BARTON,
a surname supposed to have been originally derived
from Bereton, that is, the farm of bere or barley.
It is the name of numerous localities in England, as
Barton-on-Humber, and others, amounting to nearly
forty in all. In some instances the name may have
been given to a small port, having a bar of sand
blocking up its entrance, and in others applied to a
small enclosure or farm having a bar gate. It is
also the name of a peculiar kind of block and tackle
of great power.
Barton is properly an English name. The
Bartons of Barton Hall were an ancient family in
Lancashire, having branches in Ireland and Scotland.
There was also an old family of Barton of Smithills
in the same county, recorded in the Herald’s
Visitation of 1567, but subsequently established in
the palatinate of Chester.
BARTON, ANDREW,
a distinguished naval commander, of the reign of
James the Fourth, belonged to a family which, for
two generations, had produced able and successful
seamen, and were intrusted by the king with the
principal authority in all maritime and commercial
matters in Scotland. To the increase of his navy,
and to nautical affairs in general, King James paid
particular attention, and the Bartons not only
purchased vessels for him on the continent, and
invited into Scotland the most skillful foreign
shipbuilders, but sold to him some of their own
ships. In the reign of the fourth James the Scottish
navy consisted of sixteen ships of war, besides one
vessel called the Great Michael, the largest then
known to be in the world, and which, as an old
author says, “cumbered all Scotland to get her
fitted out for sea.” The daring and skill of the
Bartons, of whom there were three brothers, and of
Andrew in particular, had raised them to a renown
scarcely inferior to that of the famous admiral, Sir
Andrew Wood himself, who flourished in the same
reign; and the prowess of Andrew Barton was put to
the proof on the following occasion. A small fleet
of Scottish merchantmen had been piratically
attached by some Dutch ships, and plundered of their
cargoes, while the crews, after being murdered, were
thrown overboard. Andrew Barton was instantly
despatched with a squadron to take signal vengeance
on the perpetrators of this cruel deed. Many of the
pirates were captured; and the admiral commanded the
hogsheads, which were stowed in the holds of his
vessels, to be filled with the heads of his
prisoners, and sent as a present to his royal
master. So early as the year 1476, the ships
belonging to the Bartons were plundered by a
Portuguese squadron, and as the king of Portugal
refused to make any amends, letters of reprisal were
granted to the Barton family by the Scottish
monarch, authorizing them to take all Portuguese
vessels with should come in their way, until they
had fully indemnified themselves for their losses.
The Portuguese mariners, on their part, were not
slow to retaliate, and in 1507, the Lion, commanded
by John Barton, the father of Andrew, was seized at
Campvere, in Zealand, and its commander thrown into
prison. His sons procured from King James a renewal
of their letters of reprisal, and fitted out two
strong ships, the larger called the Lion, and the
lesser the Jenny Pirwen, which they placed under the
command of Andrew Barton. With these he cruised in
the Channel, intercepting and capturing, at various
times, many of the richly laden vessels returning
from the Portuguese settlements in India and Africa;
and, as Tyler remarks, the unwonted apparition of
blackamoors at the Scottish court, and black
empresses presiding over the royal tournaments, is
to be traced to the spirit and success of the
Scottish privateers. Not content, however, with
stopping the Portuguese ships, and making prizes of
them, whenever they could, the Bartons detained and
searched English merchant vessels bound for
Portugal, or coming from that country, under the
pretence that they had Portuguese goods on board. In
consequence of this, they were treated by the
English as pirates; and the council board of
England, at which the earl of Surrey, (afterwards
created Duke of Norfolk,) presided, was continually
receiving complaints from the sailors and merchants,
that Barton was in the practice of intercepting
English vessels, and praying redress. King Henry,
not willing to come to a rupture with the king of
Scotland, at first paid little attention to these
complaints. The earl of Surrey, however, could not
conceal his indignation, and, on hearing of some
late excesses of the privateers, declared that “the
narrow seas should not be so infested whilst he had
an estate that could furnish a ship, or a son who
was able to command it.” He accordingly fitted out
two men-of-war, which were manned by well selected
crews, archers, and men-at-arms, and placed under
the command of his two sons, Sir Thomas Howard,
called by old historians Lord Howard, afterwards
created earl of Surrey in his father’s lifetime, and
Sir Edward Howard, afterwards lord high admiral of
England. Having put to sea he fell in with Andrew
Barton cruising in the Downs, having been guided to
his whereabouts by the captain of a merchantman
which Barton had plundered on the previous day. This
took place in July, 1511. On approaching Barton, the
English vessels showed no colours or ensigns of war,
but put up a willow wand on their masts, that being
the emblem of a trading vessel. But when Barton
ordered them to bring to, the English threw out
their flags and pennons, and fired a broadside. The
Scotch admiral then knew that he had English vessels
to contend with. Barton commanded his own ship, the
Lion, to which was opposed Sir Thomas Howard; his
other vessel was only an armed pinnace, named the
Union, called by Hall the bark of Scotland; but far
from being dismayed at the odds against him, he
engaged boldly, and in a rich dress and bright
armour, appeared on deck, with a whistle of gold
about his neck, suspended by a golden chain, and
encouraged his men to fight valiantly. A gold
whistle was in those days the sign of the office of
high admiral. The battle that ensued was most
obstinately contested. On both sides the most
determined valour was displayed, till the Scottish
admiral was desperately wounded. It is said that
even then this bold and experienced seaman continued
to encourage his men with his whistle till death
closed his career.
In an old ballad, on this sea fight, fought
before England had a navy at all, entitled, ‘Sir
Andrew Barton,’ it is related that
With pikes and gunnes, and
bowemen bold,
The noble Haward is
gone to the sea;
With a valyant heart, and a
pleasant cheare,
Out at Thames mouth
sayled hee.
And days he scant had sayled
three
Upon the ‘voyage’ he
took in hand,
But there he met with a
noble shipp,
And stoutly made itt
stay and stand.
“Thou must tell me,” Lord
Howard sayes,
“Now who thou art, and
what’s thy name;
And shewe me where thy
dwelling is,
And whither bound, and
whence thou came.”
“My name is Henrye Hunt,”
quoth hee,
With a heavye heart,
and a carefull mind;
“I and my shipp doe both
belong
To the Newcastle that
stands upon Tyne.”
“Hast thou not heard, now
Henrye Hunt,
As thou hast sayled by
daye and by night,
Of a Scottish rover on the
seas,
Men call him Sir
Andrew Barton, Knight?”
Then ever he signed and sayd
alas!
With a grieved mind,
and well away,
“But over well I knowe that
wight,
I was his prisoner
yesterday.”
If we are to believe this ballad, Barton’s
ship, the Lion, was furnished with a peculiar
contrivance suspending large weights or beams from
his yardarms, for the purpose of being dropped down
upon the enemy when they should come alongside. This
was an old stratagem of the Romans, which the
Scottish admiral had adopted with great success.
Barton and these beams are thus described by the
said “Henrye Hunt;”
“He is brasse within, and
steel without,
With beames on his
topcastle stronge,
And thirtye pieces of
ordinance
He carries on each
side slonge;
And he hath a pinnace
deerlye dight,
St. Andrewes crosse
itt is his guide,
His pinnace beareth
ninescore men,
And fifteen canons on
each side.
“Were ye twentye shippes,
and he but one,
I sweare by kirke, and
bower, and hall,
He wold orecome them every
one,
If once his beames
they doe downe fall.”
“This is cold comfort,”
sayes my lord,
“To welcome a stranger
on the sea,
Yett Ile bring him and his
shipp to shore,
Or to Scotland he
shall carry mee.”
The ballad proceeds to relate that Henry Hunt
guided Howard to the place where Barton’s ships lay,
and on coming up with them, he ordered all his
ensigns to be furled:
“Take in your ancyents,
standards eke,
So close that no man
may them see,
And put me forth a white
willowe wand,
As merchants use that
sayle the sea.”
But they stirred neither top
or mast,
Stoutly they past Sir
Andrew by;
“What English churles are
yonder,” he sayd,
“That can so little
curtesye.
“Now by the roode, three
years and more
I have been admirall
on the sea;
And never an English nor
Portingall
Without my leave can
passe this way.”
Then called he forth his
stout pinnace,
“Feetche backe yond
pedlars nowe to mee;
I sweare by the masse, you
English churles
Shall all hang at my
maine-mast tree.”
With that the pinnace itt
shott off,
Full well Lord Howard
might it ken,
For it strake downe his
foremast tree
And killed fourteen of
his men.
The English commander then ordered his gunner,
“good Peter Simon,” to fire off his ordnance, which
he did with effect;
And he lett goe his great
gunnes shott,
Soe well he settled
itt with his ee;
The first sight that Sir
Andrew sawe,
He sawe his pinnace
sunke i’ the sea.
And when he sawe his pinnace
sunke,
Lord, how his heart
with rage did swell!
“Nowe cutt my ropes, itt is
time to be gon,
Ile fetch you pedlars
backe mysel.”
When my lord sawe Sir
Andrewe loose,
Within his heart he
was full faine;
“Nowe spreade your ancyents,
strike up drummes,
Sound all your
trumpetts out amaine!”
The English seem to have been most
apprehensive of the beams on the yardarms, but to
make use of this contrivance, it was necessary that
some one should ascend the mainmast; and Howard had
stationed in a proper place a Yorkshire gentleman,
named Horseley, the best archer in his ship, with
strict injunctions to let fly an arrow at every one
who should attempt to go up the riggings of Barton’s
vessel. Two of Barton’s officers, named Gordon and
James Hamilton, the latter his “only sister’s sonne,”
were successively killed in the attempt. Barton
himself, confiding in the strong armour which he
wore, then began to ascend the mast. Lord Thomas
Howard called out to the archer to shoot true, on
peril of his life. “Were I to die for it,” answered
Horseley, “I have but two arrows left.” The first
which he shot bounded from Barton’s armour, without
hurting him; but as the Scotch admiral raised his
arm to climb higher, the archer took aim where the
armour afforded him no protection, and wounded him
mortally through the armpit.
Sir Andrew he did swarve the
tree,
With right good will
he swarved them;
Upon his breast did Horseley
hitt,
But the arrow bounded
back agen.
Then Horseley spyed a privye
place
With a perfect eye in
a secrette part;
Under the spole of his right
arme,
He smote Sir Andrew to
the heart.
Jumping upon deck, Barton addressed his men: “Fight
on,” he said, “my brave hearts; I am a little
wounded, but not slain. I will but rest awhile, and
then rise and fight again; meantime, stand fast by
St. Andrew’s cross;” meaning the flag of Scotland.
“Fight on, my men,” Sir
Andrew sayes,
“A little I’m hurt,
but yett not slaine,
I’le but lye donne and
bleede awhile,
And then I’le rise and
fight againe.
Fight on, my men,” Sir
Andrew sayes,
“And never flinche
before the foe;
And stand fast by St.
Andrewe’s cross,
Until you heare my
whistle blow.”
They never hears his whistle
blow,
Which made their
hearts waxe sore adread,
Then Horseley sayd, “Aboard,
my lord,
For well I wott Sir
Andrew’s dead.”
They boarded then his noble
shipp,
They boarded it with
might and maine,
Eighteen score Scotts alive
they found,
The rest were either
maimed or slaine.
Lord Howard tooke a sword in
hand,
And off he smote Sir
Andrewe’s head,
“I must ha’ left England
many a daye,
If thou were alive as
thou art dead.”
He caused his bodye to be
cast,
Over the hatchborde
into the sea,
And about his middle three
hundred crownes,
“Wherever thou land
this will bury thee.”
Barton’s ship, the Lion, thus captured, was
carried into the Thames, and became the second
man-of-war in the English navy. The Great Harry,
which had been built only seven years before, namely
in 1504, was properly speaking the first. On this
celebrated ship Henry the Seventh expended £14,000,
a great sum in those days, equivalent to the coast
of a modern ship of the line. With that monarch the
rise of a royal navy in England is said to have
originated. Before his time, when the king wanted a
fleet, the five ports, then the largest in England,
and still called the Cinque Ports, furnished a
certain equipment of ships and men; vessels were
also hired from merchants, and manned and armed for
war. Ambitious of being independent of the irregular
navy derived from such various and uncertain
sources, Henry paid great attention to the building
of large ships exclusively for warlike purposes, and
he took care to keep them in a highly efficient and
progressive state. His son, Henry the Eighth, caused
to be constructed the then largest English ship,
called Henry Grace de Dieu, or the Great Harry,
after the ship of the same name, built by his
father. This is said to have been the first ship
which had four masts, and was considered the wonder
of the sixteenth century.
Thus died Andrew Barton, With King James he
was a personal favourite, and he sent a herald to
King Henry to demand redress for the death of his
ablest officer, and the loss of his ships; but Henry
returned no milder answer than that the fate of
pirates ought never to be a matter of dispute among
princes. He, however, after a short imprisonment
dismissed Barton’s crew, with a small sum each to
defray their homeward charges. This affair was one
of the remote causes of the disastrous battle of
Flodden, in which James the Fourth was slain. –
Tyler’s History of Scotland, vol. v. –
Scott’s Tales of a Grandfather. – Percy’s Reliques
of Ancient English Poetry.
