This Civil War coat and armour has survived four centuries in almost perfect condition — apart from the hole made by the musket ball that killed the man who wore it
John Goodall visits Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire to discover the tale of one of its most extraordinary artefacts: the coat worn by a 17th century nobleman when he was killed during one of the key battles of the English Civil War.
James Birch holds the buff coat once worn by John Hussey, the second son of Sir Edward Hussey of Doddington Hall, who was killed in fierce fighting on Foxby Hill at the Battle of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on July 28, 1643.
A hole in the right breast of the leather coat shows precisely where the Royalist cavalry officer was shot. He was just 21 years old.
The fatal musket ball also pierced the collar rim of the breastplate he wore, visible on the chair to the right and in the detail below. There is no exit hole, so the ball must have lodged in his body.
John Hussey's breastplate and coat.
Hussey’s helmet, gloves and boots also remain at the hall, in a very rare and complete survival from the time. They are not well matched, however. The breast plate is suited for a pikeman and the buff coat was, by the standards of the 1640s, both old and thin. The helmet is likewise antiquated, all hinting at the improvised armament of even wealthy soldiers in the Civil War.
‘Many Royalist houses were burnt down,’ says Birch, ‘but Doddington may have been spared because one of John Hussey’s aunts was married to Ferdinando Fairfax, father of Black Tom Fairfax, commander of the Parliamentarian New Model Army.’
It's a sad and salutary reminder of how the conflict split families apart, and vividly illustrates the complexity of civil war.
Find out more about Doddington Hall.
The Elizabethan grandeur of Doddginton Hall could very easily have been lost forever were it not for a family connection that spared it from the fate suffered by many great houses during the English Civil War.
