Catalogue description Folio 155v. Stepney to Colt. The O'Rourkes are now awaiting their trial. Hopes they will...

Ordering and viewing options

This record has not been digitised and cannot be downloaded.

You can order records in advance to be ready for you when you visit Kew. You will need a reader's ticket to do this. Or, you can request a quotation for a copy to be sent to you.

Details of SP 105/59/155v
Reference: SP 105/59/155v
Description:

Folio 155v. Stepney to Colt. The O'Rourkes are now awaiting their trial. Hopes they will soon be released, 'tho the prince of Hesse shuffled all along in their business and no relyance can be made on his promises'. He, Stepney, holds 300 florins which the prince hadentrusted him with, against acquittance. Before leaving Vienna, the prince had indeed sent orders to release the brothers and one Peircon was to convey them with 18 soldiers to Trieste where they were to embark for England, the above amount having been allotted them to defray their voyage. These orders were either not dispatched, or intercepted: no-one came to receive them, and the commissary [had] admitted he had given no orders to pay the poor men when they got to Trieste, that is why Stepney persuaded the prince to entrust him with the money. If they are acquitted and released, he Stepney, believes the prince to be too generous to revoke what he had once given and will be content that Stepney paid them the money to pursue their journey. 'Our poor Irish regiment is fallen to pieces'. No care has been taken of them in the prince's absence. They were placed in garrison at Peterwardein, '(that most unwholesome place in all Hungary)' where the officers 'by debauchery' and the private soldiers 'for mere want' have 'fallen into the distemper of the countrey and in 3 months time melted like snow'. The few officers left asked to be employed in the siege [of Belgrade], but the duke of Croy rejected them for their unfitness and sent them back to Moh cs where of 1,700 only 200 men 'are on their legs which might have been remedied if the Irish were capable of any discipline'.

Date and Place: 1693 Sept 9 Vienna

Date: 1693 Sept 9
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Closure status: Open Document, Open Description

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research