Person talk:Gervase Dodson (1)

Military Service in the English Civil War

In his proclamation "beene a soldier several yeares in Ireland & England for the King & Parliament, till the death of the late King Charles the First, when I left all & came into this Country..." What does this suggest about his military career?

How long did he fight? He indicates first that he fought in Ireland. Was he there during the 1641 Rebellion or the 1647 English troop build-up? Dodson emigrated in 1649-50 so it isn't reasonable that he was part of Cromwell's destruction of Ireland in 1649. But had he returned to England for the main battles of the Second Civil War in 1648? There are muster rolls in British archives from this period[1] so it is not out of the question that this issue might be uncovered one day.

The principal conclusion from this declaration is that Dodson was a royalist who left England for Virginia after the execution of Charles I in 1649. His petition for pardon was made after the demise of Cromwell's Commonwealth, the return to power of Governor Berkeley in Virginia, and the news of the restoration of Charles II (1660-1685).

But if Dodson was a staunch royalist why does he note his service to both King and Parliament? Had he fought on both sides of the English Civil War (Royalists versus the side of Parliament 1642-1649)? Did he begin as a soldier of the King but then fought for the Parliament – but why then does he leave after the death of the King (a royalist)?

Also, is he from England and was dispatched to Ireland for the Rebellion and then returned to fight in the English Civil War, or is he from Ireland (Irish, Scotch or English) and returned with the troops to fight in the English Civil War?

And what education and social level would we assume that he has? He is listed as a gentleman in his Land Patents. He becomes a land surveyor and is establishing frontiers between Native American tribes and the settlers in the Northern Neck. His military experience would seem important to his work, but was he also a surveyor prior to his arrival?