Chapter 1: OLIVER HANCOCKS (b.c1620), BUTCHER

In the middle of seventeenth century Oliver Hancocks was a butcher living in Elmdon, in northwest Warwickshire. He was born about 1620 at an as yet unknown place. He married Ann, probably in 1643, who was to bear him five children through the next fifteen years. The family was growing in a troubled land, for the English Civil War was raging through the Warwickshire countryside at the time.

Several bloody battles took place in the south of the county during the early 1640's. On the outbreak of the Civil War, Warwickshire was parliamentarian. The first battle of the war took place at Edgehill in the south of the county, on October 23rd 1642. Charles I and Oliver Cromwell were both present, the latter as a captain of horse. The battle was indecisive with both sides claiming victory. Cromwell, by then second in command of Parliament's New Model Army, destroyed the Royalist forces in the neighbouring county of Northamptonshire, at the Battle of Naseby on 14 June 1645. In September the Scottish army overcame the king’s Highland partisans and Montrose fled to the Continent. The first phase of the Civil War (also known as the First Civil War) ended in May 1646 when Charles surrendered to the Scots, who turned him over to Parliament the following year.

Charles escaped to the Isle of Wight, from where he concluded an "Engagement" with the Scots who pledged to restore him to the throne if he promised to make Presbyterianism the official religion of both kingdoms. This provoked the second phase of the war (the Second Civil War), which began in 1648 with the army and Parliament fighting against Scotland and the king. A Scottish army invaded England, but was defeated at Preston, and other Royalist opposition was soon suppressed.

Now firmly in control, the army set about purging Parliament of its Presbyterian members. The remaining Rump Parliament, as it was called, created a commission to try the king for treason. Found guilty, Charles was beheaded on January 30, 1649. The Rump Parliament then abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords, and declared England a Commonwealth.

Cromwell's first task under the Commonwealth, which was proclaimed after Charles's execution was the subjection of Ireland and Scotland. The massacres following his capture of Drogheda and Wexford, although not out of line with accepted military practice, have always seemed excessive, the result of his hatred for the Irish and for Catholics. His twin victories against the Scots at Dunbar and Worcester (1650 and 1651) demonstrated the height of his military genius-or, as he said, a "glorious mercy" of God. Cromwell died on September 3, 1658, and was interred in Westminster Abbey. His son, Richard, whom he had named as his successor, was unable to retain his power. After the restoration of Charles II in 1660, Cromwell's disinterred body was hanged as that of a traitor, his head put on a pole mounted above Westminster Hall, and his body buried at the foot of the gallows.

Extravagant and always in want of money, Charles II assented to the abolition of the feudal rights of knight service, wardship, and purveyance in consideration of a large annuity that, however, was never fully paid. On May 20, 1662, he married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza for her large dowry. The failure of Parliament to produce the amount agreed on and the chronic mismanagement of the English finances brought the king to a desperate need of money. On the eve of the king’s marriage a new tax was introduced - the hearth tax. This was a tax based on the number of hearths within a property, and became the principle source of income for the exchequer. On Michaelmas Day (29 September) 1671 Oliver the butcher paid the surprisingly large sum of £2/0/4 indicating that at that time he was living in a substantial house with numerous hearths.

Oliver must have become relatively wealthy, for in 1688 he entered in to a legal agreement with his son John (chapter 2), whereby in exchange for his fathers butchery business, personnel estate, goods and chattels, John would pay his father an annual sum, in effect a pension, of £5. The money was to be paid in quarterly installments and was conditional on Oliver being allowed to live on his own and so keep his independence. In addition to the pension John had to supply his father with 'sufficient meate, drink, washing, lodgeing and apparrell' (sic). The agreement was in effect Oliver's will. It was proved in Lichfield in April 1697, probably indicating that Oliver died shortly before this date.

Of Oliver's relatively small family of five children, at least one, George, died young.

Oliver Jun. (born 1644) was buried in Elmdon in 1696 at the age of 52. The presiding vicar received an affidavit stating that Oliver 'had been buried in wool', for the Burial in Wool Acts of 1667 and 1678 required that all corpses should be buried in wool garments or shroud, without any admixture of other fibres such as flax or hemp. There was fine of £5 for not abiding by the legislation. The Acts were intended to support the wool trade, and were not repealed until 1814, but had fallen out of use long before that time. Nothing is known of the fate of Oliver seniors other two children. There is no evidence that the family suffered from the ravages of the 'Black Death' or great plague that devastated London and south-eastern England in 1664 to 1666, and was the final manifestation of the bubonic plague outbreaks that periodically swept through the country.

Only John (Chapter 2) is known to have had a family of his own. George moved to Barston, about four miles to the southwest of Elmdon. However Quarter Session returns show that he outstayed his welcome in that village, and that he was ordered to be delivered back to the churchwardens and overseers of Elmdon. The Quarter Sessions were local courts, at which magistrates heard cases of minor misdemeanours or disputes.

OLIVER HANCOCKS b.c1620 d.c1688 m.ANN - BUTCHER

…..OLIVER HANCOCKS bp.1644 bur.1696

…..ANN HANCOCKS bp.1647 d.-

…..GEORGE HANCOCKS bp.1649/50 d.<1658

…..JOHN HANCOCKS bp.1655 (chapter 2)

…..GEORGE HANCOCKS bp.1658 d.>1674