Major-General Robert Overton 1609 to 1678, was a member of the landed gentry from Yorkshire, who fought for Parliament during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and reached the rank of Major General in 1652. A committed republican and religious Independent, he opposed the establishment of The Protectorate, and was held in the Tower of London from 1655 to 1659.
Overton escaped punishment following the May 1660 Stuart Restoration, but was arrested for sedition in December. Apart from a few brief spells of freedom, he was not finally released until 1671, after which he lived with his daughter in Seaton, Rutland, where he died at the end of 1678.
A close friend of John Milton, Overton wrote various articles and pamphlets, as well as poetry. His religious beliefs helped him endure long periods of imprisonment, once noting “There are given to us exceeding great and precious promises; if in patience we possess our spirits, we shall inherit the promises".
Personal details Robert Overton was born 1609 in Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire, eldest son of John Overton (d.1653) and his wife Joanne (1581–1656). He had four brothers and sisters, Germaine (1608–1679), Thomas (b.1610), Griselda (1612–1671), and Anne.
In June 1632, Overton married Anne Gardiner (1616–1665), and they had twelve children, seven of whom were still living when he died in 1678. They included John (1635–1684), Benjamin (1647–1711), Anne, and three other daughters. The Easington estate was passed to John when Robert was imprisoned for the second time, to stop it being sequestered by the crown. Two leases to John dated 1 November 1661 and 7 November 1661, put the estate in lease to John for 99 years, and the ultimate benefit of Ebenezer (Benjamin) and Fairfax, the only other two sons alive at that time. That is why John is not mentioned in his father's will.
The south aisle of All Saints' Church in Easington contains a Lady Chapel. Above the altar is a monument dated 1651 which was placed there by Maj. Gen. Robert Overton in memory of his parents, "the deceased but never to be divided John Overton and his wife Joan".Nan Overton West. References page 52
Career As positions hardened during the period leading up to the First English Civil War in August 1642, Robert Overton supported the Parliamentarian cause, probably influenced by Sir William Constable, 1st Baronet, who later became a regicide.Nan Overton West References Page 94 When the war began, he tried to join the army of Lord Ferdinando Fairfax, but no official positions were available. He was allowed to fight without any definite rank and distinguished himself in the defence of Hull and at the Battle of Marston Moor.Nan Overton West References Page 96Barbara Taft ODNB citing E. Ludlow, The Memoirs of Edmund Ludlow, ed. C. H. Firth, 2 vols., 1894, 1.65 and John Milton Complete Prose Works, 4, pt 1, 676 In August 1645, the governor of Pontefract, Sir Thomas Fairfax, appointed Overton deputy governor of Pontefract.Barbara Taft ODNB Shortly after this appointment Overton captured Sandal Castle. Overton was acting governor during the siege of Pontefract Castle; it was reported that he was inconsiderate to Lady Cutler and refused to let Sir Gervaise Cutler be buried in the church.Nan Overton West References page 60: Poulson used a diary of Nathan Drake, a royalist defender of Pontefract Castle and a political foe of Overton
Having gained a commission in the New Model Army in July 1647, he was given command of the late Colonel Herbert's Regiment of Foot. During the political debates within the New Model Army he appeared as a member of the Army Council sitting on the committee for the duration of the Putney Debates. In March 1648, Fairfax appointed Overton deputy governor of Kingston upon Hull. There he became acquainted with notable puritan and poet Andrew Marvell, but was a very unpopular with the townsfolk. They were known to be sympathetic to the Royalist cause when in June 1648 the town Mayor and some of the town council petitioned for his removal. The sources differ as to his actions during Second English Civil War, but one historian concluded that he spent the war in Hull, while another that he fought with Oliver Cromwell in Wales and the North of England, capturing the Isle of Axholme; that he was also with Cromwell when Charles I was taken to the Isle of Wight.
Overton enthusiastically supported the trial of the King in late 1648 and early 1649, but wrote that he only wanted him deposed and not executed. He disagreed with other points of policy of the early Commonwealth government publishing his position in a pamphlet titled "The declaration of the officers of the garrison of Hull in order to the peace and settlement of the kingdom" and accompanying letter to Thomas Fairfax, in early January.English dissenters: levellers The letter makes it clear that he supported actions like Pride's Purge if the "corrupt Commons" stopped the Army's reforms. Barbara Taft reflected in the last six pages of the declaration the case made in the RemonstranceFull title: "Remonstrance of his Excellency Thomas Lord Fairfax, Lord Generall of the Parliaments Forces. And of the Generall Councell of Officers Held at St. Albans the 16. of November, 1648" by the New Model Army to Parliament, the rejection of which had triggered Pride's Purge: a speedy end to the present parliament; a succession of free biennial parliaments with an equitable distribution of seats; future kings elected by the people's representatives and having no negative voice; a 'universal and mutual Agreement, … enacted and decreed, in perpetuum', that asserts that the power of parliament is 'inferior only to that of the people'|Declaration of the Officers of the Garrison of HullBarbra Taft citing The Declaration of the Officers of the Garrison of Hull, 1 March 1649, 4, 15,16
As divisions within the New Model Army widened during the Summer of 1649, fear spread that that disunity would be exploited by their enemies, Overton issued a letter that made it clear that he sided with the Rump Parliament and the Grandees against the Levellers. When the Third Civil War broke out in 1650 he accompanied Cromwell to Scotland and commanded a Foot Brigade at the Battle of Dunbar his regiment was also involved in the English Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Inverkeithing (20 July 1651) where Colonel Overton commanded the reserve.Nan Overton West References Page 60 When New Model Army returned to England in pursuit of the invading Royalist Scottish army, Overton remained in Scotland as governor of Edinburgh. He helped complete the subjugation of Scotland and commanded an expedition to reduce the garrison forces on Orkney. On 14 May 1652, a grateful Parliament voted Scottish lands to him with an annual income of 400 pounds sterling per year. In December 1652, when George Monck's successor Richard Deane was recalled, the General appointed him as Military Commander over all English forces in the Western Highlands with the governorship of Aberdeen, the senior rank of Major-General.
On his father's death in 1653, he returned to England inheriting the family estates in Easington as eldest son and heir. At the same time he resumed duties as Governor of Hull. During 1650, he and his wife had become members of the "church": in retrospect he considered the execution of Charles I as a fulfilment of the fundamentals of Old Testament scripture so often cited in Ezekiel 21:26-27:
"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him."Ezekiel 21:26-27 concerning the humble and the meek, exorcised by God in "overturning" the established order. Overton wrote: "the Lord...is forced to shake and shake and overturn and overturn; this is a shaking, overturning dispensation." Some sources promoted the belief he was a Fifth Monarchist, but his views seemed to have spanned several of the religious beliefs and political grouping of the day and it is difficult to label him as belonging to any one group.
He hailed Cromwell's dissolution of the Rump Parliament in June 1653, yet subsequently became disenchanted, suspicious of Cromwell as more dictator than Lord Protector. Although his letters to Cromwell remained cordial, during the early years of the Protectorate he seems to have become more inclined to distance himself from the Lord Protector, advising a diminution with the speed of reform. Cromwell informed him that he could keep his position in the army so long as he promised to relinquish his office when he could no longer support the policies of the Protectorate. In September 1654, he returned to his command in Scotland, a conveniently long distance from GHQ in London. There he planned a coup d'état; in December 1654, Overton was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower for his part in the self-styled "Overton Revolt". It was alleged that a verse in Overton's handwriting was found amongst his papers:
He was accused of planning a military insurrection against the government and plotting to assassinate Monck. It is not clear how involved he was in the plot, but he was good friends with Monck at the time, so it was unlikely he was involved. But whatever his real position he was considered too lenient with his "disaffected officers" in sanctioning their meetings and there was evidence that he held meetings with John Wildman, an incorrigible Leveller plotter, prepared to use anyone to bring down the government. Later while in the Tower of London, he wrote to others informing them of Wildman's plans. At the time a fellow prisoner wrote of Overton, "He was a great independent, civil and decent, a scholar, but a little pedantic."In 1655 Cromwell was convinced enough of his guilt to have him removed from the governorship of Hull and to confiscate the lands granted to him by Parliament in Scotland handing them back to Earl of Leven the owner before they were sequestrated.House of Commons Journal Volume 7 29 July 1659
Overton remained incarcerated in the Tower until March 1658 when he was moved to Elizabeth Castle on the island of Jersey. Barbara Taft mentions that "It is not unlikely that respect for Overton's ability and fear of his appeal as an opposition leader played a major role in his imprisonment." After Cromwell's death and the re-installation of the Commonwealth, Grizelle, his sister, his wife Anne, her brother, and many Republicans, presented his case to Parliament, on 3 February 1659, along with letters from Overton's close friend John Milton. Overton and John Milton probably became acquainted from an early moment in their careers in St Giles, Cripplegate, where they removed and lived for a time. Milton considered Overton a scholar and celebrated him and his exploits in his Defensio Secunda by writing:
"...bound to me these many years past in friendship of more than brotherly closeness and affection, both by the similarity of our tastes and the sweetness of your manners." Milton also included Overton in his list of "twelve apostles of revolutionary integrity."