Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monckton, Philip
MONCKTON, Sir PHILIP (1620?–1679), royalist, was son of Sir Francis Monckton, knight, by Margaret, daughter of Thomas Savile of Northgate Head, Wakefield. Both his father, who was knighted by Charles I on 25 June 1642, and his grandfather, Sir Philip Monckton of Cavil Hall, near Howden in Yorkshire, adopted the cause of Charles I, and were fined by the parliament as delinquents (Calendar of Compounders, p. 1074). Philip Monckton the younger was captain of Sir Thomas Metham's regiment of foot when the king attacked Hull in July 1642, distinguished himself at the battle of Atherton Moor, and in Newcastle's campaign against the Scots in the spring of 1644. He
had a horse killed under him at Marston Moor, and three at Naseby, and was wounded at the battle of Rowton Heath. He was knighted at Newcastle, probably in 1644 (Monckton Papers, pp. 1-21). In the second civil war Monckton had (in the absence of Sir Marmaduke Langdale) the chief command of the Yorkshire cavaliers, which he shared with Major-general Gilbert Byron and Colonel Robert Portington. He was defeated by Colonel Edward Rossiter at Willoughby Field, on the borders of Nottinghamshire (5 July 1648), and taken prisoner (ib. pp. 22, 44; Zachary Grey, Examination of Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, iii. 24; Rushworth, vii. 1183). After five months' imprisonment in Lincoln Castle he was given a pass for the continent by Lord Fairfax (December 1648), and was allowed by parliament to compound for his estate on payment of 220l. 145. 6d. He returned to England about 1650, engaged in plots for Charles II, and in 1655 was for some months imprisoned in Lambeth House (Cal. Clarendon Papers, ii. 400, 440; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655, p. 215; Monckton Papers, pp. 86, 100). Again, in August 1659, he concerted the surprise of York, and in January 1660, when the gates of York were opened to Lord Fairfax, Monckton claims that he was mainly instrumental in procuring the submission of the garrison (ib. pp. 24-42; Kennett, Register, p. 6). He greatly exaggerated his own services, and asserted in 1673 that he was more instrumental in his majesty's restoration than any man alive.' In a petition which he presented to Charles in 1667, he reminded the king of a promise made in 1653, that if it pleased God to restore him, Monckton should share with him (Monckton Papers, pp. 86, 102). All he received, however, was the post of controller of the excise and customs at Dunkirk (August 1661; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1661-2, p. 78). On 3 Dec. 1673 he was granted the profits of the seigniory of Howdenshire belonging to the bishopric of Durham (Monckton Papers, p. 105). The meagreness of these rewards he attributed to the malign influence of Clarendon, who 'said he was mad and not fit for any employment.' Consequently he accused Clarendon of duplicity, and of favouring the king's enemies, and complained that he disregarded a dangerous nonconformist plot which Monckton's exertions had discovered (Lister, Life of Clarendon, iii. 532). He also threatened to accuse Lord Belasyse of betraying the king's adherents to Cromwell unless Belasyse [see Belasyse, John, Baron Belasyse, 1614-1689] did something for him (Monckton Papers, p. 100). It is not surprising that in July 1676 Monckton was committed to the Tower 'for writing into the country scandalous letters to defame the government and privy councillors' (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. pt. vii. p. 128). Monckton was sheriff of Yorkshire in 1675, and was returned to parliament for Scarborough in November 1670. He also held various military appointments. On 16 July 1660 Monck commissioned him as captain in the foot regiment of Lord Belasyse; on 2 July 1666 he received a commission as lieutenant of Sir George Savile's troop of horse, and on 26 March 1668 he was given a company in Colonel John Russell's regiment of guards. His will, dated 7 Feb. 1678, was proved at York on 12 April 1679.
Monckton married Anne, daughter of Robert Eyre of High Low, Derbyshire. His grandson, John Monckton, was in 1727 created Viscount Galway in the peerage of Ireland. A portrait of Sir Philip and other relics are in the possession of the present Viscount Galway. The portrait was No. 770 in the Exhibition of National Portraits of 1866.
[The main authority for Monckton's life is his own memoir, printed, with letters and other documents, from the originals in the possession of Lord Galway, by Mr. Edward Peacock, for the Philobiblon Society in 1884. Part of this memoir is printed in the Annual Register, 1805, p. 883, and some extracts are in Kennett's Register, 1728, p. 6. and in Lister's Life of Clarendon, 1837, iii. 532-5; see Lansdowne MS. 988, f. 320. The defeat at Willoughby Field is the subject of a pamphlet, 'An important and true Relation of the great A 7 ictory obtained ... by the conjoined Forces of Lincoln, Nottingham, &c., under the Command of Colonel Edward Rossiter,' 4to, 1648, reprinted in the Monckton Papers, App., and in the Life of Col. Hutchinson, ed. 1885, ii. 380.]