John Clarke (Roundhead)
John Clark (fl 1650s),[1] was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons for various constituencuies between 1653 and 1659. He was a colonel in the Parliamentary army.
Life
Clark was from Kensington. In 1647, he took up the accusation against the Eleven Members. He was sent as Lieut Col Clerke with Admiral Blake to reduce the Scilly Isles in May 1651.[2] In 1653 he was nominated as one of the representatives for Ireland in the Barebones Parliament.[3] He was on the Fleet Committee in December 1653 and became a Commissioner for Irish affairs in January 1654. In February 1654, he was a Commissioner of the Admiralty and was appointed a commissioner for the army on 24 June 1654.[2] In August 1654, he was returned to the First Protectorate Parliament as one of the two members for the three counties of Donegal, Londonderry, and Tyrone and sat till January 1655.[4] He was at that time Governor of Londonderry.[2] In 1656 he was elected Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire in the Second Protectorate Parliament and chose to sit for Cardiganshire until 10 December 1657.[5] He was summoned to Cromwell's Other House, but did not take his seat.[2][6] After the death of Oliver Cromwell he signed the order for proclaiming Richard Cromwell Protector and was on the Committee of Safety in 1659.[7] In 1659, he was elected MP for Melcombe Regis and for Dartmouth in a double return and chose to sit for Melcombe Regis until April 1659.[8]
Clark was granted a Foot regiment on 16 June 1659 by the Committee of Safety, but was cashiered with Lambert and the other Generals by the Council of State. He was mentioned as appointed to the command of Dunkirk in August 1659, but did not go there. He was ordered by the Council of State to depart from London on 13 January 1660, and ordered on 2 February 1660 "not to stay in town".[2]
Imprisonment
Clark was a prisoner in the Gatehouse on 17 December 1660, when he petitioned the King for his release, stating that he "was imprisoned on suspicion of treason, of which he knew nothing, nor had he in the least misdemeaned himself."[2]
Notes
- ^ Also known as John Clarke and John Clerk
- ^ a b c d e f Williams 1895, p. 30
- ^ Willis 1750, pp. 255, 257
- ^ Willis 1750, pp. 259, 270.
- ^ Willis 1750, pp. 272, 280.
- ^ Besides the 61 Protectorate lords of the other house (listed by Cobbett 1808, pp. 1518, 1519 and Noble 1787, pp. 371–427, Citing: The Rev. Mr. Ayscough's catalogue of M.S.S. in the British Museum, no. 3246.), Clark was one of two others given as Protectorate lords by Thurloe, but if so Mark Noble surmises they must have been invited to join the house after the year 1657. (Noble 1787, p. 426)
- ^ Noble 1787, p. 427.
- ^ Willis 1750, pp. 285, 288.
References
- Cobbett, William, ed. (1808). Cobbett's parliamentary history of England, from the Norman Conquest, in 1066 to the year, 1803: from which last-mentioned epoch it is continued downwards in the work entitled, "Cobbett's parliamentary debates" Volume 3 (Comprising the period from the Battle of Edge-Hill, in October 1642, to the restoration of Charles the Second, in April 1660). Vol. 3. London: R. Bagshaw. pp. 1518, 1519.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Noble, Mark (1787). Memoirs of the protectoral-house of Cromwell: deduced from an early period, and continued down to the present time ... collected chiefly from original papers and records ... together with an appendix ... Embellished with elegant engravings. Vol. 1. printed for G. G. J. and J. Robinson. pp. 371–427.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Williams, W R (1895). The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales. Grecknock: Printed by Edwin, Davies, Bell. p. 30.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 255, 257, 259, 270, 272, 280, 285, 288.
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