Richard Cresheld (died 1652) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1624 and 1648.

Biography

Cresheld was the son of Edward Cresheld of

Mattishall Mattishall is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated west of Norwich and east of Dereham, at the geographical centre of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 2,631 in 1,110 households at ...

Norfolk. He was admitted to

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 ...

on 18 June 1608 and called to the bar on 17 October 1615. He was

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

of Evesham in 1625. In 1624, Cresheld 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

Evesham Evesham () is a market town and parish in the Wychavon district of Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon. It lies within the Vale of Evesha ...

. 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 The ''Five Knights' case'' (1627) 3 How St Tr 1 (also Darnel's or Darnell's case) (K.B. 1627), is a case in English law, and now United Kingdom constitutional law, fought by five knights (among them Thomas Darnell) in 1627 against forced loans p ...

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. 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. In November 1640, Cresheld was elected MP for Evesham in 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 ...

. 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 The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

, but the negotiations failed and the

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, ...

was still born.Cresheld was called "Sergeant Creswell" in Parliament's Proposal . He was made Justice of the 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 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 (8 November 1646 – 15 March 1694) 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, s ...

. She later married

John Egioke John Egioke (c 1616 - 22 December 1663) 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. In 1645 he was added to the Parliame ...

MP for Evesham in 1660. His daughter Bridget married

Sylvanus Wood Sylvanus Wood (1604 – November 1675) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1654. Wood was the son of Richard Wood of Brookthorpe and his wife Anne Vaughan, daughter of Walter Vaughan of Hergest, Herefordshire. He b ...

MP for Gloucestershire in 1654.W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
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Notes

References

** *) original publishers John Murray of London, 1870. xv. * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cresheld, Richard Year of birth missing 1652 deaths 17th-century English judges Politicians from Worcestershire English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640–1648 People from Breckland District