Documents concerning the anti-enclosure riots at Gillingham. These papers, together with NP/72-73, constitute an important source for riots in the seventeenth century. The papers comprise:
- /1: Examinations of William Akerman of Gillingham and others concerning the riots, taken by Matthew Davis, 7 May and 9 June 1643.
- /2: Copy of an order of the House of Lords to Captain [Edmund] Ludlowe commanding him to arrest the rioters and detain them in Wardour Castle and to send them up to London via Southampton, 3 July 1643.
- /3: Evidence of witnesses at the committee of complaint (incomplete), n.d.
- /4-6: Breviates of the Earl of Elgin's case concerning the riots in contempt of the order of the House of Lords, [1643].
- /7-8: Two Latin documents concerning the riots.
- /9: Queries upon the Statute of Westminster, n.d.
- /10: Accusation against Mr John Phillipps sent by Mr [Thomas] Brunker, November 1646.
- /11: Copy of an order of the House of Lords for enabling a justice of the peace to examine the riot at Gillingham and to certify it to the Lords, and for sending down messengers to apprehend the offenders, 16 May 1643.
- /12: Copy of the examination of William Akerman of Gillingham and others against Richard Butler, taken by Matthew Davis, 7 July 1643.
- /13: D aft of an order of the House of Lords for sending a messenger for some of the rioters named in Captain Edmund Ludlowe's order, [1643].
- /14: Draft of the case of Gillingham for Mr Browne's [Clerk of the House of Lords] instruction, October 1645.
- /15-18: Statement by the Earl of Elgin that if Mr [Richard] Butler confesses who were the principal rioters at Gillingham, then he is content that Butler 'may be fit for the mercy or justice of this house, as his case and carriage shall deserve', and other papers concerning Butler's petition to the Lords to be released from prison, n.d.
- /19: Morgan Horder's accusation against John Philips in the riot at Gillingham, 29 November 1646.
- /20: Copy of the writ (in Latin) upon the Second Statute of Westminster, upon which the inquisition for the riot at Gillingham was taken.
- /21: Names of those who were fined in Star Chamber for the riots at Gillingham and who also took part in the later riots, September 1646.
- /22: Summary description of the Gillingham riots from their beginnings in April 1643.
- /23: Copy of the examination of William Akerman of Gillingham and others against Richard Butler, taken by Matthew Davis, n.d.
- /24: 'The course intended to be prosecuted in the Gillingham riot', by the advice of Mr Maynard.
- /25-28: Precedents upon the Second Statute of Westminster to be made use of in the case of Gillingham, n.d.
- /29: Copy of the examination of William Akerman of Gillingham and others against Richard Butler, taken by Matthew Davis, 7 July 1643.
- /30: Letter from Matthew Davis at Shaftesbury to the House of Lords, forwarding the examinations of witnesses against Richard Butler upon the complaint of the Earl of Elgin, taken by him according to the order of the Lords dated 11 May, 8 July 1643.
On the Gillingham riots, see David Underdown, Revel, riot, and rebellion: popular politics and culture in England 1603-1660 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), pp. 161-2.