In summary, it is truly amazing how researching a small four and a half inch square brass sundial could help bring back to life one of the most historically important and fascinating times in the history of the British Monarchy. That’s exactly what happened after I purchased the EC’, 1625 sundial from a UK antiques dealer in 2023. From the dials possible London MIM maker, Edward Coolinge being born under the reign of Elizabeth I, to the sundial’s historic date of making - being the same year as the death of James I, the succession of Charles I and the marriage of Charles I to Henrietta Maria of France - all happening during the year of 1625. To give further historical context, this dial was created prior to such historical events as the English Civil War, the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.

The EC’, 1625 London sundial, complete with its original thin knife-edge gnomon (with restored tenons) with fringed back edge is an enormously rare survivor with great patina and near prefect definition remaining to the engraving. The dial has been sympathetically restored and although it is not faultless, it gives us a rare insight into one of the small brass sundials that were being made by London  Mathematical Instrument Makers during the early 17th century. 

Edward Coolinge has been identified as the possible maker for the EC',1625 sudial. This is by no means certain but since Edward Coolinge is the only London Mathematical Instrument Maker with those initials currently known to have worked at the right period - it makes him a very strong and the only realistic candidate as the dials possible maker: research is ongoing to find more details of his life.

I illustrated the EC’, 1625 sundial on this website, to do the dial justice and give it back it’s true identity - which is something I feel was perhaps lost when the dial first came to light in America some five years ago!

Historically Important

James VI and I

James VI and I was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII. He was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March. In 1603, he succeeded his cousin Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, who died childless. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known as the Jacobean era, until his death in 1625. 

On 1st May 1625 Charles I married Henrietta Maria, daughter of the King of France, by proxy at Notre Dame and in person at Canterbury the following month. Three of their children are buried in a vault in the south aisle of the Abbey's Lady Chapel - Mary Princess of Orange, Charles (born and died 1629) and Anne (1637-1640). Their second son succeeded as Charles II (buried in the Stuart vault) and his brother succeeded him as James II.

Above. Henrietta Maria and King Charles I with Charles, Prince of Wales, and Princess Mary, painted by Anthony van Dyck, 1633. The greyhound symbolises the marital fidelity between Charles and Henrietta Maria Anthony van Dyck, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Below. Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell was a Parliamentary commander during the British Civil Wars and later became Lord Protector. Image from Shutterstock.com

Below. Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell was a Parliamentary commander during the British Civil Wars and later became Lord Protector. Image from Shutterstock.com

Above. CHARLES I ON TRIAL. King Charles I of England (seated alone just before center) on trial before a specially constituted high court of justice in Westminster Hall on 20th January 1649. Colored English engraving, 1684. Alamy.com

Below. A closer view of King Charles I, during his Trial in January 1649 - English Civil War, 1642–1651. He was found guilty of Treason. Alamy.com

During The English Civil War

To Both Soldiers and Civilians

Raising and maintaining an army was not without problems; for almost all human history, apart from the obvious dangers of warfare, the biggest toll of human life in war was taken by infectious diseases. During the conflict, historians believe that some 180,000 people died, but only 85,000 from combat – the rest were due to accidents and disease. So, although the actual death toll on the field might have been low, without modern medical care it was quite easy for wounds that were received during a battle to become infected, leading to blood poisoning and gangrene, which must have been a horrible way to die without antibiotics, anaesthetics or painkillers. Some examples include Lt-Colonel Anthony Fane, a dragoon commander at the storming of Farnham Castle in Surrey “shot through the cheek(s), whereof he died a few days later”. The cause of the fatalities was probably the result of fragments of dirty cloth being driven deep into a wound, either beyond the reach of the surgeons’ instruments or, more likely, being left there to fester. Lt-Colonel Johnson of the Basing House garrison in Hampshire “shot in the shoulder whereby contracting a fever, he died a fortnight after”.

Below. Oliver Cromwell in action with his 'New Model Army' at the Siege of Basing House  - Crofts Ernest - British School - 19th Century. Alamy.com

Civilians also suffered the ravages of the conflicts. Royalists and Parliamentarians were constantly trying to impress men into their armies. Both sides took horses, food and other supplies for their armies. They forced people to provide free food and shelter to whichever troops turned up in their farm, village or town. In desperation, some areas formed their own militia to keep the Royalists and Parliamentarians away from their homes. There were severe outbreaks of plague in several towns and cities in England and Wales, especially during 1644 and, to a lesser extent, 1645.

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Of course, plague had existed in England as an endemic disease for about 400 years, enlivened by periodic epidemics and occasional spectacular pandemic, the best known of which is the Great Plague of London in 1666. Outbreaks also occurred if the rat fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis) were transported in bales of woollen and other cloths from one town to another. This mode of transmission accounted for the characteristic sudden and sporadic outbreaks of plague in apparently unconnected locations. But generally, the largely open nature of the civil wars, with relatively few prolonged sieges, mitigated against plague as a major threat to troops who could, if they were aware of the presence of the disease in a town, avoid it. 

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Person-to-person infection with typhus, however, was a different matter entirely. The pattern and symptoms of the fever that decimated the Earl of Essex’s Army at Reading in 1643, suggests typhus. Likewise, Sir William Waller's successful siege of Chichester in early 1644 was also followed by an outbreak of typhus amongst the garrison. Other serious outbreaks in 1644 occurred in several towns in the west country, particularly Tiverton in Devon, which was occupied for periods of time by Royalist and Parliamentarian armies in turn. 

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Other important “siege diseases” were smallpox and measles. The garrison of Basing House in Hampshire suffered from an outbreak of the former in 1644 at the height of the 19-week long siege. It should be remembered that the species of smallpox prevalent in England at this time was the milder European version known as alastrim (Variola minor), and not the more virulent Asiatic form which replaced it. Otherwise, the siege of Basing House would have ended abruptly with the death of most of the besieged. Similar outbreaks of a disease that disfigured rather than dealt death occurred in the Oxford garrisons during 1644, and no doubt among many other unrecorded towns and villages as well. 

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following for providing me with maps, images and for allowing me to use any previously published material for this article.