they owned in Bermuda.

Some of this tobacco was taken by the two men for their own personal use. The first entry in this account noted that they had jointly taken 16 lbs. Later entries indicate that 9 lbs was removed to Leez Priory, one of Warwick’s houses in Essex, on 20th June, 1623 for Warwick’s use with intermittent withdrawals for the Earl and Sir Nathaniel Rich at later dates. There is also evidence that gifts of small amounts were made to Sir Nathaniel’s sisters and that recipients included figures like William Goffe or Gough, Warwick’s steward, and tenants like Otho Proctor. Apothecaries like Maldon and Sheriff and a goldsmith named South benefited as well. Sir Samuel Argall and Captain Nathaniel Butler, who were linked to the Earl and Sir Nathaniel through their colonial ventures in Virginia and Bermuda respectively, appeared amongst those given tobacco as did Captain Gosnold, one of the Earl’s military connections from the county of Essex. More casual gifts were made personally by Warwick at the tobacco cellar itself to people whose identity is not recorded.

But the major removals from this store of tobacco were clearly commercial transactions. Humphrey Slany, for example, acquired 224 lbs of tobacco at a price of 3 shillings a pound. 1.040 lbs were sold to a Mr Pollard and 3,122 lbs went to Sir George Hastings for £1,000. A Mr Stone bought 1,346 lbs for an unspecified sum. About 600 lbs of tobacco remained in the cellar at Old Jewry at the end of January, 1624/1625.

In itself, this account may not be very exciting to read but it does offer some insights into the scale of the Rich family’s tobacco operations in this period and, more importantly, into the network of their connections. There is still more to be said on both topics.

The Duel that never was: the 2nd Earl of Warwick and Lord Cavendish in the summer of 1623

One of the more dramatic episodes in the violent quarrels that convulsed the Virginia and Bermuda companies in 1623 occurred in July of that year. According to the contemporary newsletter writer, John Chamberlain, the exchanges between the 2nd Earl of Warwick and Lord Cavendish at one or other of these companies’ Courts became so heated that the two men accused one another of lying and arranged to fight a duel on the European continent. Material in the State Papers suggests that this duel was supposed to occur on 1st August in Holland. Measures were accordingly taken by the Privy Council to prevent this happening. The English Ambassadors in the Hague and at Brussels - Carleton and Trumbull - were alerted and advised to act to stop any such duel occurring. In fact, Lord Cavendish was intercepted in Sussex en route to the continent while Warwick, who had apparently crossed by sea disguised as a merchant, was found by Trumbull in Ghent and agreed to return to England. No more was heard of the matter.

There may, however, be more to be said about it. Sir Nathaniel Rich’s account book covering July, 1623 indicates that the Privy Council’s letter to Carleton in the Hague was secured by a payment of £3 6 shillings to Lord Chichester’s secretary. Chichester, the former Lord Deputy in Ireland, was certainly known to the Countess of Warwick. On the same day, 23rd July, 1623, the Privy Council’s warrant, presumably forbidding the duel, was brought by the Lord Treasurer, the Earl of Middlesex’s messenger, who was paid £1 2 shillings for his pains and delivered to Captain Gosnold to carry with him. Sir Nathaniel Rich lent the Countess of Warwick £30 which she gave to Gosnold for his travelling expenses. Gosnold is certainly known to have been one of those benefiting from Warwick’s largesse and later owed his place as Captain of Landguard Fort to the Earl. As it turned out, Lord Cavendish was intercepted in Sussex on 23rd July and, on 15th September, Warwick landed back in England at the port of Harwich. What is not clear is why Warwick was found in Ghent in the Habsburg-controlled part of the Low Countries if the duel was supposed to have been taking place in Holland and what, indeed, he had been doing on the continent if he had been found by Trumbull early in August, 1623.