![JohnRushworth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/JohnRushworth.jpg)
John Rushworth (c. 1612 – 12 May 1690) was an English lawyer, historian and 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. ...
at various times between 1657 and 1685. He compiled a series of works covering 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 ...
s throughout the 17th century called ''Historical Collections'' and also known as the ''Rushworth Papers''.
Early life
Rushworth was born at
Acklington Park
Acklington Park is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Acklington, Northumberland, England. It was the birthplace of John Rushworth (born c.1612) who achieved fame in both England and during the formation of the United States of America ...
in
Warkworth, Northumberland
Warkworth is a village in Northumberland, England. It is probably best known for its well-preserved medieval castle, church and hermitage. The population of Warkworth was 1,493 in 2001, increasing to 1,574 at the 2011 Census. The village is si ...
, the son of Lawrence Rushworth and his wife Margaret Cuthbert, daughter of the vicar of
Carnaby Carnaby is a family name which may refer to:
People
* Garth Carnaby (born 1950) New Zealand fibre physicist and science and public administrator
* Ivan Carnaby (1908–1974), Australian ornithologist
* Tom Carnaby (1913–1971), British footballer
...
in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
. His father was an extensive landowner and Justice of the Peace at
Heath, Yorkshire although he was in prison for debt in 1629. Rushworth was a solicitor at Berwick on Tweed from 1638 and entered
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the 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.) Lincoln ...
in 1640. He also began work as clerk assistant at the House of Commons in 1640: assisting
Henry Elsynge
Henry Elsynge (c.1606 – 30 September 1656) was an English administrator, who acted as clerk of the House of Commons, and wrote on parliamentary procedure.
Life
Elsynge was the eldest son of Henry Elsynge and his wife Blanche Hyett; and was ...
,
Clerk of the House of Commons
The Clerk of the House of Commons is the chief executive of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 of the House of Commons of England.
The formal name for the position held by the Clerk of the House of Com ...
, he was the first recorded individual to hold the office.
[.]
Civil Wars
Rushworth followed the lead of
John Pym
John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...
, who, in a speech in the House of Commons on 17 April 1640, attacked the King and his government for problems within the country. After the outbreak of the Civil War, Rushworth as an "embedded journalist" followed the battles of
Edge Hill (1642), Newbury (
1643 and
1644),
Marston Moor
The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639 – 1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters un ...
(1644) and
Naseby
Naseby is a village in West Northamptonshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 687.
The village is 14 mi (22.5 km) north of Northampton, 13.3 mi (21.4 km) northeast of Daventry, and 7&nb ...
(1645). In 1645 he became secretary to
Thomas Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 161212 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented command ...
, commander-in-chief of the
New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
.
[ When Charles I was captured, Rushworth began to record details of events leading up to, during and following the trial and execution of the King. He reported the ]Battle of Preston (1648)
The Battle of Preston (17–19 August 1648), fought largely at Walton-le-Dale near Preston in Lancashire, resulted in a victory for the New Model Army under the command of Oliver Cromwell over the Royalists and Scots commanded by the Duke of ...
and the Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...
(1651).
Legal authority
Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Rushworth became personal secretary to Oliver Cromwell. He began drafting plans for the abolition of the monarchy and the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
, and the establishment of an English Republic under the leadership of Cromwell. When Cromwell became Lord Protector
Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...
in 1653, Rushworth was promoted to Registrar of the Court of Admiralty
Admiralty courts, also known as maritime courts, are courts exercising jurisdiction over all maritime contracts, torts, injuries, and offences.
Admiralty courts in the United Kingdom England and Wales
Scotland
The Scottish court's earliest ...
. In 1657 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 ...
for Berwick in the 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 its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in t ...
.[ As a member of the Cromwellian government he enjoyed the friendships of ]John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
(who served Cromwell as the official State Censor); John Owen; John Bunyan
John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In addition ...
and many other well known people of that period.
Death of Cromwell and Restoration
When Oliver Cromwell died on 3 September 1658, his son Richard Cromwell
Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell.
On his father's death ...
became Lord Protector. Rushworth was re-elected MP for Berwick in the 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. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...
.[ He completed his written histories of the period and dedicated them to Richard Cromwell. As Richard Cromwell was unable to continue the office established by his father as Lord Protector, by 1660 real power had shifted to the Council of State and Rushworth became Secretary of the council. He was re-elected MP for Bewick in the Convention Parliament in 1660.][ Negotiations were then undertaken with the son of Charles I to return to England as its king, subject to the rule of Parliament. When Charles II took to the throne and restored the monarchy, Rushworth was reassigned to the office of ]Treasury Solicitor
The Government Legal Department (previously called the Treasury Solicitor's Department) is the largest in-house legal organisation in the United Kingdom's Government Legal Service.
The department is headed by the Treasury Solicitor. This office go ...
. On 7 June 1660 he presented to the Privy Council certain volumes of its records, which he claimed to have preserved from plunder "during the late unhappy times", and received the king's thanks for their restoration.
Reports were spread, however, of Rushworth's complicity in the late king's death, and he was called before the lords to give an account of the deliberations of the regicides, but professed to know nothing except by hearsay. Rushworth was not re-elected to the parliament of 1661, but continued to act as agent for the town of Berwick, although complaints were made that the king could look for little obedience so long as such men were agents for corporations.
Later years
In September 1667, when Sir Orlando Bridgeman was made lord-keeper, he appointed Rushworth his secretary. The colony of Massachusetts also employed him as its agent at a salary of twelve guineas a year and his expenses, but it was scoffingly said in 1674 that all he had done for the colony was 'not worth a rush'.
Rushworth was elected MP for Berwick again in March 1679 for the First Exclusion Parliament and in October 1679 for the Second Exclusion Parliament
The Exclusion Bill Parliament was a Parliament of England during the reign of Charles II of England, named after the long saga of the Exclusion Bill. Summoned on 24 July 1679, but prorogued by the king so that it did not assemble until 21 Octob ...
. He was returned again in March 1681, Rushworth and seems to have supported the Whig leaders.[ Though he had held lucrative posts and had inherited an estate from his cousin, Sir Richard Tempest, Rushworth's affairs were greatly embarrassed. He spent the last six years of his life in the ]King's Bench Prison
The King's Bench Prison was a prison in Southwark, south London, England, from medieval times until it closed in 1880. It took its name from the King's Bench court of law in which cases of defamation, bankruptcy and other misdemeanours were hea ...
in Southwark, "where, being reduced to his second childship, for his memory was quite decayed by taking too much brandy to keep up his spirits, he quietly gave up the ghost in his lodging in a certain alley there, called Rules Court, on 12 May 1690". He was buried in St. George's Church, Southwark. Wood states that Rushworth died at the age of eighty-three, but in a letter written in 1675 Rushworth describes himself as sixty-three at that date.
Influence
While Rushworth was remembered as a person, his writings found favour in America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
where they served as a source of inspiration for Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson bought a copy of ''Rushworth's Historical Collections'' for use in his own library and he often quoted from them. Rushworth was a contemporary of John Lilburne
John Lilburne (c. 161429 August 1657), also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after the English Civil Wars 1642–1650. He coined the term "'' freeborn rights''", defining them as rights with which eve ...
whose writings had a profound impact on the history of 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 ...
s of the 17th century. Although his senior, he also shared much in common with Oliver 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 ...
(born 1599), because they were evangelical Christians
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
who believed that the Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
should undergo a total reformation, contrary to the wishes of King Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
. His views of Charles I as a king who had declared war on his own people, were later echoed in words by Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
and others when writing about the reign of George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
in the Declaration of Independence
A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of the ...
.
Family
Rushworth married Hannah Widdrington, daughter of Lewis Widdrington, and sister of Sir Thomas Widdrington, who later became the Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
. On his death Rushworth left four daughters:
# Hannah, married, February 1664, Sir Francis Fane of Fulbeck, Lincolnshire
# Rebecca, married, August 1667, Robert Blaney of Kinsham, Herefordshire
# Margaret
# Katherine, whose letter to the Duke of Newcastle on her father's death is printed in the ''Report on the Duke of Portland's Manuscripts''[ cites: ''Report on the Duke of Portland's Manuscripts'', vol. 2, p. 164.]
Legacy
In 1890, King's Bench Prison in Rule's Court was demolished. Rushworth School was then built on the site and the court was renamed Rushworth Street. A portrait of Rushworth, by R. White, is prefixed to the third part of his ''Historical Collections''.
Notes
References
*
Attribution:
*
Further reading
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rushworth, John
1610s births
1690 deaths
17th-century English historians
17th-century English male writers
English MPs 1656–1658
English MPs 1659
English MPs 1660
English MPs 1679
English MPs 1680–1681
English MPs 1681
People from Warkworth, Northumberland