Richard Cresheld was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

  variously between 1624 and 1648.

Biography

Cresheld was the son of Edward Cresheld of Mattishall

Mattishall

Mattishall is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated in the heart of Norfolk 13 miles from the centre of Norwich and four miles from Dereham, at the geographical centre of Norfolk....

 Norfolk. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn

Lincoln's Inn

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

 on 18 June 1608 and called to the bar on 17 October 1615. He was recorder of Evesham in 1625.

In 1624, Cresheld was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Evesham

Evesham (UK Parliament constituency)

Evesham was a parliamentary constituency in Worcestershire which was represented in the British House of Commons. Originally a parliamentary borough consisting of the town of Evesham, it was first represented in 1295...

. He was re-elected MP for the town in 1625 and 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Cresheld spoke strongly in the wake of the Five Knights' case when King Charles had attempted to imprison five knights for refusal to pay loans. He and his fellow MPs believed that the King had broken the "fundamental laws and liberties" of England. He spoke of "the great care which the law hath ever taken of the liberty and safety of the bodies and persons of the subjects of this kingdom" and held "that the act of power in imprisoning and confining his Majesty's subjects in such manner without any declaration of the cause, is against the fundamental laws and liberties of this realm". He added that the "kings of England have a 'monarchical' state, not a 'seignoral'; the first makes freedom, the second slavery". This debate led on to the Petition of Right

Petition of right

In English law, a petition of right was a remedy available to subjects to recover property from the Crown.Before the Crown Proceedings Act 1947, the British Crown could not be sued in contract...

.

Cresheld was made a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in May 1633, Lent Reader in 1636 and sergeant-at-law in 1637. In March 1637, he was appointed a commissioner to compensate river proprietors for damage caused by improving navigation of the River Avon

River Avon

River Avon is the name of many rivers:-England:*River Avon *River Avon *River Avon *River Avon *Avon Water -Scotland:*River Avon *River Avon...

.

In November 1640, Cresheld was elected MP for Evesham in the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

. In February 1643 representatives of Parliament travelled to Oxford to treat with King Charles. Article eight of the Parliament's petition to Charles proposed Cresheld be appointed a Baron of the Exchequer, but the negotiations failed and the treaty of Oxford

Treaty of Oxford

The Treaty of Oxford of 1643 was an unsuccessful attempt by the Long Parliament and King Charles I to negotiate a peace treaty.On 28 January 1643, Charles, at the request of both houses, granted a safe-conduct for the earls of Northumberland, Pembroke, Salisbury and Holland, and five commoners The...

 was still born. He was made Justice of the Common Pleas

Justice of the Common Pleas

Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas...

 by parliament on 12 October 1648, but refused to be resworn after the execution of the King in January 1649. Cresheld died in Serjeant's Inn

Serjeant's Inn

Serjeant's Inn was one of the two inns of the Serjeants-at-Law in London. The Fleet Street inn dated from 1443 and the Chancery Lane inn dated from 1416. Both buildings were destroyed in the World War II 1941 bombing raids....

 and was buried in St Andrew's Holborn in 1652.

Family

Cresheld's daughter Mary married William Draper of Kent and was the mother of Cresheld Draper

Cresheld Draper

Cresheld Draper was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1678 to 1689.Draper was the son of William Draper of May Place Crayford and his wife Mary Cresheld daughter of Richard Cresheld, sergeant at law...

. She later married John Egioke

John Egioke

John Egioke was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.Egioke was the eldest son of Sir Francis Egioke of Shernock Court. He was at Lincoln's Inn in 1635...

 MP for Evesham in 1660. His daughter Bridget married Sylvanus Wood

Sylvanus Wood

Sylvanus Wood was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654.Wood was the son of Richard Wood of Brockthorpe and his wife Anne Vaughan, daughter of Walter Vaughan of Hergest, Herefordshire. He became a student of Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar on 7 December 1632...

MP for Gloucestershire in 1654.