Sir Edward Massey | |
|---|---|
 Sir Edward Massey | |
| Privy Council of Ireland | |
| In office 1661 – 1674 † | |
| Member of Parliament for Gloucester | |
| In office April 1660 – May 1674 | |
| Member of Parliament for Wootton Bassett | |
| In office June 1646 – December 1648 [a] | |
| Parliamentarian Governor of Gloucester | |
| In office 1642–1645 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1619 Coddington, Cheshire |
| Died | 1674, age 52-54 Abbeyleix, Ireland |
| Nationality | English |
| Military service | |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | |
Sir Edward Massey, also spelt Massie, (c. 1619–1674) was an English soldier and politician from Cheshire, who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1646 and 1674. He fought for Parliament in the First English Civil War, when he became famous for his defence of Gloucester. Although he remained loyal during the 1648 Second English Civil War, Massey switched sides following the Execution of Charles I in January 1649, and served under his son Charles II during the Anglo-Scottish war (1650–1652). Badly wounded at Worcester in September 1651, he was captured but managed to escape, and rejoin the exiled Stuart court in the Dutch Republic.
During the Interregnum, he was active in the Royalist cause, and in 1659 took part in Booth's Uprising, centred on his home county of Cheshire. After the Stuart Restoration in May 1660, he was knighted and sat as MP for Gloucester until his death. Appointed to the Privy Council of Ireland in 1661, he spent much of his time on his estate at Abbeyleix, where he died sometime in 1674.
A modern biographer has said of him that "Massey rose from obscurity through a mixture of outstanding qualities of military leadership, courage, sheer luck, and a talent for self-publicity. However, he was also rigid, self-righteous, humourless, and...unable to work with others...character defects that meant he never really scaled the military and political heights".[1]
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