Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mennes, John
MENNES, Sir JOHN (1599–1671), admiral, of a family long settled at Sandwich, was grandson of Matthew Mennes, mayor of Sandwich in 1549–50, 1563–4, 1571–2, and 1587–8 (Boys, Hist. of Sandwich, pp. 686, 689, 691, 698), and third son of Andrew Mennes, by his wife Jane, daughter of John Blechenden. The family is described by Hasted (Hist. of Kent, iv. 266) as gentle, and Matthew, John's eldest brother, who was made a K.B. at the coronation of Charles I, was described on his matriculation at Oxford in 1608, aged 15, as ‘generosi filius.’ It appears too that they were connected with the Boyses and Bretts, old Kent families, and nothing sanctions the suggestion that the family was in its origin Scottish, and that the name was Menzies (Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iv. 144). John Mennes was born at Sandwich on 1 March 1598–9, and according to Wood was entered at the age of seventeen as a commoner at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, ‘where continuing for some years he did advance himself much in several sorts of learning, especially in humanity and poetry, and something in history’ (Athenæ Oxon. 1817, iii. 925). His name, however, does not appear in the Oxford matriculation lists, and Wood's statement may be due to some confusion with another John Mynne, Minne (or Mennes), ‘eq. aur. fil.,’ who matriculated from Corpus on 27 Oct. 1615, aged 17, and may have been son of Sir William Mynne or Mennes, who was knighted on 23 July 1603 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1500–1714). Sir Alexander Brett, who afterwards commanded a regiment under the Duke of Buckingham at Ré, writing to Nicholas on 15 April 1626, said of Mennes: ‘This gentleman was recommended by me unto my Lord Duke for the command of a ship who hath been divers times at sea, first in the Narrow Seas with Sir William Monson [q. v.], in the late king's service, and afterwards with his father-in-law, Captain Chester, into the West Indies with a small ship called the Margaret and John of London, where they were assaulted by two of the king's of Spain's galeons, and after a long and bloody fight, with the loss of a great part of their men, came off with honour [cf. Lediard, Naval History, p. 465; the fight was off Dominica in 1620]. Likewise to Virginia, and since, he commanded the Seahorse in his Majesty's service; which employments with his own industry have made him fit for command and his king's and country's service’ (State Papers, Dom. Charles I, xxiv. 87).
During the following years Mennes continued actively employed at sea. In July 1626 he was at Portsmouth, in command of the Espérance prize. From 1628 to 1630 he commanded the Adventure in the North Sea, capturing or detaining Hamburg or Dutch ships laden with prohibited goods for France. On 25 May 1629 he reported to the admiralty that, according to his orders, he had landed the Marquis de Ville at Dunkirk, and had brought back to Dover ‘a gentleman who is coming towards his Majesty.’ This ‘gentleman’ is identified by Mr. Sainsbury with Rubens, the celebrated painter (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. viii. 437). In 1630 and 1631 Mennes commanded the Garland in the Narrow Seas. In March 1635 he was appointed to the Red Lion, one of the fleet in the Narrow Seas under the Earl of Lindsey (cf. Lediard, p. 524), and on 7 Oct. was moved by Lindsey to the Vanguard, as vice-admiral of the fleet for the guard of the Narrow Seas, under Sir John Penington [q. v.] On 13 Nov., however, Penington ordered him to leave the Vanguard, take command of the Swiftsure, and carry her up the river to Woolwich or Deptford. In the following year he was captain of the Convertine, in the fleet under the Earl of Northumberland. In 1639 he was captain of the Victory, and on 22 Feb. 1639–40 was appointed by Northumberland, then lord high admiral, to raise, command, and exercise a troop of carabineers, to be conducted to the rendezvous when required.
On 28 April 1640 he took his troop to Newcastle, and during the year continued with the army in the north of England. On 8 Dec. Sir John Conyers wrote to Lord Conway that he had orders to send 20,000l. to the Scottish army under the care of a discreet captain; ‘Jack Mince shall be the man;’ on 18 Dec. he wrote to the Earl of Northumberland, ‘Captain Mynce has marched today towards Ripon to convoy the money to Croft Bridge.’ On 1 Jan. 1640–1 Mennes was asking for his promotion, presumably on account of this service, and during the following months he was in command of Commissary-general Wilmot's regiment of horse, till it was disbanded on 28 Aug. On 25 Feb. 1641–2 he was knighted at Dover, and shortly afterwards was again appointed captain of the Victory under the Earl of Warwick [see Rich, Robert, Earl of Warwick]. On 2 July Warwick sent him an order to attend a general council on board the James, his flagship. Mennes paid no attention to the order, and ‘for this contempt and misdemeanour’ Warwick, two days later, 4 July, discharged him from the command of the Victory (State Papers, Dom. Charles I, ccccxci. 51, 53; the official account, which differs considerably in its details from that given by Clarendon, Hist. of the Rebellion, Macray's edit. ii. 218).
During the civil war he served with the royalist army. In 1644 he was governor of North Wales for the king, apparently on the appointment of Prince Rupert (Addit. MS. 18981; Warburton, Mem. of Prince Rupert, ii. 371–3, iii. 55; Carte, Collection of Original Letters, &c., i. 49, 54, 67), and in 1645, on the death of Sir John Penington, was named as commander of the king's navy (ib. i. 89). In 1648 his estates in Bedfordshire, inherited from his brother, Sir Matthew, were seized, and the rents and arrears detained, he ‘being in arms against the parliament’ (Cal. Committee for Advance of Money, p. 892). He was at that time with Rupert as commander of the Swallow and rear-admiral of the semi-piratical squadron (Warburton, iii. 266; Clarendon, iv. 424), which was finally crushed by Blake in November 1650 [see Blake, Robert; and Rupert]. For the next ten years he followed the fortunes of the king, a trusted agent when occasion required (Clarendon, v. 372; Macray, Cal. Clarendon State Papers, vol. iii. passim), and whiling away his enforced leisure in writing verses.
At the Restoration Mennes returned to England, and in 1661–2 was commander-in-chief in the Downs and admiral of the Narrow Seas, with his flag in the Henry. On 30 Oct. 1661 he was appointed comptroller of the navy, and on 26 May 1662 he was elected master of the Trinity House. As comptroller, he was necessarily brought into close relationship with Samuel Pepys [q. v.], whose ‘Diary’ abounds with references to him. These are more favourable than those to most of Pepys's intimate acquaintances. He is, he says, ‘most excellent company,’ ‘doats mightily’ on Chaucer, ‘seems to know something of chemistry,’ and ‘hath some judgment in pictures.’ On 2 Jan. 1665–6 he ‘was in the highest pitch of mirth; and most excellent pleasant company he is, and the best mimic that ever I saw; and certainly would have made an excellent actor, and now would be an excellent teacher of actors.’ On 20 Aug. 1666 he was said to be dying, ‘which,’ says Pepys, ‘troubles me mightily, for he is a very good, harmless, honest gentleman, though not fit for business.’ On 6 Oct. 1666 Pepys quotes Sir William Coventry as saying that ‘besides all the shame and trouble he—Mennes—hath brought on the office, the king had better have given 100,000l. than ever have had him there.’ And on 4 Jan. 1668–9 he and Lord Brouncker complained to the Duke of York ‘that it is but to betray the king to have any business of trust committed to his weakness.’ Despite his obvious incapacity, he was still comptroller at the time of his death, 18 Feb. 1670–1. He was buried in the church of St. Olave in the city of London, where there is a mural tablet to his memory. There is also a monument in the parish church of Nonington in Kent (Hasted, iii. 711). There are some ‘foolish verses’ to him in Denham's ‘Poems’ (p. 73).
A portrait by Vandyck is in Lord Clarendon's collection at The Grove, Watford. It is engraved in the 1874 edition of the ‘Musarum Deliciæ.’
Mennes married, apparently in 1640, Jane, daughter of Thomas Liddell of Ravensworth in Durham, and widow of Robert Anderson (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 9 Feb. 1640–1; Collins, Baronetage, ii. 372). She died without issue on 23 July 1662, at the house of John Boys of Fredville (cf. Hasted, iii. 710; Topographer, iii. 154) in Nonington, during the absence of her husband in command of the squadron. She was buried in Nonington Church, where there is a mural tablet to her memory. The expression in Brett's letter, already quoted, as to Mennes's ‘father-in-law, Captain Chester,’ is unexplained.
By his will, dated 16 May 1669, proved on 9 March 1670–1, Mennes left the bulk of his property to his nephew Francis and niece Mary, son and daughter of his sister, Mary Hammond, then deceased. Several members of the Hammond family are buried in Nonington Church (ib. iii. 711). To his niece, Lady Heath, wife of Sir John Heath of Brasted in Kent, he bequeathed ‘my great Portugal jewel containing 180 diamonds set in gold,’ and to his goddaughter Margaret, daughter of Lady Heath, a small gold cross with seven diamonds. Another niece, ‘Mrs. Jane Moyle, wife of Anthony Moyle, Esq.,’ and her son, John Moyle, are also mentioned. The name of Mennes has been spelt in an almost countless number of different ways. The spelling here followed is that of his own signature [cf. Myngs, Sir Christopher].
Mennes's verses, chiefly vers de société, seem to have caught the fancy of the age, and have been since described as the ideal of wit and mirth, but most of the pieces are coarse. It is, however, difficult to apportion his share of praise or blame, for nothing stands published in his name alone. Where his name does appear it is in conjunction with that of Dr. James Smith (1605–1667) [q. v.], who was probably the more fertile writer of the two, and their joint publications mainly consisted of anthologies of verse, to which many other writers besides themselves were contributors.
The works assigned to Mennes and Smith are: ‘Wits Recreations selected from the finest Fancies of Moderne Muses,’ first published in 1640, and in five other editions by 1667, with very considerable variations; ‘Musarum Deliciæ, or the Muses' Recreation,’ 1655 (2nd edit. 1656), and ‘Wit Restored in several select Poems, not formerly published,’ 1658. These three were collected and edited by Thomas Park, under the title of ‘Musarum Deliciæ,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1817, and reissued, with additional notes, by J. C. Hotten, 2 vols. 8vo, 1874. Besides these Mennes was the author, according to Anthony à Wood, of ‘Merrie Newes from Epsom Wells,’ 4to, 1663, and was one of the writers against Sir William D'Avenant in ‘certain verses written by severall of the Authour's friends, to be reprinted with the second edition of Gondibert,’ 1653; also, says Wood, of ‘divers other poems scattered in other men's works; and he did assist, as I have been credibly informed, Sir John Suckling in the composition of some of his poetry.’
[Memoir by Thomas Park, prefixed to the 1817 edition of Musarum Deliciæ, with some additions in the edition of 1874; Add. MS. 24487, f. 4 (Hunter's Chorus Vatum); Harl. MSS. 818, f. 49, and 1106, f. 118; Charnock's Biog. Nav. i. 61; Duckett's Naval Commissioners, with Historical Notices; Calendars of State Papers, Dom.; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. i. passim; Pepys's Diary, passim; notes kindly furnished by Mr. C. H. Firth.]