John Barkstead - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John Barkstead was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

Major-General and Regicide

Regicide

The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...

.

Barkstead was a goldsmith in London; captain of parliamentary infantry under Colonel Venn; governor of Reading, 1645: commanded regiment at siege of Colchester; one of the king's judges, 1648; governor of Yarmouth, 1649, and of the Tower, 1652; M.P. for Colchester, 1654, and Middlesex, 1656; knighted, 1656: escaped to continent, 1660; arrested, 1661; brought to England and executed.

Biography

The date of Barkstead's birth is unknown, was originally a goldsmith in the Strand, and was often taunted by Robert Lilburne

Robert Lilburne

thumb|right|Robert LilburneColonel Robert Lilburne was the older brother of John Lilburne, the well known Leveller, but unlike his brother who severed his relationship with Oliver Cromwell, Robert Lilburne remained in the army...

(a leveller) and the royalist pamphleteers with selling thimbles and bodkins. "Being sensible of the invasions which had been made upon the liberties of the nation, he took arms among the first for their defence in the quality of captain to a foot company in the regiment of Colonel Venn

John Venn (regicide)

John Venn was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1641 to 1650. He was one of the regicides of King Charles I....

". On 12 August 1645 he was appointed by the House of Commons governor of Reading, and his appointment was agreed to by the Lords on 10 December. During the Second Civil War

Second Civil War

The Second Civil War may refer to:* Second Congo War , also referred to as a civil war* Second English Civil War * Second Liberian Civil War * Second Sudanese Civil War...

he commanded a regiment at the siege of Colchester.

In December 1648 Barkstead was appointed one of the judges of King Charles I. Referring, at his own execution, to the king's trial

High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I

The High Court of Justice is the name given to the court established by the Rump Parliament to try King Charles I of England. This was an ad hoc tribunal created specifically for the purpose of trying the king, although the same name was used again for subsequent courts.Neither the involvement of...

, he says: "I was no contriver of it within or without, at that time I was many miles from the place, and did not know of it until I saw my name in a paper . . . what I did, I did without any malice". He attended every sitting during the trial except that of 13 January. During the year 1649 he acted as governor of Yarmouth, but by a vote of 11 April 1650 his regiment was selected for the guard of parliament and the city, and on 12 August 1652 he was also appointed governor of the Tower of London. Cromwell praised his vigilance in that capacity in his first speech to the parliament of 1656: "There never was any design on foot but we could hear of it out of the Tower. He who commanded there would give us account, that within a fortnight, or such a thing, there would be some stirring, for a great concourse of people were coming to them, and they had very great elevations of spirit". As governor of the Tower Barkstead's emoluments are said to have been two thousand a year.

In the parliament of 1654 Barkstead represented Colchester

Colchester (UK Parliament constituency)

Colchester is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...

, in that of 1656 Middlesex

Middlesex (UK Parliament constituency)

Middlesex is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885....

. In November 1655, during the Rule of the Major Generals he was appointed major-general of the county of Middlesex and the assistant of Sir Philip Skippon

Philip Skippon

Philip Skippon was an English soldier, who fought in the English Civil War.-To 1638:...

in the charge of London. His services were rewarded by knighthood (19 January 1656) and by his appointment as steward of Cromwell's household.

Barkstead's conduct as governor of the Tower was attacked by all parties, and he was charged with extortion and cruelty. In February 1659 he was summoned before the committee of grievances, was obliged to release some prisoners, and was in danger of a prosecution.

At the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

Barkstead was one of the seven excepted both for life and estate (6 June 1660), but he contrived to escape to Germany, "and to secure himself became a burgess of Hanau. In 1661, however, he ventured into Holland to see some friends, and Sir George Downing

Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet

Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet was an Anglo-Irish soldier, statesman, and diplomat. Downing Street in London is named after him. As Treasury Secretary he is credited with instituting major reforms in public finance. His influence was substantial on the passage and substance of the mercantilist...

, the king's agent in the United Provinces, having obtained from the states a warrant for his apprehension, seized him in his lodgings with John Okey

John Okey

John Okey was an English soldier, member of Parliament, and one of the regicides of King Charles I.-Early life and military career:...

and Miles Corbet

Miles Corbet

Miles Corbet was an English politician, recorder of Yarmouth and Regicide.-Life:He was the son of Sir Thomas Corbet of Sprowston, Norfolk and the younger brother of Sir John Corbet, 1st Baronet, MP for Great Yarmouth from 1625 to 1629...

. The three prisoners were immediately sent to England, and, as they had been previously outlawed, their trial turned entirely on the question of identity. Barkstead, with his companions, was executed on 19 April 1662. He showed great courage, thanked God he had been faithful to the powers he had served, and commended to the bystanders "the congregational way, in which he had found much comfort."

At the end of 1662 Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

was commissioned by Earl of Sandwich

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich

Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, KG was an English Infantry officer who later became a naval officer. He was the only surviving son of Sir Sidney Montagu, and was brought up at Hinchingbrooke House....

and Sir Henry Bennet

Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington

Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington KG, PC was an English statesman.- Background and early life :He was the son of Sir John Bennet of Dawley, Middlesex, and of Dorothy Crofts. He was the younger brother of John Bennet, 1st Baron Ossulston; his sister was Elizabeth Bennet who married Robert Kerr,...

, Secretary of State, to search the Tower of London for £7,000, supposed to have been the proceeds of Barkstead's corrupt Governorship and hidden by him in or near the Governor's Lodgings. Pepy's four searches of the Bell Tower cellars and garden yielded nothing.

Biography

Further reading