Talk:Francis Ottley

Incomplete sentence
Under the section "Complaints, opposition and repression", appears an incomplete sentence:

He issued an order that George Baxter, the widely respected puritan rector of Little Wenlock, who had fled the area.[65]

Please complete. The omission may have been a simple error of writing rather than vandalism.Cloptonson (talk) 20:39, 11 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Not sure whta the cause was, but I hope the fix I've applied is satisfactory Sjwells53 (talk) 18:52, 13 September 2015 (UTC).

"active in local politics" (pre 1642) - more detail welcomed
The section "Royalist seizure of Shrewsbury" begins: Ottley was already active in local politics before the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642..

For an otherwise quite detailed article, this reads somewhat vaguely. It would help if there were demonstration of his local political activity - magistracy, membership of municipal council, seat in parliament?Cloptonson (talk) 20:46, 11 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I can only agree with you. I simply repeated what ODNB has to say. I couldn't find any evidence that it was true, but I doubt I read quite as widely as the author. My suspicion is that Ottley's political activity pre-1642 was largely confined to monitoring the situation and disseminating news and propaganda among a local circle - perhaps held together mainly by kinship. However, he was not a young man and he seems to have risen very rapidly in 1642, with all the right contacts to take and hold power, so perhaps he did have some more definite political experience. On the other hand, people on the opposite side do seem to have emerged in the same way. For example, Walter Barker of Haughmond was a member of a political family but had not himself done much politically before the crisis began to escalate c. 1640. He was never an MP, although other Barkers were. Basically, like Ottley, his activity mainly involved networking and agitating among related gentry circles. When the hostilities began, however, he quickly raised a huge contribution towards Parliamentary mobilisation and was arrested while trying to ship the cash down to Bristol. Possibly the situation did in some cases bring out commitment and abilities that otherwise might have lain dormant. Many of the middling gentry seem to have laboured under a huge burden of debt, probably actively avoiding expensive political and judicial office wherever possible during normal times; but a large number emerged to lead both sides once the die was cast. Sjwells53 (talk) 19:13, 13 September 2015 (UTC)