The Glorious Revolution of 1688

Some historians argue that William of Orange was "invited" to land with a large army in England in November 1688. It is true, to give this expedition a veneer of legitimacy, Prince William asked for some leading English nobles to declare their backing. Two of the coded signatories were land magnates – one Whig and one Tory. Two more came from the army and two from the navy. A bishop completed the carefully selected list. The seven nobles wrote in their letter to William of their current "worse condition", being "less able to defend ourselves" and asked for William’s help. They also advised him on the needed size and likely popular support for his invading army. The letter did not invite William or his wife Mary to take the throne from King James II. Although they all were well-connected, none of the signatories was a legitimate representative of any political party or other organization. 

Too much is made of this document by some historians. We may speculate that if Napoleon had invaded Britain in 1805 or Hitler in 1940, then in each case several prominent members of the Establishment (including some members of the Royal Family) could have been found in advance to sign a letter of invitation. The existence of such letters would have not absolved Napoleon or Hitler from the charge of invasion. 

The Dutch army marched to the tune of Lillibulero, composed by Henry Purcell in 1686. In his Exact Diary of these events, John Whittie, an English Chaplain in William’s army, wrote: “This first day we marched some hours after night in the dark and rain; the lanes hereabout were very narrow and not used to wagons, carts or coaches, and therefore extreme rough and stony, which hindered us very much from making speed.”

On 6th November William was at Paignton. On 7th November he was at Forde House in Newton Abbot and joined by his cavalry. On 8th November he moved up the Teign Valley to Chudleigh.

At this point his army was in two lines. William moved through Shillingford St George towards Exeter. The other part of the army went through Kenton and Exminster. An advance party with a troop of cavalry came to Exeter to prepare for the Prince’s arrival. On 9th November Prince William entered Exeter by the West Gate and processed ceremonially with his allies and troops up Stepcote Hill. 

William spent 12 of the 42 days it took him to travel from Brixham to London, in the deanery of Exeter Cathedral. William was at Exeter with 4 battalions (about 3000 men) of infantry and 2 regiments of dragoons. The main force of cavalry was quartered round Newton Abbot. Some camped on the old Iron Age settlement at Milber Down, just southeast of Newton Abbot. Other infantry billeted in villages between Newton Abbot and Exeter, with some in the Teign Valley around Chudleigh. 

William had an enthusiastic reception in Exeter, but the aftermath of Monmouth's ill-fated 1685 rebellion was blamed for the lack of immediate recruits from the local gentry and nobility. For nine days Prince William consolidated his forces. At first, he did not receive support from any local nobles. He was advised that it might be best to withdraw. But on 15th November, a group of Devon noblemen came to join William at Exeter. They included Lord Delamore, the Earls of Devonshire and Stamford, Sir Scroop How, Sir William Russel and many others. At Exeter, William received news that York, Nottingham and Bristol had been seized by rebels in his support.

On 19th November King James II joined his main force of 19,000 at Salisbury. On 20th November a small patrol of the English Army clashed with a detachment of the invading Dutch Army in the town of Wincanton in Somerset.

Prince William’s forces moved towards London. On 7th December at Reading, an advance guard of the Prince’s army, some 250 men strong, ran into a troop of 600 Irish dragoons, leading to over 50 fatalities. As Prince William advanced on London, the bulk of the 30,000-strong Royal Army deserted. James went into exile on 23 December.

Prince William and his army entered and occupied London. 

The city and its surrounding area were placed under Dutch military occupation until the spring of 1690. No English regiment was allowed within 20 miles of the city.

New elections were held in January 1689 and Parliament was recalled for the first time since 1685. Negotiations between William and Parliament were not straightforward. Some wanted his wife Mary to rule alone, this preserving the Stuart succession. But insurrection in Ireland and a renewed French military threat against the United Provinces helped to focus minds. 

Parliament made a Declaration of Right, later a Bill of Rights. Parliament agreed that by fleeing Britain, James II had lost the right to govern. William and Mary were crowned as joint monarchs in April 1689. These rights were not new. Most of them had appeared before, including in the Petition of Right of 1628. The Bill of Rights, incorporating the Declaration, received royal assent in December 1689.