John Rushworth

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Not to be confused with John Rushworth (surgeon).
John Rushworth

John Rushworth (c. 1612 – 12 May 1690) was an English lawyer, historian and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1657 and 1685. He compiled a series of works covering the English Civil Wars throughout the 17th century called Historical Collections and also known as the Rushworth Papers.

Early life

Rushworth was born at Acklington Park in Warkworth, Northumberland, the son of Lawrence Rushworth and his wife Margaret Cuthbert, daughter of the vicar of Carnaby in Yorkshire. His father was an extensive landowner and Justice of the Peace at Heath, Yorkshire although he was in prison for debt in 1629. Rushworth was a solicitor at Berwick on Tweed from 1638 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1640. He also began work as clerk assistant at the House of Commons in 1640: assisting Henry Elsynge, Clerk of the House of Commons, he was the first recorded individual to hold the office.[1]

Civil Wars

Rushworth followed the lead of

Edge Hill (1642), Newbury (1643 and 1644), Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645). In 1645 he became secretary to Thomas Fairfax, commander-in-chief of the New Model Army.[1] When Charles I was captured, Rushworth began to record details of events leading up to, during and following the trial and execution of the King. He reported the Battle of Preston (1648) and the Battle of Worcester
(1651).

Legal authority

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Rushworth became personal secretary to Oliver Cromwell. He began drafting plans for the abolition of the monarchy and the

Member of Parliament for Berwick in the Second Protectorate Parliament.[1] As a member of the Cromwellian government he enjoyed the friendships of John Milton (who served Cromwell as the official State Censor); John Owen; John Bunyan
and many other well known people of that period.

Death of Cromwell and Restoration

When Oliver Cromwell died on 3 September 1658, his son

Treasury Solicitor. On 7 June 1660 he presented to the Privy Council certain volumes of its records, which he claimed to have preserved from plunder "during the late unhappy times", and received the king's thanks for their restoration.[2]

Reports were spread, however, of Rushworth's complicity in the late king's death, and he was called before the lords to give an account of the deliberations of the regicides, but professed to know nothing except by hearsay.[3] Rushworth was not re-elected to the parliament of 1661, but continued to act as agent for the town of Berwick, although complaints were made that the king could look for little obedience so long as such men were agents for corporations.[4]

Later years

In September 1667, when Sir Orlando Bridgeman was made lord-keeper, he appointed Rushworth his secretary.[5] The colony of Massachusetts also employed him as its agent at a salary of twelve guineas a year and his expenses, but it was scoffingly said in 1674 that all he had done for the colony was 'not worth a rush'.[6]

Rushworth was elected MP for Berwick again in March 1679 for the

St. George's Church, Southwark. Wood states that Rushworth died at the age of eighty-three, but in a letter written in 1675 Rushworth describes himself as sixty-three at that date.[9]

Influence

While Rushworth was remembered as a person, his writings found favour in

George III in the Declaration of Independence
.

Family

Rushworth married Hannah Widdrington, daughter of Lewis Widdrington, and sister of Sir Thomas Widdrington, who later became the Speaker of the House of Commons. On his death Rushworth left four daughters:

  1. Hannah, married, February 1664, Sir Francis Fane of Fulbeck, Lincolnshire[10]
  2. Rebecca, married, August 1667, Robert Blaney of Kinsham, Herefordshire[11]
  3. Margaret[12]
  4. Katherine, whose letter to the Duke of Newcastle on her father's death is printed in the Report on the Duke of Portland's Manuscripts[13]

Legacy

In 1890, King's Bench Prison in Rule's Court was demolished. Rushworth School was then built on the site and the court was renamed Rushworth Street. A portrait of Rushworth, by R. White, is prefixed to the third part of his Historical Collections.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Hampson 1983.
  2. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Kennet, Register, p. 176 ; Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. p. 231.
  3. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Autobiography of Alice Thornton, Surtees Society, 1875, p. 347; Lords Journals, xi. 104.
  4. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1667, pp. 188, 290.
  5. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Ludlow, Memoirs, ed. 1894, ii. 495.
  6. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Hutchinson Papers, Prince Society, ii. 174, 183, 206.
  7. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Tempest's will, dated 14 Nov. 1657, is printed by the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Ser. ix. 105.
  8. ^ Firth, vol 49, p. 421. quotes: Wood
  9. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Report on the Duke of Portland's Manuscripts, ii. 151.
  10. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Harleian Society Publications, vol. 24, p. 77.
  11. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Harleian Society Publications, vol. 23, p. 138.
  12. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. vol. 11, p. 263.
  13. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421 cites: Report on the Duke of Portland's Manuscripts, vol. 2, p. 164.
  14. ^ Firth 1897, p. 421.

References

  • Hampson, Gillian (1983). "Rushworth, John (c.1612-90), of Acklington Park, Warkworth, Northumb. and Dorset Court, Channel Row, Westminster". In Henning, B.D. (ed.). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690. Boydell and Brewer.

Attribution:

Further reading

Parliament of England
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed

1657–1659 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed
1660
With: Thomas Widdrington
Edward Grey
 Succeeded by
Preceded by
Ralph Grey
 		Succeeded by
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