Henry Sikes (Sykes), gent.

was the grandfather of FRANCIS CLAPHAM of Hunslet (born 1663) and the 7th great-grandfather of ELIZABETH ANN JOHNSON (1875-1948), mother of WILLIAM HENRY FLUEN (1906-1969).

He was the son of RICHARD SYKES, gent. (1568-1645) and Elizabeth Mawson (c. 1572 - 19. Aug 1644) christened at St Peter's, Leeds on 25. Mar 1601. He died c. 1656, and got buried St Helen's Stonegate, York.

"Sep. 19, 1654. Henry Sikes of Hunslett, in the Parish of Leeds, Gent. To be buried in the Parish Church of S^ Ellens, city of York. Daughter Susannah Clapeham, wife of M^ William Clapeham, 20s., she having been formerly provided for by me. To Richard Sikes of the city of York, clerke, John Sikes of Leeds, merchant, W°* Hardistie, cloth dresser, and Tho^ Simpson of Leeds, chapman, ffeoffees, all my freehold lands in Knowstropp, which are to the value of 100 marks yearly, to the use of John Sikes, my son, and his heirs, and for want of issue to my son Richard Sikes. To W" Hardistie and Tho^ Simpson 20s. in gold. To Rich^ Sikes, clerke, and John Sikes, merchant, £4 each. To the poor of York, 40s. Rest of goods and chattels to Rich** Sikes, sole executor. [Pr. Feb. 9, 1656, by Richard Sikes.]"

HENRY SIKES was married to MARY WOOD, and both had children:
(1)   Richard Sikes christened in Leeds on 24. Sept 1626
(2)   John Sikes christened in Leeds on 02. Dec 1627, died 20. July 1629
(3)   Elizabeth Sikes christened in Leeds on 22. Dec 1628, died 22. Nov 1629
(4)   Susannah Sikes christened in Leeds on 17. Dec 1629, died still in the same year
(5)   John Sikes christened in Leeds on 03. May 1631
(6)   SUSANNAH SIKES christened in Leeds on 19. May 1632 & WILLIAM CLAPHAM
(7)   Mary Sikes christened in Leeds on 25. July 1633 & Thomas Simpson
(8)   Elizabeth Sikes christened in Leeds on 09. July 1635 & William Hardistie
[St Helen's Square and Stonegate, York by Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874)]

HENRY SIKES, gent. lived with his family at Hunslet Hall. It can be presumed that he was like his father a cloth merchant continuing the family's business in the 4th generation.
NOTE: "Hunslet Hall was formerly a stately building surrounded with a considerable park, and presenting all the indications of aristocratical consequence and affluence. When Sir Philip Carey, however, broke up his estate at this place, the hall was abandoned to dilapidation and decay. Upwards of a hundred and twenty years ago, it again received considerable attention and extensive repairs, and was for some time the residence of Mr. Henry Sykes, an opulent and influential individual. Thoresby* calls it a pleasant place. But it was soon again abandoned, and the residence of the Gascoignes and Neviles was rapidly rendered undistinguishable amidst a mass of meaner habitations."

But HENRY SIKES lived in very troubled times of radical changes due to the English Civil War (1642-1651) between Parlamentarians ('Roundheads') and Royalists ('Cavaliers') over, principally, the manner of its government. However it is not known if he or his son-in-law, William Clapham were engaged in any fighting in Yorkshire. It is only said that some Claphams, also some of William Clapham's first cousins, acted with Sir Thomas Fairfax, the great Yorkshire Parliamentary general. "After the king's failure to arrest five members of the House of Commons he withdrew from London and journeyed slowly north. In March 1642 he held court at York and tried to rally his supporters, but the county was fiercely divided. The clothing districts round Bradford and Halifax were strongly Puritan but the rural areas were mostly for the king. Charles summoned the Yorkshire gentry to attend him in arms and on June 3rd 1642 he rode out from York to Hey worth Moor, accompanied by his two sons, to receive a demonstration of loyalty. Sir Thomas Fairfax tried to present a petition from the Yorkshire gentry and freeholders, but the king refused to accept it and some say that he tried to ride Fairfax down. Christopher Clapham may well have been present on this occasion. The fighting started in July. In August the king appointed the Earl of Cumberland, a Clifford of Skipton, as his lieutenant in the north and moved south to raise his standard. He was accompanied by his sons and also his nephews, the dashing Prince Rupert and his brother Maurice, who had come from Holland to fight for their uncle. Skipton Castle became a garrison for the Royalists. At the start of hostilities the king's army was dominant in the north and there was a great deal of fighting in Yorkshire as both sides tried to gain control of the valuable wool trade in the West Riding. Fairfax took Bradford and Leeds in January 1643 and Wakefield in May, the last a remarkable victory; but without the support of the sheep farmers and clothmakers in the rural areas the Parliamentary forces could not dominate the wool trade. Fairfax, "the man most beloved and relied upon by the rebels of the north", gave a report to the House of Commons about the battle of Wakefield which gives an idea of conditions in Yorkshire at the time: "here about Leeds, Bradford, and Halifax, being a mountainous barren country, the people now begin to be sensible of want, their last year provisions being spent, and the enemies garrisons, stopping all the provisions both of corn and flesh, and other necessaries that were wont to come from the more fruitful countries to them; their trade utterly taken away, their poor grow innumerable, and great scarcity to relieve them;" But Fairfax had his reverses as well as his victories and was severely defeated at Adwalton Moor in June 1643. It was not until the Parliamentary victory at Marston Moor in June 1644 that the whole of the north of England became subject to the rule of the Roundheads. Marston Moor, which lies between York and Harrogate, was the greatest battle of the war, when the northern Cavaliers and Prince Rupert with his best troops of horse were utterly defeated by the combined armies of Cromwell's East Anglian Ironsides, Fairfax's Puritans and the Scots. Prince Rupert and his men had encamped in the large pasture of Bolton Priory on their way to battle. Another of Fairfax's victories was at Naseby in June 1645, when he decisively destroyed the king's main army. In the summer of 1646 the king was a prisoner in the hands of the Scots; from Land's End to Berwick the word of Parliament was law and peace began to spread over the land. But in 1648 war broke out again with an alliance of the Royalists with the Scots. Thomas Clapham fighting for the king, was slain at Preston in August, when Cromwell was victorious." In the end, the Parliament overthrew the monarchy and beheaded King Charles I in 1649 at Whitehall (picture), and remained at war with royalists both at home and in some of England's colonies until 1651. From 1649 to 1651, the Parliament in London set about expanding and improving the English Navy to pursue the civil war at sea. Meanwhile, the war raised havoc with English trading and shipping. At the same time the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) ended on the continent, which, from the Dutch point of view, was the end of the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) for Dutch independence from Spain. This again meant a lifting of the Spanish embargoes of the Dutch coast and Dutch shipping, and translated into cheaper prices for Dutch products due to a steep and sustained drop in Dutch freight charges and Dutch marine insurance rates. Furthermore, with normalized relations between Spain and the Dutch United Provinces, trade between the two countries resumed almost immediately. Meanwhile, English trade with Spain was still limited. By 1651, England was in an economic slump, which had probably also negative effects on the influential merchant family Sykes, and was - apart from a legal argument between Henry Sikes' son, Richard Sikes, and son-in-law, William Clapham, about his inheritance - in all probability one of the reasons, why Hunslet Hall was "soon again abandoned".