Sir Hugh Cholmley played many roles in an extraordinary life, transforming himself from a spendthrift play-boy into a successful estate manager, local militia officer, and member of parliament for Scarborough. He became identified with a parliamentary group of rebellious Yorkshire gentry who conspired to kill Charles I's chief minister, the earl of Strafford, but after holding Scarborough's harbour and castle for Parliament he suddenly and controversially defected to the Royalist cause; after the king's defeat he endured years in exile before returning to a ruined estate in Yorkshire.
Dr Binns' book is the first to bring together Sir Hugh's surviving writings, which bear witness to some of the most momentous events in English history: of principal importance are his autobiography and his three Civil War essays on the tragic fate of the Hothams, the bloody battle on Marston Moor, and the great siege of Scarborough Castle.
JACK BINNS is former history master at Scarborough Sixth Form College, and Scarborough in the Civil War period has been the focus of much of his research as a local historian.