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Pirate

Sir Henry Mainwaring

Ightfield, Shropshire

A gentleman pirate who was pardoned and wrote a guide to catching pirates.

Henry Mainwaring, from a Shropshire gentry family, became one of the most successful pirates of his day, raiding Spanish shipping from a base in North Africa. In 1616 he was pardoned by James I, and he went on to write a 'Discourse of Pirates' explaining how to stamp them out.

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When
1587–1653
Where
52.9400, -2.6000
Group
Pirates

Visiting

Ightfield is a small village near Whitchurch, close to the family's old seat.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

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