Mary Bankes
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The Lady Mary Bankes was a Royalist who defended Corfe Castle from a siege during the English Civil War in 1643. She was married to John Bankes, owner of Corfe Castle. In the civil world war she took control of Corfe Castle when John Bankes had been ordered by the king to travel to York. The Roundheads attacked the castle but never took it by force. One of her officers, Colonel Pitman, betrayed her by leading a party of Roundheads into the castle via a sally gate. The Roundheads reversed their jackets and were mistaken as Royalists. As a result she was forced to surrender the castle. However, because she showed such courage she was allowed to keep the keys of the castle, which are now held at Kingston Lacy near Wimborne, Dorset.
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