Robert Devereux 1591 - 1646
Robert Devereux , English parliamentary general, son of the 2nd Earl of Essex. The family titles and estates, lost by his father, were restored to him in 1604 by an act of Parliament. He saw brief service in 1620, during the Thirty Years' War, and in 1625 he was vice-admiral of an unsuccessful expedition against the Spanish at Cadiz. In 1641, on the eve of the English Revolution, the civil war between the supporters of King Charles I and those of Parliament, Charles named Essex lord chamberlain. Essex, however, turned against the king and later accepted command of the parliamentary army. On Oct. 23, 1642, he rallied his troops at Edgehill, thus preventing a total rout. The following April he besieged and captured Reading, and in September he relieved Gloucester. One year later he was nearly captured at Lostwithiel, in Cornwall. In ill health, Essex resigned his command in 1645. When he died, the earldom became extinct. An adolescent marriage of his (1606) was annulled, and a child born after a second marriage (1631) died in infancy.
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| Born: London, , , England 20th Jan 1591 | Baptised:
| | Died: 14th Sep 1646 | Buried:
| | Family: Devereux |
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