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Bulstrode Whitelocke | |
|---|---|
 Bulstrode Whitelocke, 1634 | |
| Ambassador to Sweden | |
| In office 1653–1654 | |
| Succeeded by | William Jephson |
| Member of Parliament forStafford | |
| In office 1626–1626 Serving with Sir John Offley | |
| Preceded by | Matthew Craddock Robert Hatton |
| Succeeded by | Matthew Craddock William Wingfield |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1605-08-06)6 August 1605 London, England |
| Died | 28 July 1675(1675-07-28) (aged 69) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Edmund Whitelocke (uncle) James Whitelocke (son) Lord Willoughby of Parham (father-in-law) |
| Education | Eton College Merchant Taylors' School |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke (6 August 1605 – 28 July 1675) was an English lawyer, writer,parliamentarian, and one of thecommissioners of the Great Seal during theInterregnum.
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He was the eldest son ofSir James Whitelocke and Elizabeth Bulstrode, and was born on 6 August 1605 at George Croke's house inFleet Street,London. He was baptized on 19 August 1605 at the nearby church ofSt Dunstan-in-the-West, where his mother's parents were married in 1571; his notorious uncleEdmund Whitelocke, being one of the godfathers, announced that the child was to be called Bulstrode. The vicar demurred, but Edmund insisted that he bear his mother's name, "Bulstrode or Elizabeth, let them choose which they please".[1] Bulstrode was educated briefly atEton College, then atMerchant Taylors' School and atSt John's College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 8 December 1620.[2]
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He leftOxford, without a degree, for theMiddle Temple, and wascalled to the bar in 1626; in 1628 he became treasurer of his Temple. He was fond of field sports and of music, and in 1633/34 he had charge of the music in the great masque "The Triumph of Peace" performed by the Inns of Court beforeCharles I of England andHenrietta Maria of France.
He was appointed Recorder ofAbingdon (1632–49), of Oxford (1647–49), of Bristol (1651–55), and Counsel forHenley (1632).
He was elected for Stafford in the parliament of 1626. In 1640, he was chosen Member forGreat Marlow in theLong Parliament.[3]
He took a prominent part in the proceedings againstStrafford, was Chairman of the Committee of Management, and had charge of articles XIX–XXIV of the impeachment. He drew up the Bill for making Parliaments indissoluble except by their own consent, and supported theGrand Remonstrance and the action taken in theHouse of Commons against the illegal canons; on the militia question, however, he advocated a joint control by King and Parliament.[citation needed]
On the outbreak of theEnglish Civil War he took the side of the Parliament, using his influence in the country as Deputy-Lieutenant to prevent the King from raising troops inBuckinghamshire andOxfordshire.[2]
He was sent to the King atOxford in 1643 and again in 1644 to negotiate terms, and the secret communications withKing Charles on the latter occasion were the foundation of a charge oftreason brought later against Whitelocke andDenzil Holles. He was one of the Commissioners at theTreaty of Uxbridge in 1645.[2]
Nevertheless, he opposed the policy of Holles and the Peace Party and the proposed disbanding of the army in 1647, and, although he was one of the lay members of the Assembly of Divines, he repudiated the claims of divine authority put forward by the Presbyterians for their Church, and approved of religious tolerance. He thus gravitated more towardsOliver Cromwell and the Army Party, but he took no part in either the disputes between the Army and Parliament or in the trial of the King. On the establishment of theCommonwealth, though out of sympathy with the government, he was nominated to the Council of State and as a Commissioner of the Parliament's new Great Seal (1659–60).[2]
He purportedly urged Cromwell after theBattle of Worcester and again in 1652 to recall the Royal Family.[4] In 1653 he disapproved of the expulsion of the Long Parliament and he was especially marked out for attack by Cromwell in his speech on that occasion.
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Later in the autumn of 1653, and perhaps in consequence, Whitelocke was despatched on a mission toChristina, queen of Sweden, to conclude atreaty of alliance and assure the freedom of the Sound. Retroactively, the diplomatic mission caused him to be considered as the first of thecountry's Ambassadors to Sweden, though at the time this was not a regular or fixed position. He was knighted in 1654.[5]
On his return he resumed his office as Commissioner of the Great Seal, was appointed a Commissioner of the Treasury with a salary of £1000,[clarification needed] and was returned to Parliament in 1654 for each of the four constituencies ofBedford,Exeter, Oxford and Buckinghamshire, electing to sit for the latter constituency.[2]
Whitelocke was a learned and sound lawyer. He had hitherto shown himself not unsympathetic to reform, having supported the Bill introducing the use of English into legal proceedings, having drafted a new treason law, and having set on foot some alterations in Chancery procedure. A tract advocating the registering of title deeds is attributed to him. He defeated a bill which sought to exclude lawyers from parliament; and to the sweeping and ill-considered changes in the Court of Chancery proposed by Cromwell and the Council he offered an unbending and honourable resistance, being dismissed in consequence, together with his colleague Sir Thomas Widdrington, on 6 June 1654 from his Commissionership of the Great Seal (seeWilliam Lenthall).[2]
However, he still remained on good terms with Cromwell, by whom he was respected; he took part in public business, acted as Cromwell's adviser on foreign affairs, negotiated the treaty with Sweden of 1656, and, was elected again to the Parliament of the same year, as Member for Buckinghamshire, he was chairman of the committee which conferred with Cromwell on the subject of the Petition and Advice and urged the protector to assume the title of King. In December 1657 he became a member ofCromwell's Other House.[2]
OnRichard Cromwell's assumption of the Protectorship, Whitelocke was reappointed a Commissioner of the Great Seal, and had considerable influence during the former's short tenure of power. He returned to his place in the Long Parliament on its recall, was appointed a member of the Council of State on 14 May 1659, and became president in August. Subsequently, on the fresh expulsion of the Long Parliament, he was included in the Committee of Safety which superseded the council. He again received the Great Seal into his keeping on 1 November. During the period which immediately preceded the Restoration he endeavoured to opposeGeorge Monck's schemes, and desiredCharles Fleetwood to forestall him and make terms with King Charles, but in vain.[2]
On the failure of his plans, he retired to the country and awaited events. Whitelocke's career, however, had been marked by moderation and good sense throughout. The necessity of carrying on the government of the country somehow or other had been the chief motive of his adherence to Cromwell rather than any sympathy for a republic or a military dictatorship, and his advice to Cromwell to accept the title of King was doubtless tendered with the object of giving the administration greater stability and of protecting its adherents under the Statute ofHenry VII. Nor had he shown himself unduly ambitious or self-seeking in the pursuit of office, and he had proved himself ready to sacrifice high place to the claims of professional honour and duty. These considerations were not without weight with his contemporaries at the Restoration. Accordingly, Whitelocke was not excepted from theAct of Indemnity, and after the payment of various sums to the King and others he was allowed to retain the bulk of his property.[2]
In retirement, he dedicated part of his home Chilton Lodge atChilton Foliat as aCongregational meeting house, with up to 300 people in attendance.[6] He is commemorated in the placename, Whitelocks Piece, in the village.
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Whitelocke purchasedGreenlands House, Berkshire in 1651. The purchase of this land resulted in Whitelocke owning 3 miles of Thames waterfront below Henley-on-Thames. The site is now the home ofHenley Business School, part of theUniversity of Reading. Whitelocke lived atFawley Court inBuckinghamshire which he had inherited from his father in 1632. After the house was damaged during theCivil War he gave it to his sonJames and lived henceforth in seclusion at Chilton Lodge nearChilton Foliat inWiltshire, dying on 28 July 1675, aged 69.[7]
Whitelocke married three times:
An account of the distribution of his property among these different sons is given in R. H. Whitelocke'sLife of Whitelocke.[15]
Whitelocke was the author of:[3]
Attribution:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Whitelocke, Bulstrode".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 606–607. This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Firth, Charles Harding (1900). "Whitelocke, Bulstrode". InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 61. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 110. Endnotes:
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Speaker of the House of Commons 1657 | Succeeded by |
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