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Auction: 17020 - Autographs, Historical Documents, Ephemera and Postal History
Lot: 835

Autographs
1689 The Siege of Londonderry
1689 (3 April) A.L.S. from Major General Percy Kirke in Chester addressed, "To Mr Blaithwaite, Secretary of Warr to his Majie at Whitehall", the letter reads, "I rec'd yours for wh I return you thanks, the two Regiments, Cunninghams & Richards are not yet on board, by reason the winds have not been faire so that I have ordered my Regt. to continue in their quarters till the others are shipt". The address panel is headed "For his Matie's Service" and bears a good strike of the small Bishop Mark "AP/5". Usual folding creases, otherwise clean and fine. Photo

Lt. Col. John Cunningham and Col. Solomon Richards reached the Foyle estury on 14th April 1689, having been ordered by King William to assist the people of Londonderry, who had declared for William. The deputy Governor, Lt. Col. Robert Lundy, was a strong supporter of the Jacobites and persuaded Cunningham that the city was about to surrender and induced them to withdraw. When the Protestants found out, they closed the gates, forcing Lundy to escape. When the Jacobite King James arrived at the gates with an army he was expecting to receive the surrender but was met with opposition and fired upon.



Major General Percy Kirke re-embarked his troops and sailed around the coast to Lough Swilly, able now to attack the Jacobite forces from behind. He was ordered to return to the River Foyle, to force the boom and enter Londonderry. This involved a Royal Navy attack which involved sailors in whalers who used axes to break the boom. The siege was broken on 1st August, after 105 days

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