First Army Plot

The Army Plots of 1641 were two real or alleged attempts by Royalist supporters of Charles I of England to use the army to crush dissent among members of the English parliament in the run-up to the English Civil War. The plan was to move the army stationed in York down to London and to use it to reassert royal authority. It was also claimed that the plotters were seeking French military aid and that they planned to seize and fortify towns to become Royalist strongholds.

The exposure of the plots by leading Parliamentarians such as John Pym allowed the Parliament faction to gain the upper hand by imprisoning or forcing into exile many of the king's supporters, including his wife Henrietta Maria. According to Conrad Russell, it remains unclear "who plotted with whom to do what" and that "Charles I's plots, like his grandmother's lovers, are capable of growing in the telling". Nevertheless, there were clearly real attempts to negotiate the movement of troops to London.

The so-called "first army plot" unfolded between March and May 1641. It emerged after discontent in the English army with parliament grew following the grant of funds for the Scottish army which had earlier been intended for the English. George Goring proposed that the army at York should march south to threaten Parliament. The poet-soldiers William Davenant and John Suckling, along with Henry Jermyn, supported the move and hoped to occupy the Tower of London. This was linked to a plan to free the king's supporter, Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, who had been imprisoned in the Tower by Parliament. Meanwhile, Henry Percy was also independently planning to petition Parliament for financial support for the army.

At a meeting with the king and queen, Percy and Goring discussed the proposal to bring the main army south. Rumours began to circulate that the king would take command of the army and that French troops would be sent in support. However, the main body of the soldiery refused to accept the proposals and so it was abandoned. Goring told Mountjoy Blount, 1st Earl of Newport, of the plans. Blount passed on the information indirectly to leading Parliamentarian John Pym in April. Davenant and Suckling, however, still planned to seize the Tower. Soldiers loyal to the king were placed in position, but the situation soon became known to Parliament, and a stand-off developed. Soldiers loyal to Parliament quickly took control of the Tower.

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