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BULSTRODE WHITELOCKE (1605-1675)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 607 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BULSTRODE See also:WHITELOCKE (1605-1675)  , See also:English lawyer and parliamentarian, eldest son of See also:Sir See also:James See also:Whitelocke, was baptized on the 19th of See also:August 1605, and educated at See also:Merchant Taylors' School and at St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Oxford, where he matriculated on the 8th of See also:December 162o . He See also:left Oxford, without a degree, for the See also:Middle See also:Temple, and was called to the See also:bar in 1626 and chosen treasurer in 1628 . He was fond of See also:field See also:sports and of See also:music, and in 1633 he had See also:charge of the music in the See also:great masque' performed by the inns of See also:court before the See also:king and See also:queen . Meanwhile he had been elected for See also:Stafford in the See also:parliament of 1626 and had been appointed See also:recorder of See also:Abingdon and See also:Henley . In 164o he was chosen member for Great See also:Marlow in the See also:Long Parliament . He took a prominent See also:part in the proceedings against See also:Strafford, was chairman of the See also:committee of management, and had charge of articles XIX.-See also:XXIV. of the See also:impeachment . He See also:drew up the See also:bill for making parliaments indissoluble except by their own consent, and supported the See also:Grand Remonstrance and the See also:action taken in the See also:Commons against the illegal canons; on the See also:militia question, however, he advocated a See also:joint See also:control by king and parliament .. On the out-break of the Great See also:Rebellion he took the See also:side of the parliament, using his See also:influence in the See also:country as See also:deputy-See also:lieutenant to prevent the king's raising troops in See also:Buckinghamshire and See also:Oxfordshire . He was sent to the king at Oxford both in 1643 and 1644 to negotiate terms, and the See also:secret communications with See also:Charles on the latter occasion were the See also:foundation of a charge of See also:treason brought against Whitelocke and Denzil Holies (q.v.) later . He was again one of the commissioners at See also:Uxbridge in 1645 . Nevertheless he opposed the policy of See also:Holles and the See also:peace party and the proposed disbanding of the See also:army in 1647, and though one of the See also:lay members of the See also:assembly of divines, repudiated the claims of divine authority put forward by the Presbyterians for their See also:church, and approved of religious tolerance . He thus gravitated more towards See also:Cromwell and the army party, but he took no part either in the disputes between the army and the parliament or in the trial of the king .

On the See also:

establishment of the See also:Commonwealth, though out of sympathy with the See also:government, he was nominated to the See also:council of See also:state and a See also:commissioner of the new Great See also:Seal . He urged Cromwell after the See also:battle of See also:Worcester and again in 1652 to recall the royal See also:family, while in 1653 he disapproved of the See also:expulsion of the Long Parliament and was especially marked out for attack by Cromwell in his speech on that occasion . Later in the autumn, and perhaps in consequence, Whitelocke was despatched on a See also:mission to See also:Christina, queen of See also:Sweden, to conclude a treaty of See also:alliance and assure the freedom of the See also:Sound . On his return he resumed his See also:office as commissioner of the Great Seal, was appointed a commissioner of the See also:treasury with a See also:salary of £See also:I000, and was returned to the parliament of 1654 for each of the four constituencies of See also:Bedford, See also:Exeter, Oxford and Buckinghamshire, electing to sit for the latter See also:constituency . Whitelocke was a learned and a sound lawyer . He had hitherto shown himself not unfavourable to reform, having supported the bill introducing the use of English into legal proceedings, having drafted a new treason See also:law, and set on See also:foot some alterations in See also:chancery See also:procedure . A See also:tract advocating the registering of See also:title-deeds is attributed to him . But he opposed the revolutionary innovations dictated by ignorant and popular prejudices . He defeated the See also:strange bill which sought to exclude lawyers from parliament; and to the sweeping and See also:ill-considered changes in the court of chancery proposed by Cromwell and the council he offered an unbending and See also:honourable resistance, being dismissed in consequence, together with his colleague See also:Widdrington, on the 6th of See also:June 165 from his commissionership of the Great Seal (see See also:LENTHALL, See also:WILLIAM) . He still, however, remained on See also:good terms with Cromwell, by whom he was respected; he took part in public business, acted as Cromwell's adviser on See also:foreign affairs, negotiated the treaty with Sweden of 1656, and, elected again to the parliament of the same See also:year as member for Buckinghamshire, was chairman of the committee which conferred with Cromwell on the subject of the See also:Petition and See also:Advice and urged the See also:protector to assume the title of king . In December 1657 he became a member of the new See also:House of Lords . On See also:Richard Cromwell's See also:accession he was reappointed a commissioner of the Great Seal, and had considerable influence during the former's See also:short See also:tenure of See also:power .

He returned to his See also:

place in the Long Parliament on its recall, was appointed a member of the council of state on the 14th of May 1659, . and became See also:president in August; and 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 the 1st of See also:November . During the See also:period which immediately preceded the Restoration he endeavoured to oppose See also:Monk's schemes, and desired See also:Fleetwood to forestall him and make terms with Charles, but in vain . 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 See also:necessity of carrying on the government of the country somehow or other had been the See also:chief See also:motive of his adherence to Cromwell rather than any sympathy for a See also:republic or a military dictatorship, and his advice to Cromwell to accept the title of king was doubt-less tendered with the See also:object of giving the See also:administration greater stability and of protecting its adherents under the See also:Statute of See also:Henry VII . Nor had he shown himself unduly ambitious or self-seeking in the pursuit of office, and he had proved himself ready to See also:sacrifice high. place to the claims of professional See also:honour and See also:duty . These considerations were not without See also:weight with his contemporaries at the Restoration . Accordingly Whitelocke was not excepted from the See also:Act of See also:Indemnity, and after the See also:payment of various sums to the king and others he was allowed to retain the bulk of his See also:property . He lived henceforth in seclusion at Chilton in See also:Wiltshire, dying on the 28th of See also:July 1675 . Whitelocke married (i) Rebecca, daughter of See also:Thomas Bennet, (2) Frances, daughter of See also:Lord See also:Willoughby of Parham, and (3) See also:Mary See also:Carleton, widow of See also:Rowland See also:Wilson, and left See also:children by each of his wives . He was the author of Memorials of the English affairs from the beginning of the reign of Charles I published 1682 and reprinted, a See also:work which has obtained greater authority than it deserves, being largely a compilation from various See also:sources, composed after the events and abounding in errors .

Phoenix-squares

His work of greatest value, his See also:

Annals, still remains in MS. in Lord See also:Bute's and Lord de la Warr's collections (Hist . Brit . See also:Comm . III . See also:Rep.pp.2o2, 217; also See also:Egerton See also:MSS . Brit . See also:Mus . 997 ,add . MSS . 4992, 4994) ; his See also:Journal of the See also:Swedish See also:Embassy . . was published 1772 and re-edited by Henry See also:Reeve in 1885 (add . MSS .

4902, 4991 and 4995 and Hist . MSS . Comm . III . Rep . 190, 217); Notes on the King's See also:

Writ for choosing Members of Parliament . . . were published 1766 (see also add . MSS . 4993); Memorials of English Affairs from the supposed expedition of See also:Brace to this See also:Island to the end of the Reign of James I., were published 1709 ; Essays Ecclesiastical and See also:Civil (1706) ; Quench not the Spirit .. . (1711) ; some theological See also:treatises remain in MS., and several others are attributed to him . See the See also:article by C . H .

See also:

Firth in the See also:Diet Nat . Biog. with authorities there quoted; See also:Memoirs of B . Whitelccke by R . H . Whitelocke (1860); H . Reeve's edition of the Swedish Embassy; See also:Foss's See also:Judges of See also:England; Eng . Hist . Rev. xvi . 737; See also:Wood's See also:Ath . Oxon. iii . 1042 .

End of Article: BULSTRODE WHITELOCKE (1605-1675)
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