Family loyalties and the Civil War

Quite often , different members of the same family would support opposite sides during the Civil War. People were even known to swap sides: some did so to save their skins, but others were genuinely confused about who to support.

One family split by war was the Carew family who lived in Cornwall. The family had two sons called Alexander and John. Alexander began the war on the side of Parliament, he was put in charge of defending an island on the South Coast of England.

But Alexander's family were Royalists. They were very angry that he had joined the other side. They took his picture down from the wall in their house cut it out of its frame and put it in the cellar out of sight. Then Alexander began to question if he was on the right side, he thought a lot about which side he should really be on. He decided that he would change sides and become a Royalist, he would also give up the island he was defending for Parliament to the Royalists.

Unfortunately for Alexander the Parliamentarians found out about the plan to hand over the island. Alexander was captured, he was taken to London and executed. At his execution Alexander still wasn't sure which side he should be on and was glad to die because it solved his problem.

The Royalists thought Alexander had been a martyr (someone who dies for what they really believe in.) They took his picture out of the cellar and hung it back on the wall. It still hangs on the wall of his house even today. Alexander's brother John was also a Parliamentarian, he was one of the people who tried the king. John said the king should die. Later when Charles II became King, John was executed by the Royalists for regicide (a king killer).