Colonel Sir Richard Ingoldsby (10 August 1617 – 9 September 1685) was an English officer in 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 ...

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 ...

and a 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 1647 and 1685. As a Commissioner (Judge) at the trial 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 ...

, he signed the king's death warrant but was one of the few

regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

s to be pardoned.

Early life

Richard Ingoldsby was the second son of Sir Richard Ingoldsby K.B. of Lethenborough in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and Elizabeth, the daughter of

Sir Oliver Cromwell Sir Oliver Cromwell ( – 28 August 1655) was an English landowner, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1625. He was the uncle of Oliver Cromwell, the Member of Parliament, general, and Lord Pr ...

of Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdon (the uncle and godfather of

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 ...

the

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 ...

). This meant that Ingoldsby was a cousin of the Lord Protector. He was educated at

Lord Williams's School Lord Williams's School is a co-educational secondary school with academy status in Thame, Oxfordshire, England. The school takes children from the age of 11 through to the age of 18. The school has approximately 2,200 pupils. In September 2001 t ...

Thame Thame is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about east of the city of Oxford and southwest of Aylesbury. It derives its name from the River Thame which flows along the north side of the town and forms part of the county border wi ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. He had four sisters and seven brothers, including the oldest,

Francis Ingoldsby Francis Ingoldsby (1615 – 1 October 1681) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1654 and 1659. Ingoldsby was the son of Sir Richard Ingoldsby of Lenborough, Buckinghamshire and his wife Elizabeth Cromwell. He ma ...

, and

Sir Henry Ingoldsby, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Ingoldsby, 1st Baronet (1622–1701) was an English military commander and landowner. He was born in Lethenborough, Buckinghamshire, the 5th son of Sir Richard Ingoldsby and his wife Elizabeth Cromwell. She was the daughter of Sir Ol ...

Military career

During the

he joined

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English landowner and politician whose opposition to arbitrary taxes imposed by Charles I made him a national figure. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and cousin to Oliver Cromwell, he was one of th ...

's regiment as a captain and followed

into the

where he served as Colonel. He was detached by Sir

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 ...

in May 1645 to relieve

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. He took part in the western campaign and was involved in the capture of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and Bridgewater. His regiment garrisoned

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

when it surrendered in 1646. In the quarrel between the parliament and the army in 1647 Ingoldsby's regiment took the army's part with the army. The regiment was ordered to be disbanded on 14 June, and money was sent to pay it off. The money was recalled by subsequent vote, but it had already reached Oxford, and the soldiers forcibly took it and routed the escorting troops. Ingoldsby's regiment also petitioned against the

Treaty of Newport The Treaty of Newport was a failed treaty between Parliament and King Charles I of England, intended to bring an end to the hostilities of the English Civil War. Negotiations were conducted between 15 September 1648 and 27 November 1648, at Newpo ...

and in favour of punishing the King. On 4 October 1647 Ingoldsby 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 ...

(M.P.) for

Wendover Wendover is a market town and civil parish at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated at the point where the main road across the Chilterns between London and Aylesbury intersects with the once important road a ...

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 ...

. Ingoldsby himself was appointed one of the King's judges, which ended in his signing the death warrant, although there is no evidence that he was present at any of the previous court sessions. In 1649 his regiment was one of the regiments which supported the

Bishopsgate mutiny The Bishopsgate mutiny occurred in April 1649 when soldiers of Colonel Edward Whalley's regiment of the New Model Army refused to obey orders and leave London. At the end of the mutiny one soldier, a supporter of the Levellers, Robert Lockyer, wa ...

and for a time he was held prisoner by his own men. Some Levellers, notably Col.

William Eyres William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...

, were imprisoned in Oxford after the

Banbury mutiny The Banbury mutiny was a mutiny by soldiers in the English New Model Army. The mutineers did not achieve all of their aims and some of the leaders were executed shortly afterwards on 17 May 1649. Background The mutiny was over pay and political ...

, and contrived to inspire a second mutiny in the garrison, although it was quickly suppressed by Ingoldsby and others, and two of the ring-leaders were shot in Broken Hayes. In May 1651 Ingoldsby's regiment left Oxford and joined the army which fought at 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 ...

the last battle of the English Civil War.

Parliamentary career

Ingoldsby was chosen as one of the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

in November 1652. He was elected MP for

in 1654 for the

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 Hou ...

and 1656 for 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 ...

. He sat in the second house of Parliament commonly known as

Cromwell's Other House The Other House (also referred to as the Upper House, House of Peers and House of Lords), established by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Humble Petition and Advice, was one of the two chambers of the parliaments that legis ...

in 1657–1659. When Oliver Cromwell died in 1659, Ingoldsby supported

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 ...

when the officers of the army began to agitate against Richard Cromwell. Ingoldsby vigorously supported the new Protector, who was his own kinsman, but after 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 ...

removed Richard he threw in his lot with General

George Monck George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle JP KG PC (6 December 1608 – 3 January 1670) was an English soldier, who fought on both sides during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A prominent military figure under the Commonwealth, his support was cruc ...

and the move towards the restoration of the English monarchy. Seeing the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

at hand, he entered into negotiation with the agents of Charles II. As he was a regicide, the King refused to promise him indemnity, and left him to earn a pardon by his good services. In the struggle between Parliament and the army he energetically backed Parliament, and on 28 December 1659, he received its thanks for seizing

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

. Monck appointed him to command Colonel Rich's regiment (February 1660), and sent him to suppress

John Lambert John Lambert may refer to: *John Lambert (martyr) (died 1538), English Protestant martyred during the reign of Henry VIII *John Lambert (general) (1619–1684), Parliamentary general in the English Civil War *John Lambert of Creg Clare (''fl.'' c. ...

's intended rising (18 April 1660). Lambert had escaped from the Tower where General

had imprisoned him, and had tried to raise the supporters of the

Good Old Cause The Good Old Cause was the name given, retrospectively, by the soldiers of the New Model Army, to the complex of reasons that motivated their fight on behalf of the Parliament of England. Their struggle was against King Charles I and the Royalis ...

in a last-ditch attempt to stop the

English Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to be ...

in 1660. On 22 April Ingoldsby met Lambert's forces near

Daventry Daventry ( , historically ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority in Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 Census Daventry had a population of 28,123, making ...

, arrested him as he tried to flee, and brought him in triumph to London. Ingoldsby was thanked by the House of Commons on 26 April 1660. He was elected Member of Parliament for the constituency of

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

in early 1660 in the Convention Parliament.History of Parliament Online - Ingoldsby, Richard
/ref> After the Restoration Ingoldsby was pardoned for his regicide, firstly for his activities in support of General Monck, and secondly because he pleaded that he had been forced to sign the death warrant by his cousin Oliver Cromwell, in that "he refused but Cromwell and the others held him by violence; and Cromwell, with a loud laugh, taking his hand in his, and putting the pen between his fingers, with his own hand wrote Richard Ingoldsby".Dictionary of National Biography article for Richard Ingoldsby notes that the signature is plain and clear, with no evidence of being forced: "But the name is remarkably clearly written, shows no sign of any constraint, and is attested by Ingoldsby's family seal". He was not only spared the punishment which befell the rest of the regicides, but was created a

Knight of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

at the coronation of Charles II on 20 April 1661. He was re-elected MP for

in the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

and held the seat until 1685. Ingoldsby died in 1685 and was buried in Hartwell Church,

, on 16 September 1685. He had married Elizabeth Lee, second daughter of Sir George Croke of Waterstock,

, and widow of Thomas Lee of Hartwell.

Richard Ingoldsby Colonel Sir Richard Ingoldsby (10 August 1617 – 9 September 1685) was an English officer in the New Model Army during the English Civil War and a politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1647 and 1685. As a Commissione ...

, commander of the Army in Ireland, was his nephew.

Notes

References

Biography of Ingoldsby
British Civil Wars website
BRITISH HISTORY ONLINE Early Modern Oxford
By John Lingard
THE PROTECTORATE HOUSE OF LORDS, COMMONLY KNOWN AS CROMWELL'S "OTHER HOUSE" 1657–1659
*http://met.open.ac.uk/genuki/big/eng/BKM/Aylesbury/representatives/representatives1.html *http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/english/RoyaltyRestoredorLondonunderCharlesII/chap2.html * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingoldsby, Richard 1617 births 1685 deaths People educated at Lord Williams's School New Model Army personnel Regicides of Charles I Recipients of English royal pardons English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1660 English MPs 1661–1679 English MPs 1679 English MPs 1680–1681 English MPs 1681