Lucy Hutchinson

Lucy Hutchinson

Lucy Apsley, the daughter of Sir Allen Apsley, the Lieutenant of the Tower of London, was born in 1620. She later recalled: "By the time I was four years old I read English perfectly... I had a great memory. I was carried to sermons... and could remember and repeat them exactly... When I was seven years I had tutors teaching me languages, music, dancing, writing and needlework... My father taught me Latin and I was soon better than my brothers who were at school."

When she was eighteen she married John Hutchinson, a large landowner in Nottingham. Lucy Hutchinson and her husband were both Baptists. During the Civil War John was an officer in the Parliamentary army, whereas Lucy worked as a nurse. Share later wrote about her experiences and pointed out that after one battle she even nursed members of the royalist army. "In the encounter only five of our men were hurt... we dressed all their wounds with such success that they were all cured... Seeing three of the prisoners badly bleeding I dressed their wounds also... Captain Palmer came in and told me not to help the enemies of God. I replied, I had a duty to treat them as men, not as enemies."

On the Restoration John Hutchinson was arrested as he had signed the death warrant of Charles I. He died in prison in 1664. Lucy Hutchinson wrote her account of the Civil War and a biography of her husband entitled, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, in about 1670, but it was too critical of the monarchy to be published in her lifetime. In her book she praised the Levellers: "These good-hearted people wanted justice for the poor as well as the mighty... for this they were nicknamed the Levellers... these men were just and honest."

Lucy Hutchinson died in about 1680.

Primary Sources

(1) Lucy Hutchinson was born in 1620. Like the daughters of most wealthy people in England she was taught at home. She wrote her autobiography in about 1670.

By the time I was four years old I read English perfectly... I had a great memory. I was carried to sermons... and could remember and repeat them exactly... When I was seven years I had tutors teaching me languages, music, dancing, writing and needlework... My father taught me Latin and I was soon better than my brothers who were at school.

(2) Lucy Hutchinson worked as a nurse looking after parliamentary soldiers during the Civil War. In her book on the war that she wrote in about 1670 she describes looking after soldiers during a battle in Nottingham.

In the encounter only five of our men were hurt... we dressed all their wounds with such success that they were all cured... Seeing three of the prisoners badly bleeding I dressed their wounds also... Captain Palmer came in and told me not to help the enemies of God. I replied, I had a duty to treat them as men, not as enemies.

(3) Lucy Hutchinson, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson (c. 1670)

Fairfax overcame the king, in the battle at Naseby... The king's coach and cabinet of letters were taken... the letters revealed that the king had been trying to persuade the Danes and Irish to fight for him.

(4) Lucy Hutchinson, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson (c. 1670)

These good-hearted people wanted justice for the poor as well as the mighty... for this they were nicknamed the Levellers... these men were just and honest.

(5) In her book on her husband, Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, Lucy Hutchinson defended his decision to sign the king's death warrant.

In January 1648, the king was brought to his trial... When he was charged with the blood spilt in the war... he smiled... His looks and gestures suggested that his only sorrow was that all the people that opposed him had not been killed... Mr. Hutchinson... addressed himself to God by prayer... God did not signal his favour towards the King...... it was therefore his duty to act as he did.

Student Activities

Military Tactics in the Civil War (Answer Commentary)

Women in the Civil War (Answer Commentary)