Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Langdale, Marmaduke
LANGDALE, MARMADUKE, first Lord Langdale (1598?–1661), was the son of Peter Langdale of Pighill, near Beverley, by Anne, daughter of Michael Wharton of Beverley Park (Burke, Extinct Peerage, 1883, p. 314). He was knighted by Charles I at Whitehall on 5 Feb. 1827-8 (Metcalfe, Book of Knights, p. 188). His family were Roman catholics, and are returned as still recusants in the list of 1715 (Cosin, List of Roman Catholics, &c. ed. 1862, p. 599). In 1639 he opposed the levy of ship-money on Yorkshire. 'I hear,' writes Strafford, 'my old friend Sir Marmaduke Langdale appears in the head of this business; that gentlemen I fear carries an itch about with him, that will never let him take rest, till at one time or other he happen to be thoroughly clawed indeed' (Strafford Letters, ii. 308; cf. Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640, p. 222). Nevertheless, when the civil war began, Langdale, no doubt because of the severity of the parliament against catholics, adopted the king's cause with the greatest devotion. He was sent by the Yorkshire royalists in September 1642 to the Earl of Newcastle, to engage him to march into Yorkshire to their assistance, and was one of the committee appointed to arrange terms with him (Life of the Duke of Newcastle, ed. Firth, pp. 333, 336). About February 1643 he raised a regiment of foot in the East Riding, but he was chiefly distinguished as a cavalry commander (Slingsby, Memoirs, ed. Parsons, p. 93). Newcastle employed him as an intermediary in his successful attempt to gain over the Huthams, and in his unsuccessful overtures to Colonel Hutchinson (Sanford, Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, p. 553; Life of Colonel Hutchinson, ed. Firth, i. 377). Rebels, he wrote to Hutchinson, might be successful for a time, but generally had cause to repent in the end, and neither the law of the land nor any religion publicly professed in England allowed subjects to time up arms against their natural prince. 'I will go on,' he concluded, 'in that wny that I doubt not shall gain the king his right forth of the usurper's hand wherever I find it.' When the Scots army invaded England, Langdale defeated their cavalry at Corbridge, Northumberland, 19 Feb. 1844 (Life of the Duke of Newcastle, p. 350; Rushworth, v. 614). At Marston Moor he probably fought on the left wing with the northern horse under the command of General Goring. After the battle this division retreated through Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, to Chester, and were defeated on the way at Ormskirk (21 Aug.) and Malpas (26 Aug.), Langdale commanding in both actions (Civil War Tracts of Lancashire, ed. Ormerod, p. 204; Phillips, Civil War in Wales, ii. 200). He joined the king's main army at the beginning of November 1644, just after the second battle of Newbury (Walker, Historical Discourses, p. 116). Langdale's northern horsemen were anxious to return to the relief of their friends. 'I beseech your highness,' wrote Langdale to Rupert, 'let not our countrymen upbraid us with ungratefulness in deserting them, but rather give us leave to try what we can do; it will be some satisfaction to us that we die amongst them in revenge of their quarrells' (12 Jan. 1645; Rupert MSS.) Langdale was allowed to try, marched north, defeated Colonel Rossiter at Melton Mowbray on 25 Feb., and raised the siege of Pontefract on 1 March (Surtees Society Miscellanea, 1801, 'Siege of Pontefract,' p. 14; Warburton, Prince Rupert, iii. 68; Mercurius Aulicus, 8 March 1645). This was his most brilliant piece of soldiership during the war. He rejoined the king's army at Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, on 8 May 1645, and took part in the capture of Leicester (Diary of Richard Symonds, p. 168). At the battle of Naseby (14 June 1645) Langdale commanded the king's left wing, but after a gallant resistance it was completely broken by Cromwell (Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, p. 39). He was equally unfortunate in his encounter with Major-general Poynts at Rowton Heath, near Chester (Symonds, p. 242; Walker, pp. 130, 139). On 13 Oct. Langdale and some fifteen hundred horse, under the command of Lord Digby, started from Newark to join Montrose in Scotland, but were defeated on 15 Oct. at Sherburn in Yorkshire. Langdale in antique fashion made a speech to his soldiers before the fight, telling them that some people 'scandalised their gallantry for the loss of Naseby field,' and that now was the time to redeem their reputation. A second defeat from Sir John Browne at Carlisle sands completely scattered the little army, and Langdale, Digby, and a few officers 'fled over to the Isle of Man in a cock-boat' (Vicars, Burning Bush, pp. 297, 308; Clarendon MSS. 1992, 2003), He landed in France in May 1646 (Cary, Memorials of the Civil War, i. 33).
On the approach of the second civil war Langdale was despatched to Scotland with a commission from Charles II, directing him to observe the orders of the Earls of Lauderdale and Lanark (February 1648; Burnet, Lives of the Hamiltons, 1852, p. 426). On 28 April he surprised Berwick, quickly raised a body of northern royalists, and published a 'Declaration for the King' (Gardiner, Great Civil War, iii. 370). Lambert, who commanded the parliamentary forces in the north, forced him to retire into Carlisle, and he joined the Scots with three thousand foot and six hundred horse when they advanced into Lancashire about 15 Aug. 1648. At the battle of Preston on 17 Aug. his division was exposed almost entirely unsupported to the attack of Cromwell'a army and was routed after a severe straggle. Friends and enemies alike admitted that they fought like heroes, though some Scottish authorities attribute the defeat to the inefficiency of Langdale's scouts (ib. pp. 434, 436, 442; Clarendon, xi. 48, 75; Burnet, p. 453; Langdale's own narrative is printed in Lancashire Civil War Tracts, p. 267). Langdale accompanied Hamilton's march as far as Uttoxeter, fled with a few officers to avoid surrendering, and was captured on 23 Aug. near Nottingham (Life of Colonel Hutchinson, ii. 385). On 21 Nov. parliament voted that he should be one of the seven persons absolutely excepted from pardon, but he had escaped from Nottingham Castle about the beginning of the month, and found his way to the continent (Gardiner, iii. 510; Rushworth, vii. 1325). In June 1649 Charles II sent Langdale and Sir Lewis Dives to assist the Earl of Derby in the defence of the Isle of Man (A Declaration of Sir Marmaduke Langdale ... in vindication of James, Earl of Derby, 4to, 1649).
According tn the newspapers Langdale next entered the Venetian service, and distinguished himself in the defence of Candia against the Turks (The Perfect Account, 6-13 May 1653). When war broke out between the Dutch and the English republic, Langdale came to Holland, and made a proposal for seizing Newcastle and Tynemouth with the aid of the Dutch, giving them in return the right of selling the coal (Cal. Clarendon Papers, ii. 149). Hyde now came into collision with Langdale, whom he describes as 'a man hard to please, and of a very weak understanding, yet proud, and much in love with his own judgment,' and very eager to forward the interests of the catholics (Clarendon State Papers, iii. 135, 181; Nicholas Papers, ii. 3). Though a large party in the north of England desired his presence to head a rising, he was not employed by the king in the attempted insurrection of 1668, and complained of this neglect. He was concerned, however, in the plot discovered in the spring of 1658 (Thurloe Papers, i. 716). Charles II created him a peer at Bruges, 4 Feb. 1668, by the title of Baron Langdale of Holme in Spaldingmore, Yorkshire (Dugdale, Baronage, ii. 475; Burke, Extinct Peerage, 1883, p. 314). Langdale's estates, however, had been wholly confiscated by the parliament, and he had been reduced to great poverty during his stay in the Low Countries. According to Lloyd his losses in the king's cause amounted to 160,000l (Memoirs of Excellent Personages, &c., 1668, p. 549). In April 1660 Hyde described him to Barwick as 'retired to a monastery in Germany to live with more frugality' (Life of John Barwick, p. 508). In April 1661 he begged to be excused attendance at the king's coronation on the ground that he was too poor (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1660-1, p. 564). He died at his house at Holme on 5 Aug. 1661, and was I buried at Sancton in the neighbourhood (Dougdale, Baronage, ii. 476). A painting of Langdale was in 1868 in the possession of the Hon. Mrs. Stourton. An engraved portrait, with an autograph is in 'Thane's Series.'
By his wife Lenox, daughter of John Rodes of Barlborough, Derbyshire, he left a son, Marmaduke (d. 1703), who succeeded him in the title, and was governor of Hull in the interest of James II when the town was surprised by Colonel Copley in 1688 (Reresby, Memoirs, ed. Cartwright, p. 430). The title became extinct on the death of the fifth Lord Langdale in 1777 (Collins, ix. 423; Burke, Extinct Peerages, p. 314).
[Letters of Langdale are to be found among the Clareadon MSS., the Nicholas MSS., and in Correspondence of Prince Rupert. For pedigrees see Foster's Visitations of Yorkshire in 1584 and 1612, p. 129, and Poulson's Holderness, ii. 264.]