“Haec omnia prudentia ac felicitate summa, victor sine sanguine perfecit”
He accomplished all these things with the greatest prudence and success, a victor without bloodshed.
If you visit Brown's Hotel, which is said to appear as Bertram's Hotel in Agatha Christie's Miss Marple series, you will go in the main entrance in Albemarle Street. If you think about the street at all, rather than looking forward to the hotel's culinary delights and excellent service, your mind may wander to the fact that it was the first one-way street in London.
I doubt one in a thousand people would think about the first Duke of Albemarle, George Monck. Yet he was responsible for the happy conclusion of the restoration that brought to an end a long civil war that, after the death of Cromwell, was on the cusp of reigniting.
Monck's early career is worthy of Winston Churchill's “My Early Life”, for its excitement and bravado. In 1625 his father, Sir Thomas, was arrested by the undersheriff of Devonshire, as he went to pay his respects to the King. George beat up the lowly official and went on an expedition to Cadiz to avoid a scandal.
This began his military career, as the accidental consequence of filial piety, rather than as an astute career move. It may well have taught him a valuable lesson, because one of the most notable aspects of his behaviour throughout the Civil War was that he kept his cards close to his chest, and did not act in the heat of the moment.
At the outbreak of the English Civil War, Monck was the client of the Earl of Leicester, and on the King's side, but was clearly torn in his loyalties. He was posted to Ireland, and his reputation with his troops was excellent. He was undoubtedly a highly competent soldier, but when he returned to England in 1643 he refused to take the oath of loyalty that the Irish Army was expected to take before travelling to England.
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