Soon after the commencement of the civil troubles, Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper (then a very young man) received from Charles I as commission to be Governor of Weymouth. After a time he was superseded and Colonel Ashburnham became Governor in his place. Can the dates of the two appointments be ascertained ? Stafford Carey.

[It would appear that the Marquis of Hertford, whilst commander-in-chief of the King's forces in the West, appointed in the spring of 1643 Sir A.A. Cooper Governor of Weymouth. The date given in Hutchins's Dorsetshire, ii, 63, is March 12, [1642-3]. Prince Maurice, in the Autumn of 1643, succeeded the Marquis of Hertford as commander-in-chief, and refused to recognise his predecessor's grant of the government of Weymouth to Sir A. A, Cooper. Cooper at once went to Bristol, where the Marquis of Hertford and the King were located. Hertford took up the matter very warmly, and made it a point of honour with the King that his grant should be confirmed. Cooper also obtained the intercessioin of Clarendon, then Sir Edward Hyde. The King yielded to Herford's and Hyde' representations, and directed that Prince Maurice should appoint Cooper governor. It appears from the King's letter to the Marquis of Hertford, dated August 10, 1643, "confirming the appointment of Sir A. A. Cooper as Governor of Weymouth" (printed in Mr Christie's "Memoirs of the Earl of Shaftesbury" p 92), that a sort of compromise was made between Hertford's and Prince Maruice's pretensions, and that Cooper was confirmed as governor on the understanding that Hertford should endeavour to persuade him to resign after such time as might suffice to prevent the appearance of his being ill-treated. Cooper delivered up his commissions as Governor and Colonel the first week of January 1643-4m and was succeeded by Colonel William Ashburnham,

Notes and Queries Vol. 6 3rd S. (144) Oct 1 1864 Page 268

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