CHARACTERS FROM CHESTER - STARTING "C"

BY PHILLIP E JONES

[Cadwan], [Cecily Compton], [Charles Stanley], [Christopher Goodman], [Cuthbert Scott]

Cadwan (Cadwallon)

By around 613 AD Welsh Princes were thought to have recovered Chester from the Anglo Saxon forces that had previously held the city. Cadwan was reported to have been besieged on the isle of Anglesey by Earl Edwin, heir to the kingdom of Deira, who had defeated the king of Northumbria, Aethelfrith, who had previously held Chester for a period of time.

Having allied himself with Penda, the Mercian king, Cadwan later met and defeated Edwin and was subsequently crowned as King of the Britons at Chester. Around 829 however, the city fell into the hands of the Saxon king, Egbert, who ordered that the images of the former Welsh monarch be torn down.

Cecily Compton

A member of one of Chester’s leading families who was said to have established a chantry at the city’s Benedictine Convent in 1353.

Charles Kingsley

Renowned author of the “Water Babies”, he was a one-time Canon at Chester’s historic Cathedral.

Charles Stanley (8^th Earl of Derby)

Stanley was the former Lord Strange who succeeded to the title of Earl of Derby following the death of his father, James, who was executed at Bolton in 1651. Born in 1627, Charles had accompanied his late father to the mustering of King Charles I royalist forces at Preston in 1642, when he was only 15 years old.

Around 1650 he had married Dorothea Helena, who was the maid of honour to the Queen of Bohemia. This marriage was undertaken without his father’s permission and it was a cause of continued conflict between the two men.

Despite his father’s active participation in the English Civil War, Charles appears to have taken very little part in the struggle and was thought to have remained relatively neutral throughout. Following his fathers execution at Bolton, the new Earl and his Countess were said to have remained at Bidston Hall in Cheshire, which had been built by his grandfather, William Stanley, the 6^th Earl of Derby.

Despite his relative inactivity during earlier Royalist campaigns, Stanley was an active participant in the uprising led by Sir George Booth in 1659. Booth seized Chester during the rebellion against Parliamentary rule, but was subsequently defeated at Winnington Bridge by General Lambert. Derby had raised a large body of men in Lancashire to support Booth’s rebellion, but these were defeated at the same time. Following their defeat by Lambert, Booth and Derby were both arrested and held prisoner, but the Restoration of Charles II saw both men released and restored to their earlier positions.

During the reign of Charles II, Stanley and his Countess lived relatively quiet lives at their home at Knowsley and set about restoring their family’s fortunes, which had been adversely affected by Parliamentary rule. He would later be appointed as Lord Lieutenant of Liverpool.

The Stanley family held the post and rights of “Sergeants” of the Watergate in Chester. As such, they were responsible for collecting the taxes and tolls payable at the gate. Their family home in the city was “Stanley Palace” which sits on the corner of modern day Lower Watergate Street and Nicholas Street.

Photos of Tudor Buildings in Chester (Website Link)

Christopher Goodman

Although he was born in Chester around 1520, Goodman was reported to have received much of his formal education in Oxford. A staunch Protestant, in order to escape the religious purges of the Catholic Queen, Mary, Goodman was said to have travelled to Germany and later accompanied John Knox to Switzerland. He was appointed as Pastor to the thriving English community in Geneva and both he and Knox chose to remain there, out of harms way, until Mary’s death in 1558.

Goodman has been credited with helping Knox to compose the “Book of Common Order”, a directory for Protestant worship. He was also said to have maintained a correspondence with an old friend in England, called Bartlett Green. Having received news that Mary had died, Goodman asked his old friend to confirm the news for him. Green had replied “the Queen is not yet dead”, but unfortunately for him the letter was intercepted by agents of the Queen and Bartlett Green was later burnt at the stake for his beliefs.

Following Elizabeth’s accession to the English throne, Goodman returned to Scotland with his friend John Knox and preached there until around 1561, when he was appointed as the Minister of St Andrew’s. Three years later he received an appointment as a Minister in Edinburgh, but declined the post, as he was keen to return home to England. Goodman was reported to have become Personal Chaplain to Sir Henry Sydney during his campaigns against the Catholic rebels in Ireland around 1568.

15 years or so later Goodman was living in or around Chester, but was no longer a figure of national interest within the Protestant religion. He is said to have died in 1602, aged 83 years of age and was buried in St Werburgh’s church 

Cuthbert Scott

Scott was the successor to John Bird as the Bishop of Chester and held the office from 1556 to 1559. He was committed to the Tower of London during the reign of Queen Mary, but was later released on bail. He was obviously not that certain about his future and while on release he was thought to have taken flight to France where he was reported to have died at Louvain in 1564.

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