Augustine Skinner (c. 1594 – 11 June 1672) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

variously between 1642 and 1659. He took the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

side during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Skinner was of Tutsham Hall at

West Farleigh West Farleigh is a village and civil parish four miles (6km) southwest of Maidstone in the county of Kent. The parish has a population of approximately 450, and is bounded by the civil parishes of East Farleigh, Hunton, Yalding, and over the Rive ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and belonged to a newly arrived rather than established Kent family (his ancestors being from

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

). In 1642, he was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

member for

the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. He supported parliament in the Civil War and was sufficiently orthodox in his support to survive

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

. He refused to accept appointment as a Commissioner in the trial of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

. After the expulsion of the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament was the English Parliament after Colonel Thomas Pride commanded soldiers to purge the Long Parliament, on 6 December 1648, of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason. "Rump" n ...

he represented Kent again in the Parliament of 1654, and in the restored

Rump Rump may refer to: * Rump (animal) ** Buttocks * Rump steak, slightly different cuts of meat in Britain and America * Rump kernel, software run in userspace that offers kernel functionality in NetBSD Politics *Rump cabinet * Rump legislature * Ru ...

in 1659. He was an active

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

throughout the

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period, and it was said that

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

had great confidence in him as a magistrate. Skinner borrowed money to buy two manors which had been confiscated from the

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was foun ...

; when these were restored to their original ownership at the

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, he found himself heavily in debt. His brother William was in similar difficulties, and together they procured a private Act of Parliament in 1660 to allow them to sell other lands to raise funds, Skinner's seat at Tutsham Hall being sold to one Edward Goulston. Skinner was still unable to meet his obligations and, being arrested for debt, he eventually died in the Fleet Prison in 1672, aged 78. He was buried at

. Skinner made two good marriages, to Elizabeth Twisden, daughter of

Serjeant-at-Law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

Richard Braithwaite, and to Ann Franklin, daughter of Thomas Franklin, an

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of the

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; but his only son, also called Augustine (born 1618), lived less than a year, so that his heir was his brother, William.

References

*D. Brunton & D. H. Pennington, ''Members of the Long Parliament'' (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954) *''Cobbett's Parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest in 1066 to the year 1803'' (London: Thomas Hansard, 1808

* Mark Noble (biographer), Mark Noble, ''Lives of the English Regicides'' (London: John Stockdale, 1798

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skinner, Augustine 1590s births 1672 deaths Inmates of Fleet Prison English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 English MPs 1654–1655 People from West Farleigh