Robert Beake was an English 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 1654 and 1679. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

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Beake was a Presbyterian alderman and draper of Coventry

Coventry

Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the county of West Midlands in England. Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and the 11th largest in the United Kingdom. It is also the second largest city in the English Midlands, after Birmingham, with a population of 300,848, although...

, and was commissioned into the parliamentary army. In 1654, he 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 Coventry

Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)

Coventry was a borough constituency which was represented in the House of Commons of England and its successors, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom....

 in the First Protectorate Parliament

First Protectorate Parliament

The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....

. He became mayor of Coventry in 1655 and was elected MP for Coventry in the Second Protectorate Parliament

Second Protectorate Parliament

The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...

 in 1656. In 1657 he wrote his diary which showed how zealous he was in his puritan duties enforcing strict Sabbatarianism and suppressing disorder. Those who travelled on Sundays were put in the stocks or the cage, and even a man whose journey was in order to be a godfather was fined. On Sundays Beake spent his time in the park, observing 'who idly walked there'. He took action to suppress the sale of unlicensed ale and visited all the unlicensed alehouses in three wards in person. He was re-elected MP for Coventry in 1659 for the Third Protectorate Parliament

Third Protectorate Parliament

The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons...

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In 1660, Beake was elected in the Convention Parliament However a parliamentary enquiry declared the election illegal, and in the following by-election, he lost his seat to William Jesson

William Jesson

William Jesson was an English dyer and politician who was active in local government in Coventry and sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1648....

. Beake was elected again as MP for Coventry in 1679. He only sat for a short time, but voted for the first Exclusion Bill.

Beake's diary is held in the local record office.