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{{for|his son|Philip Skippon (1641–1691)}}
{{engvarB|date=August 2014}}
[[File:Philipskippon (cropped).jpg|thumb|Portrait of Skippon]]
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}

[[Major-General]] '''Philip Skippon''' ({{circa|1600}} – 20 February 1660) was an English army officer and politician. He fought for the Parliamentary cause during the [[English Civil War]] as a senior officer in the [[New Model Army]]. Prior to the war, Skippon fought in the religious wars on the continent. During the [[Interregnum (England)|Interregnum]] he was a member of Parliament, an active soldier and on occasions a government administrator.<ref>M. Noble, ''Memoirs of the Protectorate-house of Cromwell: Deduced from an Early Period'', 2 vols (Birmingham, 1784), II, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qFQDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA480 pp. 480-81] (Google).</ref><ref>{{cite DNB |first=C.H. |last=Firth |wstitle=Skippon, Philip |volume=52}}</ref><ref name = "SkipponODNB">{{cite ODNB |first=Ian J. |last=Gentles |title=Skippon, Philip, appointed Lord Skippon under the Protectorate (d. 1660) |id=25693 |date=2004}}</ref>

==Life==
===Background===
Philip Skippon was the son of Luke Skippon (c. 1567–1638), the son of Bartholomew Skippon of [[Weasenham St Peter]], Norfolk.<ref>T. Quarles, ''The History and Antiquities of Foulsham: In Norfolk'' (Joseph Cundall, London 1842), [https://books.google.com/books?id=CPoVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA78 pp. 80-108] (Google).</ref> Luke and his elder brother William (born c. 1566) went to school at [[Dereham]] and studied at [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]. William lived at [[Tawstock]] in north [[Devon]] where he was Secretary to [[Edward Bourchier, 4th Earl of Bath|Lord Bath]], and died there on 1 January 1633/34. Luke (born c. 1567) had his seat at [[West Lexham]], Norfolk, and was father of two notable sons, Philip, and Luke (died 1676), who entered [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]] in 1614 and made his career there, becoming [[Proctor#Education|junior Proctor]] in 1633–34, and being nominated for [[Master (college)|Mastership of the college]] in 1663 but not appointed.<ref>J.A. Venn and J. Venn, ''Alumni Cantabrigienses'', Part I vol 4 (Cambridge University Press 1927), [https://archive.org/details/p1alumnicantabri04univuoft/page/86/mode/2up p. 86] (Internet Archive).</ref><ref>I. Pells, 'Philip Skippon: The Norfolk Genesis of a Parliamentary General', ''Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society'' XLVII, Part 2 (2015).</ref>

===To 1638 ===
Philip entered the military profession at an early age and in July 1620 volunteered to join Sir [[Horace Vere]]'s expedition to aid [[Frederick V of Bohemia]] in the [[Electorate of the Palatinate]]. He served in it until the Bohemian defeat in 1623, participating in the two sieges of [[Frankenthal]] (where he was married in 1622). He then went on to serve [[Maurice of Nassau]] in the Netherlands, receiving a commission in 1625. At the sieges of [[Breda (Netherlands)|Breda]] in 1625 and 1637 he was wounded, and under his old commander, Lord Vere, he was present when [[Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch|'s-Hertogenbosch]] and [[Maastricht]] were attacked in 1629. By 1632 he was a sergeant major and led many of the sorties at [[Capture of Maastricht|Maastricht]] with distinction. He also became deeply interested in religion, writing small private religious volumes for his family.<ref name = "Manganellio2004p497">'Skippon, Phillip: Parliamentarian soldier', in S.C. Manganiello, ''The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland and Ireland, 1639-1660'' (Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland; Toronto; Oxford, 2004), [https://books.google.com/books?id=an-eXXA3DBMC&pg=PA497 p. 497] (Google).</ref>

===1639–1644===
A veteran of 18 years' experience, Captain Skippon returned to England in 1638. On 23 October 1639 he was recommended by [[Charles I of England]] for a command in the [[Honourable Artillery Company]] and he moved to London to take up this command. With civil war looming, on 10 January 1642 he was made major-general and commander of the [[City of London]]'s [[London Trained Bands|Trained Bands]] by Parliament in defiance of the king's authority, and two days later he mustered them to welcome the five members who Charles had failed to arrest. On 13 May Charles ordered Skippon to join him at [[York]], but Skippon replied "I desire to honour God and not to honour men", and Parliament declared Charles's order illegal. Skippon was absent at the Parliamentarian defeats at [[Battle of Edgehill|Edgehill]] and [[Battle of Brentford (1642)|Brentford]], but continued to train his men before marching them out of London to strengthen the forces of the [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]], [[Captain general|Captain-General]] of the Parliament's forces. He then faced Royalist forces at the [[Battle of Turnham Green]], encouraging his under-trained militiamen with the words:
{{cquote|Come my boys, my brave boys, let us pray heartily and fight heartily. I will run the same hazards and fortunes with you. Remember the cause is for God, and for the defence of yourselves, your wives, your children. Come, my honest brave boys, pray heartily and fight heartily, and God will bless us<ref name = "Manganellio2004p497"/>}}

Within a week of the battle Essex made Skippon his [[Sergeant major general|Sergeant-Major-General]], a post which carried with it the command of the foot and the complicated duty of arranging the line of battle. In 1643 his religious tracts written in the Netherlands were collected and published as ''The Christian Centurion'', one of many devotional tracts he published for his troops to read. However, his high level of experience meant that Parliament was unwilling to risk him in action early in the war, though he did serve alongside Essex at [[Gloucester]]. His first field command came on 20 September 1643, with command of the left wing and reserves at the [[First Battle of Newbury]]. He continued serving with Essex during the disastrous [[Battle of Lostwithiel|Lostwithiel campaign]] and was left in command of the Parliamentarian garrison of 6,000 there on 1 September 1644 when Essex and [[John Robartes, 1st Earl of Radnor|Lord Robartes]] fled to Plymouth. The following day, without hope of reinforcement, Skippon negotiated with King Charles: having gained very reasonable terms for his forces, he surrendered and marched his force out of the town. He then gathered the infantrymen from that force in October and marched them to take part in the [[second Battle of Newbury]], occupying the centre of the high ground near [[Stockcross]] and recapturing seven of the guns they had lost at Lostwithiel.

===1645===
The appointment as Sergeant-Major-General of the [[New Model Army]] soon followed, as, apart from his distinguished services, there was scarcely another man in England with the knowledge of detail requisite for the post. In this capacity he supported [[Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron|Thomas Fairfax]] as loyally as he had supported Essex. He led the centre at the [[Battle of Naseby]], where he refused to leave the field while victory was still in the balance despite being dangerously wounded. For his conduct on this decisive occasion, the two Houses of Parliament thanked him, and they sent him special physicians to cure him of his wound. It was a long time before he was fit to serve in the field again. He only reappeared at the [[First English Civil War#Charles in the Midlands|siege of Oxford]], which he directed. At the end of the war he was selected for the command of the forthcoming Irish expedition, with the rank of marshal-general.  The discontent of the soldiery, however, which ended in open mutiny, put an end to a command which Skippon had only accepted under great pressure. He bore a part in all the movements which the army leaders now carried out.

===Post-war===
Skippon endeavoured to preserve a middle position between his own [[Presbyterianism]] and the [[Independent (religion)|Independent]]s, and to secure a firm treaty with the king by any means. The army outstripped Fairfax and Skippon in action. The major-general was named as one of the king's judges, but, like Fairfax, did not take his place. After the war he was returned as MP for [[King's Lynn (UK Parliament constituency)|King's Lynn]] in 1654, 1656 and 1658 during the [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]]. He also held high military and civil offices. During the [[Rule of the Major-Generals]] he was appointed to command the London military district (with [[John Barkstead]] as his deputy, who was zealous in suppressing immorality and ungodliness in the area under Skippon's control), where his popularity was always high<ref>[http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_skippon.html Philip Skippon, Parliamentary General]</ref>— but ceased to influence passing events. He said little in Parliament, though his comment on [[James Naylor|John Naylor]] ("If this be liberty, God deliver us from such liberty!") is well known.<ref name = "SkipponODNB"/> He was one of the members of [[Cromwell's Upper House|Cromwell's House of Lords]], and, in general, was universally respected and beloved. On Cromwell's death he was made head of the London Militia again by the restored Long Parliament. Age and infirmities prevented him from taking any part in the revolutions which culminated in the [[English Restoration|Restoration]], and in March 1660 he died.

===Family===
He had first married Maria Comes of [[Frankenthal]], [[Lower Palatinate]], in the Netherland church there on 14 May 1622, by whom he had several children, most of whom did not survive infancy. These were Anna ([[Utrecht]], 1623–1624), Anna ([[Montfoort]], 1625), William ([[Amersfoort]], 1628-1646/47), Marie (Amersfoort, 1631), Phillip (Amersfoort, 1633-1633), Susanna (West Lexham, 1635), Luke (Foulsham, 1638) and Philip ([[Hackney (parish)|Hackney]], 1641).<ref>J.J. Howard (ed.), ''Miscellanea Genealogica et Topographica'', New Series Vol. I (Hamilton, Adams & Co., London 1874), [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ztjtx2j68AsC&pg=PA38 pp. 37-40, at pp. 38-39] (Google).</ref> Their son and surviving heir [[Philip Skippon (1641-1691)|Philip]] became MP for [[Dunwich (UK Parliament constituency)|Dunwich]].<ref>P. Watson, 'Skippon, Sir Philip (1641-91), of Edwardstone, Suff.', in B.D. Henning (ed.), ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690'' (from Boydell and Brewer 1983), [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/skippon-sir-philip-1641-91 History of Parliament online].</ref> The General's wife Maria Skippon died at Acton on 24 January 1655/56, and had a monument in the church there.<ref>Quarles, ''History and Antiquities of Foulsham'', p. 97.</ref> There was a second marriage, for his widow Dame Katherine Skippon is first-named in his will written at [[Acton, London|Acton]], [[Middlesex]], which leaves lands there, and at [[Bletchley]], Buckinghamshire, and in Norfolk and Suffolk.<ref>Will of Major-General Phillipp Skippon of Acton, Middlesex (P.C.C. 1660, Nabbs quire).</ref> The will also refers to his son Philip and daughters Anne Bragge, Mary Skippon and Susan Meredith. Susan was the wife of [[Sir Richard Meredith, 2nd Baronet]] of [[Leeds Abbey]], Kent.<ref>E. Hasted, ''The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent'', Vol. II (Author/Simmons and Kirkby, Canterbury 1782), [https://books.google.com/books?id=de09fMymE8AC&pg=PA481 pp. 481-82] (Google).</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

'''Attribution'''
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Skippon, Philip|volume=25|page=192}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skippon, Philip}}
[[Category:1600s births]]
[[Category:1660 deaths]]
[[Category:New Model Army generals]]
[[Category:English military personnel of the Eighty Years' War]]
[[Category:Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War]]
[[Category:English MPs 1654–1655]]
[[Category:English MPs 1656–1658]]
[[Category:English MPs 1659]]
[[Category:Honourable Artillery Company officers]]
[[Category:London Trained Bands officers]]
[[Category:People from Norfolk]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Norfolk]]

[[Category:Members of Cromwell's Other House]]