SirHenry Mildmay (ca. 1593–1668) was an English politician who sat in theHouse of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1659. He supported theParliamentarian cause in theEnglish Civil War and was one of theRegicides ofCharles I of England.[1]
Mildmay was knighted in 1617, and madeMaster of the Jewel Office in 1618.[2] In 1621, Mildmay was elected Member of Parliament forMaldon. He was elected MP forWestbury in 1624 and Maldon again in 1625 and 1628. He sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years[3] He attended Charles I on a visit to Scotland in 1639.[4]
In April 1640, Mildmay was elected MP for Maldon in theShort Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Maldon in theLong Parliament in November 1640[3] He supported Parliament during the Civil War and was a revenue commissioner between 1645 and 1652. In 1646, he was left as a hostage in Scotland. He remained in theRump Parliament afterPride's Purge and was present at thetrial of King Charles I.[4]
Mildmay was a member of theCouncils of State from 1649 until 1652. By order of parliament in 1649, he was to 'melt down all the gold and silver [in the Crown Jewels] and sell all the jewels to the best advantage ofthe Commonwealth.'[5] His nephew,Carew Mildmay, resisted the instructions and was imprisoned, while Henry himself stayed away.[5] He was afterwards called 'the knave of diamonds' for the destruction.[6] He was called to account upon the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 and attempted to escape. He was disgraced and sentenced to imprisonment for life. In 1664, a warrant was issued for his transportation toTangier, where he died four years later.[7]
Mildmay was second son of Humphrey Mildmay (d. 1613) ofDanbury Place, Essex, by Mary (1560–1633), daughter of Henry Capel of Little Hadham, Hertfordshire,[8] He was brought up at court, and excelled in all manly exercises. In 1610 he matriculated atEmmanuel College, Cambridge (founded by his grandfather, SirWalter Mildmay), graduating in 1612.[9]Clarendon terms him a "great flatterer of all persons in authority, and a spy in all places for them",[10] On 9 August 1617 Mildmay, being then one of the king's sewers, was knighted at Kendal.[11] In 1619 he made a wealthy match, through the king's good offices,[12] and bought Wanstead House, Essex, fromGeorge Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, where he entertainedJames I in June of that year.[13]
In April 1620, he was appointedMaster of the King's Jewel House,[14] on 8 August following enteredGray's Inn,[15] and was elected M.P. for Maldon, Essex, of which he became chief steward on 20 December. He was chosen one of the tilters before the king on the anniversary of his accession, 24 March 1622.[16] On 3 February 1624 he was returned to theHappy Parliament for Westbury, Wiltshire.[17]
In the first parliament of King Charles I's reign (convened on 12 April 1625), Sir Henry sat again for Maldon (known as theUseless Parliament). He also represented Maldon in the parliament of 1627–8, and in theShort andLong parliaments of 1640.[18] In parliament he took part in the great debate on the foreign policy of the crown, 6 August 1625, when, as a friend of Buckingham, he proposed a vote of money for completing the equipment of the fleet against Spain.[19]
As keeper of the jewel house, Mildmay helped selectroyal jewels for theDuke of Buckingham to pawn in October 1625, and he travelled to Amsterdam with Buckingham's secretarySackville Crowe,[20] hoping to raise loans from merchants to fund the navy and finance an undertaking made withChristian IV of Denmark as part of theTreaty of The Hague (1625).[21][22]
On 5 May 1627, King Charles I, suspended a statute of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for the removal of fellows at the time of commencing doctors, or within one year thereafter. Sir Henry being anxious, as grandson of the founder, to maintain the statute, offered to annexe five or six new benefices to the college within six years, and thus obtained its revocation.[23] On 4 August 1630 he was appointed a commissioner for compounding with persons selected for knighthood, and likewise a collector.[24]
In 1639, he accompaniedCharles I on his expedition to Scotland, and maintained an interesting correspondence with SecretaryFrancis Windebank.[25] As deputy-lieutenant ofRobert Devereux, Earl of Essex, he endeavoured in May 1640 to collect the "conduct-money" in that county, but found the task little to his liking.[26] On 21 April 1641, he voted against thebill for the attainder ofThomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford.[27]
Sir Henry eventually deserted the king, and was appointed one of the committee of the commons on 9 September 1641.[28] The parliament, regarding him as an important acquisition, refused, despite its ordinance, to expel him for his notorious peculation (Declaration of the King concerning the Proceedings of this Present Parliament, 12 August 1642;[29] and allowed him to retain his salary as master of the jewel-house.[30] He made himself useful by acting as master of the ceremonies to foreign ambassadors, and was an active committeeman for Essex.[31]
In November 1643, he got into trouble with parliament by saying ofPhilip, Lord Wharton, who had raised a regiment for the parliamentary service,[32] and subsequently became a member of the council of state,[33] "that he had made his peace at Oxon, and therefore was not fit to be entrusted with any public trust".[34] After endeavouring to shift the blame on Lord Murray he thought it prudent to absent himself from the house. (It was not he but a cousin SirHenry Mildmay of Woodham Walters and Moulsham who on 17 June 1645 vainly claimed, by petition, thebarony of Fitzwalter;[35] From 1645 to 1652, he was a commissioner for the revenue.[36]
By reason of his wealth, Sir Henry was one of the hostages left with the Scots in December 1646.[37] In January 1648, on the debate upon the letters of the Scottish commissioners, he made a long speech in praise ofArchibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll, and moved that the latter be paid his £10,000, and the rest of the Scottish debts be continued at interest at 8 per cent. For his "good service" in Hampshire at the trial of CaptainJohn Burley he received thethanks of parliament on 2 February 1648.[38]
Sir Henry was nominated one of theKing's judges, and attendedthe trial on 23 January 1649, but abstained from signing the warrant.[39] He was a member of thecouncils of state elected in 1649, 1650, 1651, and 1652, and sat on the committee appointed to consider the formation of a West India Company, and the regulation of the fishing upon the British coasts.[40] In July 1649, parliament ordered the sum of £2,000. which he had lent to King Charles I to be repaid him with interest from the fund accumulated by sales of cathedral lands.[41]
When, in the summer of 1650, news reached London that King Charles II had landed in Scotland, Sir Henry, who had often been sent on a commission to inquire into the state of the late king's three younger children, suggested, as a matter of public safety, that they should be immured inCarisbrooke Castle, of which his brother Anthony was governor.[42] Thenceforward he ceased to take a prominent part in affairs, though he signed the remonstrance promoted on 22 September 1656 by SirArthur Hesilrige on behalf of the excluded members.[43]
On 15 May 1660, Sir Henry was ordered, to attend the committee appointed to considerCharles II's reception, and give an account of the whereabouts of the crowns, robes, sceptres, and jewels belonging to the King. He attempted to escape abroad, but was seized byLord Winchelsea atRye, Sussex, and was excepted out of theGeneral Pardon Bill. On his petition he was ordered to be committed to the custody of theserjeant-at-arms instead of to theTower of London. On 1 July 1661 he was brought to the bar of the House of Commons, and after evidence had been produced against him, and he had been made to confess his guilt, he was degraded from his honours and titles. He was likewise sentenced to be drawn every year on the anniversary of the King's sentence (27 January) upon a sledge through the streets to and under the gallows at Tyburn, with a rope about his neck, and so back to the Tower, there to remain a prisoner during his life.[44] In a petition to the House of Lords, dated 25 July, he prayed for commiseration, alleging that he was present at the trial only to seek some opportunity of saving the king's life.[45]
On 31 March 1664, a warrant was issued for Mildmay's transportation to Tangier, but on account of his feeble health he was allowed a servant.[46] He is often recorded to have died, shortly after setting out on the journey, between April 1664 and May 1665 at Antwerp.[47] However, this is apparently based on a mistranscription from a contemporary source, and he in fact died atEnglish Tangier circa 1668.[7] Most of his vast accumulations were forfeited to the crown, his estate at Wanstead being granted toJames, Duke of York.[48]
In the British Library are Mildmay's letters to SirThomas Barrington in 1643 (Egerton MSS. 2643, 2647), letter to the parliamentary committee at Southampton in 1645,[49] and a guarantee on a loan for pay of troops in Essex in 1643 (Egerton MS. 2651, f. 146); there are also letters of his in the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library (Lords' Journals, vols. vi. x).
Sir Henry married, in April 1619, Anne, daughter and coheiress ofWilliam Holliday, alderman of London. They had two sons: William (b 1623), and Henry, who was admitted ofGray's Inn on 26 April 1656,[50] and three daughters: Susan, Anne, and Mary.[48]
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1903)."Mildmay, Sir Henry".Index and Epitome.Dictionary of National Biography. Cambridge University Press. p. 875.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Goodwin, Gordon (1894). "Mildmay, Henry". InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 37. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 372–374. DNB notes the following sources:| Parliament of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMaldon 1621 With:Julius Caesar | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWestbury 1624 With:Sir John Saye | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMaldon 1625 With:Sir William Masham, Bt; | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forMaldon 1628–1629 With:Sir Arthur Harris | Parliament suspended until 1640 |
| Vacant | Member of Parliament forMaldon 1640–1653 With:John Porter 1640 Sir John Clotworthy 1640–1648 | Not represented inBarebones Parliament |