This is the first in a series about Commodore Robert F. Stockton, the Founder of Sea Girt.
Robert Field Stockton was born in 1795. He would grow up to be a naval hero, US Senator, and the richest man in New Jersey. His summer home at the Jersey Shore established an estate he called Sea Girt. To better understand his life I’ll dig into his family history.
"...a good moral character is the first essential in a man...It is therefore highly important that you should endeavor not only to be learned but virtuous." -George Washington 1790
Robert Stockton’s grandparents were close friends with George and Martha Washington. Stockton had as good a pedigree as anyone born in the young United States at a time when families held dearly to historical association with high class and nobility.
If the Stockton family history seemed part of a Shakespearian drama, it was because William Shakespeare used the events of the late 1400s in a number of his plays.
Lord Mayor John Stockton
At the end of the Middle Ages, Robert Stockton’s ancestor Sir John Stockton was leader of the Mercers guild and Lord Mayor of London. Sir John was credited with helping to end the Lancasterian Dynasty and ushering in the 118 years of Tudor Kings in 1471.
England had been mired in war with France for the past hundred years. The Dukes in Burgandy and other parts of northern France supported England in the Hundred Years War and France was split into two Kingdoms.
The War of the Roses, (1455-1487) was a series of civil battles over the right to the English Crown, at a time when kings were expected to fight with their armies.
The families of the House of Lancaster (the red rose), The House of York (the white rose), and the House of Tudor (the Tudor rose) battled for control. The era was punctuated by murder, intrigue, skirmishes, and the switching of allegiances.
The Lancaster King Henry VI inherited the crown before his first birthday in 1422. Leadership was thrown into chaos as influencers fought to control the power of the infant king. When Charles VI of Northern France died, Henry VI was also crowned King of France, and he was coronated in Paris at age eight. The southern part of the country was controlled by the French King Charles VII, who was followed by his son Louis XI.
Henry’s power never matched his titles. He was unwell most of his life, suffering from seizures, a skin condition, and paralysis in one leg. Strong nobles and feudal land barons battled for supremacy.
When Henry came of age he was married to Margaret of Anjou, daughter of Rene’ a French Duke and King of Naples. It was an attempt to end the Hundred Years War, by keeping a French Queen in the British royal house. But as Henry reached adulthood and ascended to power, he proved an ineffective ruler. His wife and other interlopers controlled the weak and often incapacitated king.
Henry was imprisoned in the Tower of London for five years by the Duke of York, who deposed the king and was crowned Edward IV. Edward was an imposing 6’4”. He was a battle-hardened and charismatic noble, a sharp contrast to the weak image of Henry.
Killing Henry at this time was not an option. He and Margaret had a half-French son who might be viewed as the rightful king if Edward had killed the weak and ineffective Henry.
Edward had gained the throne through the support of his backer, “The Kingmaker”, Richard Neville, the powerful Earl of Warwick. Once crowned, King Edward had a mind of his own and refused to follow Neville’s directives. When Edward married his subject Elizabeth Woodville for her beauty instead of selecting a more profitable arrangement, the enraged Neville switched loyalties.
In 1469, Neville, not liking his loss of influence, went to war against his king. He captured Edward in battle and imprisoned him in Warwick’s castle, Middleham. It would have been unprofitable to kill Edward because his wife and children took Sanctuary at Westminster Abbey, which was forbidden to assault. Here her children were ready if needed to succeed Edward.
Neville briefly restored Henry to the throne while he tried to get Parliament to crown Neville’s new choice, his son-in-law, and Edward’s brother, the Duke of Clarence. But Edward was too popular in London and loyalists rioted, forcing Neville to free Edward. Edward fled to Flanders. There he gathered troops and ships provided by the Duke of Burgundy and he returned to his throne in London nearly unopposed.
Neville and Clarence sailed to France. There Louis XI convinced Neville to align with Henry’s wife, Margaret of Anjou for a decisive battle to free Henry. When they met, Margaret forced Neville to kneel before her in silence for fifteen minutes. Once forgiven, they planned an assault on Edward in London in 1471. Clarence meanwhile switched teams to support his brother, King Edward.
15th Century depiction of the Battle of Tewksbury
Edward defeated the Earl of Warwick at Barnet in a thick fog and Earl Neville was killed during the fighting. Edward then had to defend Margaret’s double assault. Her Lancasterian troops, including her sixteen-year-old son and Henry’s heir, would land near the Welsh border in the West, while the Bastard of Falconbridge, Thomas Neville, the Earl of Warwick’s cousin, would sail twenty ships to the mouth of the Thames and march on London. Edward raced his troops west and routed Margaret’s troops at Tewksbury. Her son and other supporting nobles were killed.
Thomas Neville, the Bastard of Falconbridge attacks the walls of London while John Stockton leads the defense of the city
The Bastard’s army was left to attack London alone. Edward’s army, tired from the race to Tewksbury had not yet returned and the Bastard had the opportunity to capture or kill Edward’s wife and children and free Henry. The Falconbridge troops approached the city from the southeast. They burned the suburb of Southwark.
John Stockton, the Lord Mayor, and the twelve Aldermen of London rallied the guilds of freemen to protect their property.
The next day at London Bridge, the citizens made a stand and held off the raiders. 5,000 of the Bastard’s troops then attacked the ancient city walls, seeking to breach them at Aldgate and Bishopsgate. But Stockton and the people of London held firm. Supported by the garrison from the Tower of London, and troops from the Earl of Essex, they repelled Falconbridge.
Falconbridge retreated to Sandwich to await reinforcements. Upon learning of the defeat of Margaret, and the death of her son, and fearing the impending return of Edward to London, he eventually surrendered to Edward.
With Henry’s heir dead, and the revolt crushed, Henry VI was killed. The Bastard was eventually beheaded and his head placed on a pike at London Bridge facing Kent. Clarence was made Chamberlain of the King but was later executed by drowning him in a barrel of wine after he planned again to usurp his brother.
John Stockton and the Aldermen of London were knighted for saving the city.
Robert Stockton had a bonafide hero in his family history. Sir John Stockton, Lord Mayor of London would not be the last.