Robert Venables

Robert Venables
Map of Jamaica, captured by Venables during the 1655 Western Design
Governor of Chester
In office April 1660 – July 1660
Parliamentarian Governor of Liverpool
In office January 1647 – August 1649
Personal details
Born	1613 Antrobus, Cheshire
Died	10 December 1687 (aged 73–74) Wincham, Cheshire
Military service
Years of service	1642–1655
Rank	General
Battles/wars	Wars of the Three Kingdoms First Middlewich Hopton Heath Siege of Chester Second Middlewich Nantwich Battle of Rowton Heath Siege of Oxford Battle of Rathmines Siege of Drogheda Battle of Lisnagarvey Battle of Scarrifholis Siege of Charlemont Anglo-Spanish War Siege of Santo Domingo Invasion of Jamaica

Robert Venables (c. 1613–1687) was an English soldier from Cheshire, who fought for Parliament in the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and later served under the Commonwealth of England.

When the Anglo-Spanish War began in 1654, he was made joint commander of an expedition against Spanish possessions in the West Indies, known as the Western Design. Although he captured Jamaica, which remained a British colony for over 300 years, the project was considered a failure, ending his military career.

Appointed Governor of Chester shortly before the 1660 Stuart Restoration, he was replaced by the new regime and returned to private life. In 1662 published a treatise on fishing, The Experienced Angler, which went through five editions in his lifetime. Arrested but released without charge after the Farnley Wood Plot in 1663, in 1668 he purchased an estate at Wincham in Cheshire, where he lived quietly until his death in 1687.