RIDDELLS OF NEWCASTLE AND GATEshead.
141
ent Trinity Chapel, in the High Street of Gateshead, suffered often and
severely from the ravages of the Presbyterian forces. In the year 1640,
while the Scottish army occupied Newcastle, he sent a petition to King
Charles on account of the destruction of his property at the hands of the
soldiers, whereby, as he alleged, he and his posterity were "like to be ruin-
ated and undone." There was no help, however, under existing circum-
stances, as will appear from the following letter, which has been considered
by some as apocryphal. It purports to have been written by one Captain
Leslie to Sir Thomas Ridell, of Gateshead House. It runs thus:
"SIR THOMAS. -Between me and Gad, it maks my heart blead blued to see sic
wark gae thro sae trim a garden as yours. I ha been twa times we my cusiu the
Generall, and sae shall I sax times mair afore the warks gae that gate.
But gin awe this be dune, Sir Thamas, ye maun mak the twenty pounds
thraty, and I maun hae the tagg'd-tail trooper that stands in the staw, and the wee
trim-gaeing thing that stands in the newk o' the haw, chirping and chiming at the
neun-tide o' day, and forty bows of bier to saw the maens withawe. And as I am a
chevalier of fortin, and a limb o' the house of Rothes, as the muckle maun kist in
Edinburgh Auld Kirk can weel witness for these aught hundred years and mair
bygane, nought shall skaith your house, within or without, to the valedome of a
twapenny checken. I am your humble sarvant,
JOHN LESSLEY,
Major General and Captain over sax score and twa men and some mair; Crouner
of Cumberland, Northumberland, Murryland, and Riddesdale, the Merce, Tiviotdale,
and Fife; Bailie of Kirkadie; Governor of Brunt Eland and the Bass; Laird of
Libertone, Tilley and Whoolly; Siller-Tacker of Stirling; Constable of Leith; and
Sir John Lesslie, Knight, to the bute of awe that."
After the surrender of Tynemouth Castle, which was necessitated by
"the pestilence having been five weeks amongst the garrison with a great
mortalitie, soe that they were glad to yeald, and to scatter themselves
abroad," the knight made his way to Berwick-on-Tweed, from which place
he made his escape to the Continent in a small fishing-smack. He died at
Antwerp in 1652, two years after the death of his father, "a broken and
banished man," his lordship of Tunstal having previously been sold to
satisfy the composition levied upon him, amounting to about as much as it
was worth, in the then depressed state of the land market. He married
in 1629, Barbara, daughter of Sir Alexander Davidson, Knight of Blakis-
ton, and widow of Ralph Calverly, by whom he had issue, of whom here-
after.
Peter Ridell¹ (6), third son of Thomas¹2 (7), died sine prole.
Hon. George Ridell¹s (2), fourth son of Thomas¹2 (7), born in 1602,
was Doctor of Civil Law, Judge Advocate in the Army of the Marquis
of Newcastle, and during the siege of Hull, in 1645; married Jane, daugh-
and by her had a son and daughter, of whom hereafter.
ter and co-heir of. Eysdale, Chancellor of the Diocese of York,
and by her had a son and daughter, of whom hereafter.
Robert Ridell18 (3), fifth son of Thomas12 (7), born in 1612, married a
French lady, named Magdalen. No account of a family, but he was pre-
sumably ancestor of some branch of the Riddell family that cannot now
be properly made out.
Ephraim Ridell18 (1), sixth son of Thomas¹2 (7), born in 1615.
Annie Ridell¹³ (2), eldest daughter of Thomas¹2 (7), was the wife of
Sir John Clavering, Knight of Callaly.
Elizabeth Ridell¹s (1), second daughter of Thomas¹2 (7), died in 1606.
Mary Ridell (1), third daughter of Thomas12 (7), was the wife of
Sir Francis Radcliffe, Baronet of Dilston.
