This week I’ve uploaded to Github transcripts of accounts of money paid out by two of the treasurers of the Earl of Essex’s army in the First Civil War (there was a third treasurer but I haven’t found any accounts of his payments). Together these include over 4,000 rows of data giving details of payments to army officers, providing useful evidence for the careers of individual units and members of their personnel. There may be a few entries for civilian contractors for purchase or hire of goods or services. Like the New Model Army procurement records, these could be useful for business history.

These accounts are strong evidence for some important facts that may not be well-known, and where better known sources are either misleading or are correct but are weaker evidence than contemporary financial records (see readme file for more details and references):

• the parliamentarian forces at the siege of Portsmouth were commanded by Sir John Meldrum, not Sir William Waller.
• Philip Skippon’s foot regiment first appears in the surviving accounts for Essex’s army in November 1642. Skippon was first paid as Major-General of Essex’s army in January 1643. In both cases, there may have been earlier payments from the other treasurer whose accounts have not been found.
• Henry Billingsley was moved sideways from Lieutenant-Colonel of Denzil Holles’s foot regiment to be assistant to the Major-General in late August 1642.
• Nathaniel, John, and Francis Fiennes were all paid only as captains of horse in 1642. Nathaniel was first paid as Colonel in March 1643.