John Hutchinson (Roundhead)
John Hutchinson | |
---|---|
Member of the House of Commons of England | |
In office 1648 – 1653, briefly in 1660 | |
Governor of Nottingham Castle and Town | |
Assumed office 29 June 1643 | |
Commissioner for Exclusion from Sacrament in 1646 and Commissioner for Scandalous Offences in 1648 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Owthorpe Hall, Nottinghamshire | September 18, 1615
Died | September 11, 1664 Sandown Castle, Kent | (aged 48)
Cause of death | Fever |
Nationality | English |
Spouse | |
Children | 9, including John and Barbara |
Parent(s) | Thomas Hutchinson and Margaret Byron |
Relatives | Sir John Byron (Maternal Grandfather) |
Education |
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Occupation |
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Military service | |
Allegiance |
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Branch/service | |
Years of service | English Civil War Period |
Rank | Colonel |
Battles/wars | English Civil War |
Colonel John Hutchinson (1615–1664) was an English politician and military leader who played a significant role during the
He invested very successfully in buying paintings from the art collection of Charles I after his execution, spending very large amounts relative to his wealth. After a few years, he resold them for substantial profits.[1]
Life
Hutchinson was born to
Hutchinson was baptised on 18 September 1615.
Unlike his Royalist father, Sir Thomas Hutchinson, who represented
On 29 June 1643, at the order of the committee and of Sir
The neighbouring royalist commanders, Hutchinson's cousin (Sir Richard Byron), and William, Marquess of Newcastle, attempted to corrupt Hutchinson. Newcastle's agent offered him £10,000, and promised that he should be made "the best lord in Nottinghamshire",[3] but Hutchinson indignantly refused to entertain such proposals.[7]
The town was often attacked. Sir Charles Lucas entered it in January 1644 and endeavoured to set it on fire, and in April 1645 a party from Newark captured the fort at Trent-bridges. Hutchinson succeeded in making good these losses, and answered each new summons to surrender with fresh defiance.[8]
The difficulties were increased by continual disputes between Hutchinson and the committee, which were a natural result, in Nottingham as elsewhere, of the divided authority set up by Parliament. But there is evidence that Hutchinson was irritable, quick-tempered, and deficient in self-control. The Committee of Both Kingdoms endeavoured to end the quarrel by a compromise, which Hutchinson found great difficulty in persuading his opponents to accept.[9]
On 16 March 1646, Hutchinson was returned to Parliament as member for Nottinghamshire, succeeding to the seat held by his father, who had died on 18 August 1643.[10] His religious views led him to attach himself to the Independent rather than the Presbyterian party. As governor, he had protected the separatists to the best of his ability, and now, under his wife's influence, he adopted the main tenet of the Baptists.[11] He was commissioner for exclusion from sacrament in 1646 and commissioner for scandalous offences in 1648.[12]
On 22 December 1648, Hutchinson signed the protest against the votes of the House of Commons accepting the concessions made by the king at the
From 13 February 1649 to 1651 Hutchinson was a member of the first two
His neighbours thought of electing him to the First Protectorate Parliament in 1656, but Major-general Whalley's influence induced them to change their minds.[15] According to his wife Lucy Hutchinson, Cromwell attempted to persuade her husband to accept office, "and, finding him too constant to be wrought upon to serve his tyranny", would have arrested him had not death prevented the fulfilment of his purpose.[16]
The certificate presented in Hutchinson's favour after the
In October 1663 Hutchinson was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in what was known as the Farnley Wood Plot. The evidence against him was far from conclusive, but the government appears to have been eager to seize the opportunity of imprisoning him.[22] Imprisonment restored Hutchinson's peace of mind. He regarded it as freeing him from his former obligations to the government, and refused to purchase his release by fresh engagements. During his confinement in the Tower of London, he was treated with great severity by the governor, Sir John Robinson, and threatened in return to publish an account of his malpractices and extortions.[23] He even succeeded in getting printed a narrative of his own arrest and usage in the Tower, which is stated on the title page to be "written by himself on the 6th of April 1664, having then received intimation that he was to be sent away to another prison, and therefore he thought fit to print this for the satisfying his relations and friends of his innocence".[24]
A warrant for Hutchinson's transportation to the Isle of Man was prepared in April 1664, but he was finally transferred to Sandown Castle in Kent on 3 May 1664. The castle was ruinous and unhealthy, and he died of a fever four months after his removal to it on 11 September 1664. His wife obtained permission to bury his body at St Margaret's Church, Owthorpe.[16]
Assessment
In the opinion of the historian
Family
He was married to
His wife was the author of his biography Memoirs of the life of colonel Hutchinson. Although the book was not published until several years after her death, she had known many of the people in that conflict and was in an ideal position to chronicle the events of the war.[25]
Notes
- ISBN 9780330427098- gives a detailed account, see the index
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Brown, Worthies of Notts, p. 190; Life of Col. Hutchinson, ed. 1885, i.57.
- ^ a b c d e f Firth 1891, p. 339.
- ^ "Hutchinson, John (HTCN631J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Lowe, pp. 5–8.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Life, i. 224, 278.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Life, i. 224, 234, 250, 369; Vicars, God's Ark, p. 104.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Life, i. 327, 383, ii. 70, 78.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Life, ii. 361.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Return of Names of Members, &c. i. 492.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Life, ii. 101.
- ^ a b Henning 1983.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Walker, Hist. of Independency, ed. 1660, ii. 48.
- ^ a b Firth 1891, p. 339 cites: Life, ii. 152, 155.
- ^ Firth 1891, pp. 339, 340 cites: (THURLOE, iv. 299.
- ^ a b c Firth 1891, p. 340.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Life, ii. 229, 234; Baker, Chronicle, ed. Phillips, p.691.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Life, ii. 236.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Commons' Journals, viii. 60.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Life, ii. 392-8; Athenæum, 3 March 1860; Hist. MSS. Comm. 7th Rep. p. 120.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Life, ii. 262.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Life, ii. . pp. 292, 314; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1663-4, pp. 314, 329, 391, 392.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1663-4 pp.539, 561.
- ^ Firth 1891, p. 340 cites: Harl. Misc., ed. Park, iii. 33.
- ^ Firth 1891, pp. 340, 341.
References
- Henning, B.D., ed. (1983). "Hutchinson, John (1615-64), of Owthorpe, Notts.". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690.
- Hutchinson, Lucy, b. 1620; Hutchinson, Julius; Halsall, Edward; Chisenhale, Edward, d. 1654, Memoirs of the life of Colonel Hutchinson, Governor of Nottingham Castle and Town, representative of the County of Nottingham in the Long Parliament, and of the Town of Nottingham in the first parliament of Charles the Second, with original anecdotes of many of the most distinguished of his contemporaries, and a summary review of public affairs. London : H. G. Bohn, 1863
- Capt A.E. Lawson Lowe, Historical Record of the Royal Sherwood Foresters; or Nottinghamshire Regiment of Militia, London: Mitchell, 1872.
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Firth, C. H. (1891). "Hutchinson, John (1615-1664)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.
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