Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/39

 way to Flanders. There his enemies contrived his arrest and a three years' imprisonment, culminating in an order of banishment from the dominions of Spain. He seems to have subsequently visited Italy, and had an audience of the pope, while secretly carrying on war with Cardinal Allen, until the latter's death in 1594 (Scottish State Papers, ed. Thorpe, p. 587). Returning to France, he was expelled in May 1596, but before long he returned to Paris.

In January 1605 it was reported that Morgan was involved in a 'plot of the French king's mistress' (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1603-10, p. 187). In August 1605 the king of France expressed an intention of paying him two thousand French livres, a legacy which Queen Mary was said to have destined for him (ib. p. 232). Guy Fawkes, in his confession respecting the gunpowder plot in 1606, argued that Morgan had proposed 'the very same thing in Queen Elizabeth's time' (ib. p. 314). It is probable that he died in 1606.

 MORGAN, THOMAS (d. 1679?), soldier, second son of Robert Morgan of Llanrhymny (, Limbus Patrum Morganice, p. 315), early sought his fortune as a soldier, and served in the Low Countries, and under Bernard of Saxe- Weimar in the thirty years' war (, Lives of Eminent Men, Letters from the Bodleian, 1813, ii. 465). At what time he returned to take part in the English civil war is uncertain. Fairfax, recommending Morgan for a command in Ireland in October 1648, states that 'ever since the beginning of the first distractions' he had had 'constant experience of Colonel Morgan's fidelity 'to the parliament's service, Memorials of the Civil War, ii. 45). Major Morgan, described as expert in sieges, was in Fairfax's army in March 1644, and 'one Morgan, one of Sir Thomas his colonels, a little man, short and peremptory,' took part in the siege of Lathom House during that month (Fairfax Correspondence, iii. 83 ;, Lancashire Civil War Tracts, p. 166). On 18 June 1645 Morgan, who is described as 'colonel of dragoons, late under the command of the Lord Fairfax,' was appointed by parliament governor of Gloucester, in succession to Sir Edward Massey [q. v.], made colonel of a regiment of foot (5 July), and commander-in-chief of the forces of the country (31 Oct.) (Lords' Journals, vii. 440, 478, 670). In October 1645 he took Chepstow Castle and Monmouth ({sc|Phillips}}, Civil War in Wales, ii. 279; Two Letters from Colonell Morgan, London, 1645). Next, in conjunction with Colonel Birch, he took part in the surprise of Hereford (18 Dec. 1645 ; cf. Two Letters sent by Colonell Morgan, London, 22 Dec. 1645). Though 'under great distemper' from an ague, he endured all the hardships of a winter campaign, and personally led the horse in the assault (Lords' Journals, viii. 59 ; Military Memoir of Colonel Birch, p. 26 ; Report on the Duke of Portland's MSS. i. 328). On 21 March 1646 the combined forces of Morgan, Birch, and Sir William Brereton defeated Sir Jacob Astley at Stow-in-the-Wold, thus routing the last army which the king had in the field (Lords' Journals, viii. 231 ; Memoir of Colonel Birch, p. 34 ;, Burning Bush, p. 398). In June and July 1646 Morgan was engaged in besieging Raglan Castle, which finally surrendered to Fairfax on 19 Aug. (, Civil War in Wales, ii. 314 ;, Memorials, i. 84, 131, 147).

For the next few years Morgan's history is again obscure. On 17 June 1647 he was again recommended as governor of Gloucester, but seems to have been superseded in January 1648 by Sir William Constable (Col. State Papers, Dom. 1645-7, p. 563 ;, Historical Collections, vu. 979). His application for an Irish command in October 1648 was without result (, Memorials, ii. 45). In 1651 Morgan was in Scotland, and on 28 Aug. Monck requested Cromwell to 'send down a commission for Colonel Morgan to be colonel of the dragoons' (ib. ii. 347). Cromwell sent the commission, and for the next six years Morgan was Monck's most trusted coadjutor in the subjugation of Scotland, holding, for the latter part of the period, the rank of major-general in the army in Scotland. On 26 May 1652 Dunottar Castle surrendered to him after a siege of three weeks (, History of the Coldstream Guards, i. 48). On 19 June 1654 he defeated General Middleton at Lough Garry, thus striking a fatal blow at the rising headed by Middleton in the highlands (Mercurius Politicus, 27 June-3 Aug. 1654, 10-17 Aug.)

On 23 April 1657 Cromwell summoned Morgan from Scotland to take part in the expedition sentto the assistance of the French in Flanders. He was second in command to Sir John Reynolds, governor of Mardyke after 