Every so often people on social networks ask that question “if you could meet anyone in history who would it be?”
Now I try to avoid the question because there are just so many individuals ranging from the great and good, the not so good and of course members of my own family.
But I have to confess that I am intrigued by John Bradshaw the English judge who as President of the High Court of Justice presided over the trial of King Charles and whose signature topped the death warrant.
The English Civil War has always fascinated me not least because in the middle of the war representatives of the army met and debated the future of England.*
Reading the discussions there is something very modern about the position of Colonel Rainsborough who argued that “... the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under...”
And this in turn reminded me of the Forces Parliaments which took place in the British Army in India and Egypt during the Second World War. The Cairo Forces Parliament met in February 1944 and voted for the nationalization of the banks, land, mines and transport.
In their way it replicated those debates three hundred years earlier where the men who were fighting debated the future they wanted.
But unlike the Forces Parliament which saw much of what they voted for come to reality after the election of the Labour Government in 1945 the expectations of many of the 17th century progressives, and visionaries came to nought in the face of Royal repression.
And this was seen not only in the way that some of those who fought for Parliament were treated but extended to the exhumation of the bodies of leading members of the Commonwealth who had died before 1660, including John Bradshaw whose bits were put on public display.
Now this much I knew but until recently had never come across the home of John Bradshaw which was in Marple, and which we came across at the end of a long walk on a hot spring day.
That said if you want to know more then you can either visit the excellent web site Marple Hall,** or take a trip out to Furness Vale and join the Furness Vale Historical Society listen to Neil Mullineux present a virtual history of the Hall on Tuesday September 2nd at 7.30 in the Community Centre Yeardsley Lane.***
Picture; advertising poster
*The Putney Debates, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Putney%20Debates
**Marple Hall, http://www.marple-uk.com/Hall.htm
***Furness Vale Local History Society, http://furnesshistory.blogspot.co.uk/
But I have to confess that I am intrigued by John Bradshaw the English judge who as President of the High Court of Justice presided over the trial of King Charles and whose signature topped the death warrant.
The English Civil War has always fascinated me not least because in the middle of the war representatives of the army met and debated the future of England.*
Reading the discussions there is something very modern about the position of Colonel Rainsborough who argued that “... the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under...”
And this in turn reminded me of the Forces Parliaments which took place in the British Army in India and Egypt during the Second World War. The Cairo Forces Parliament met in February 1944 and voted for the nationalization of the banks, land, mines and transport.
In their way it replicated those debates three hundred years earlier where the men who were fighting debated the future they wanted.
But unlike the Forces Parliament which saw much of what they voted for come to reality after the election of the Labour Government in 1945 the expectations of many of the 17th century progressives, and visionaries came to nought in the face of Royal repression.
And this was seen not only in the way that some of those who fought for Parliament were treated but extended to the exhumation of the bodies of leading members of the Commonwealth who had died before 1660, including John Bradshaw whose bits were put on public display.
Now this much I knew but until recently had never come across the home of John Bradshaw which was in Marple, and which we came across at the end of a long walk on a hot spring day.
That said if you want to know more then you can either visit the excellent web site Marple Hall,** or take a trip out to Furness Vale and join the Furness Vale Historical Society listen to Neil Mullineux present a virtual history of the Hall on Tuesday September 2nd at 7.30 in the Community Centre Yeardsley Lane.***
Picture; advertising poster
*The Putney Debates, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Putney%20Debates
**Marple Hall, http://www.marple-uk.com/Hall.htm
***Furness Vale Local History Society, http://furnesshistory.blogspot.co.uk/
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