Cheshire Memories: Judge Bradshaw

By Sarah Griffiths on Jun 2, 09 08:26 AM in 1500-1799

John Bradshaw was born in Marple in 1602 and his most notable appointment was as Lord President of the Parliamentary Commission which undertook the trial of Charles I.

John Bradshaw attended Cheshire and Lancashire schools in Stockport, Bunbury and Middleton. He then became a clerk to a Congleton attorney before moving to London to study law. He was a contemporary of John Milton and gained a reputation as a hardworking scholar. Having qualified, he returned to Congleton to practise, became mayor of the town in 1637 and High Recorder for the borough.

In the early 1640s he moved back to London and became judge for the Sheriff's Court in 1643. He undertook a number of high profile cases which resulted in his appointment as Chief Justice of Chester and North Wales in 1648 and Parliament made him a serjeant-at-law in 1649. However, it was in this latter year that he accepted the task of overseeing the trial of Charles I, only after other leading candidates had turned down the offer. He presided over the 53 Parliamentary independents left after Pride's Purge, despite opposition from Royalists and many Parliamentarians alike.

Inevitably, there was much discussion around Bradshaw's suitability for the position and he gained many critics, particularly as he missed the first two sessions of the trial due to absence from London and doubts about his own ability. However, he eventually decided to undertake the position and the trial continued under his leadership. When the king declined to plead (not recognising the authority of the court), Bradshaw overcame every legal objection and declared him guilty. He then gave Charles I no further opportunity to speak, thus following the law to the letter. Similarly, he presided over the trials of several leading Royalists, such as Lord Capel and Eusebius Andrews, all of whom he sentenced to death.

Following the king's execution in January 1649, Bradshaw became President of the Council of State in the March and this body effectively ruled the country. This situation continued until 1653 when Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Council, instituted an election and became the Lord Protector. Bradshaw continued his role as joint Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until his mounting disagreements over Cromwell's policies caused him to resign in 1654. From this date, he became an opponent of the Protectorate despite his lifelong republican beliefs. He was elected as MP for Stafford in the same year and used this position to criticise Cromwell in Parliament. He failed to be re-elected in 1656.

When Richard Cromwell succeeded his father to the position of Lord Protector in 1658, he reappointed Bradshaw to the Duchy of Lancaster position. In the following year, after Richard's abdication, Bradshaw again entered Parliament, became a member of the Council of State and a Commissioner of the Great Seal. However, he died later in 1659 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. On his deathbed, he was said to have had no qualms about his decision to try the king and would have done the same again. He left only a wife, Mary from Marbury in Cheshire, as they had no children.

In 1661, a year after the Restoration, Bradshaw's body was one of the three exhumed from Westminster Abbey (along with Cromwell and Henry Ireton) and displayed in chains at Tyburn. The heads were then removed and put on the top of Westminster Hall (the bodies being thrown into a pit) to provide a deterrent to any future Republican sympathisers.

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