# Neutrality in the Civil War (c. 1646)

URL: https://allhistories.com/barbados/timeline/1646-neutrality-in-the-civil-war
Location: Barbados
Themes: main-event

The English Civil War, which began in 1642, divided the planter elite of Barbados, which included both Royalists and Parliamentarians, and the island attracted a stream of refugees from both sides, among them Royalists who had lost their estates. Governor Philip Bell and the Assembly feared that the conflict would wreck the colony's fragile prosperity. The leading planters agreed to keep the peace among themselves. The Royalist writer Richard Ligon, who arrived in 1647, recorded that anyone who called another "Roundhead" or "Cavalier" was required to give a dinner of a young pig and a turkey to the company who heard him. At the same time Barbados continued to trade freely with Dutch merchants, whose ships supplied credit, enslaved Africans and goods and carried away the island's sugar. The policy of neutrality and free trade allowed Barbados to prosper during the war years. It ended after the execution of Charles I in 1649, when the arrival of more Royalist exiles, led by the Walrond brothers, tipped the balance. Parliament's efforts to stop Barbadian trade with the Dutch in 1650–1651 helped bring on the First Anglo-Dutch War. At this point in the timeline (1640s), the English monarch was Charles I (14 May 1625 – 30 January 1649); the Lord Proprietor was James Hay, 2nd Earl of Carlisle (March 1636 – 1663 (died 30 October 1660; patent surrendered to the Crown 1663)); the Governor of Barbados was Philip Bell (1641–1650).

## Why it matters
Neutrality let Barbados profit from the war years until England's revolution forced the island to choose sides.

Ruler at the Time: [Charles I](https://allhistories.com/barbados/rulers/charles-i)

Lord Proprietor of the Caribbee Islands (Barbados): James Hay, 2nd Earl of Carlisle
Governor of Barbados: Philip Bell

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — History of Barbados](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Barbados)
- [Wikipedia — Richard Ligon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ligon)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — English Civil War colonies](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=English+Civil+War+colonies)
- [Wikipedia — Settlement And The Sugar Revolution (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_plantations_in_the_Caribbean)