Arthur Haselrig
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Sir Arthur Haselrig, 2nd Baronet (1601-7 January 1661), was an English Parliamentarian and soldier in the 17th century. He is best remembered as being one of the five Members of Parliament whom King Charles I tried to arrest in 1642, an event that led to the start of the English Civil War.
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[edit] Life
Sir Arthur Haselrig was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Haselrig (alternative spellings "Hesilrige" and "Haselrigge"), 1st baronet (c. 1622), of Noseley, Leicestershire, and of Frances, daughter of Sir William Gorges, of Alderton, Northamptonshire.
From an early age he imbibed strong puritanical principles and showed a special antagonism towards Archbishop Laud.
He sat for Leicestershire in the Short and Long Parliaments of 1640. He was heavily involved in the Act of Attainder against Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, the Root and Branch Bill and the Militia Bill of 7 December 1641. Charles I famously tried to arrest him for treason on 3 January 1642, along with John Hampden, Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode. However the "Five Members", together with the Earl of Manchester who was also due to be arrested, were tipped off by the Earl of Essex. The king was famously humiliated when he marched into the House of Commons chamber only to find that the Five Members had fled.
Haselrig was very active in the First English Civil War on the Parliamentarian side. He raised a troop of horse for the Earl of Essex, he fought at the Battle of Edgehill, he commanded in the West under Edmund Waller, being nicknamed his fidus Achates, and he distinguished himself at the head of his cuirassiers, aka the London lobsters, at the Battle of Lansdowne on 5 July 1643 and at the Battle of Roundway Down on 13 July. At both of these battles he was wounded.
Haselrig supported Oliver Cromwell in his dispute with the Earl of Manchester and the Earl of Essex. When the Self-denying Ordinance was subsequently approved by Parliament he gave up his commission and became one of the leaders of the Independent party in Parliament. On 30 December 1647 he was appointed governor of Newcastle, which he successfully defended, besides defeating the Royalists on 2 July 1648 and regaining Tynemouth. In October he accompanied Cromwell to Scotland, and gave him valuable support in the Scottish expedition in 1650.
Haselrig approved of the king's execution but declined to act as a judge at his trial. He was one of the leading men in the Commonwealth, but Cromwell's expulsion of the purged Long Parliament threw him into antagonism, and he opposed the Protectorate and refused to pay taxes. He was returned for Leicester in the Parliaments of 1654, 1656 and 1659, but he was excluded from the former two. He refused a seat, offered to him by Cromwell, in the Protectorate House of Lords.
Clarendon described Haselrig as "an absurd, bold man." He was rash, "hare-brained," devoid of tact and had little claim to the title of a statesman, but his energy in the field and in parliament was often of great value to the parliamentary cause." He exposed himself to considerable obloquy by his exactions and appropriations of confiscated landed property though the accusation brought against him by John Lilburne was examined by a parliamentary committee and adjudged to be false.
On Cromwell's death Haselrig refused support to Richard Cromwell, and was instrumental in his downfall. He became one of the most influential men in both the Council of State and Parliament. He attempted to maintain a republican Parliamentary administration, "to keep the sword subservient to the civil magistrate". He duly opposed the schemes of John Lambert. On the latter succeeding in expelling the Parliament, Haselrig turned to General George Monck for support, and assisted his movements by securing Portsmouth on 3 December 1659. He marched to London, and was appointed to the Council of State on 2 January 1660, and on 11 February became a commissioner for the army. He was completely deceived by Monck, and trusting to his assurance of fidelity to the "Good Old Cause" consented to the retirement of his regiment from London. At the Restoration his life was saved by Monck's intervention, but he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
[edit] Family
Haselrig married
- (1) Frances, daughter of Thomas Elmes of Lilford, Northamptonshire, by whom he had two sons and two daughters, and
- (2) Dorothy, sister of Robert Greville 2nd Lord Brooke, by whom he had three sons and five daughters.
The family was represented in 1907 by his descendant Sir Arthur Grey Hazlerigg of Noseley, 13th Baronet.
| Baronetage of England | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas Hesilrige |
Baronet (of Noseley Hall) |
Succeeded by Arthur Hesilrige |
[edit] See also
- London lobsters - The English Civil War armoured cavalry unit formed and led by Sir Arthur Haselrig.
[edit] Authorities
- Article on Hesilrige by CH Firth in the Dict. of Nat. Biography, and authorities there quoted; Early History of the Family of Hesilrige, by WGD Fletcher;
- Cat. of State Papers Domestic, 1631—1664, where there are a large number of important references, as also in Hist. manuscripts, Comm. Series Manuscripts of Earl Cozoper, Duke of Leeds and Duke of Portland;
- also SR Gardiner, Hist. of England Hist. of the Great Civil War and Commonwealth;
- Clarendon's History State Papers and Cal. of State Papers, JL Sanford's Studies of the Great Rebellion. His life is written by Noble in the House of Cromwell,
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
