The Suffolk Committees for Scandalous Ministers were two committees commissioned by the Earl of Manchester between 24 February and 15 March 1644 in accordance with an ordinance published on 22 January 1644. Manchester had been pressing for authorisation to remove 'scandalous ministers' for some time. This term referred to "any minister who was non-resident, incompetent or idle, scandalous either in life or in doctrine, or in any way ill-affected to Parliament". [1]
Transcribed by Francis Hill. [1] : 25
Name | Location | High Sherriff of Suffolk | Other positions | Notes | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sir Edmund Bacon | Redgrave | 1634 | ||||
Sir William Spring | Pakenham | 1641 | Deputy Lieutenant from 1642 | |||
William Soame | Little Thurlow | 1633 | ||||
Maurice Barrow | Barningham | 1643 | ||||
Brampton Gurdon (senior) | Assington | 1629 | MP for Sudbury 1621–1622 | |||
Henry North (senior) | Laxfield | 1620 | ||||
Thomas Tirrell | Gipping | |||||
Edmund Harvey | Wickham Skeith | |||||
Brampton Gurdon (junior) | Assington | |||||
Samuel Moody | Bury St Edmunds | |||||
Transcribed by Francis Hill. [1] : 25
Name | Location | High Sherriff of Suffolk | Other positions | Notes | Refs | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sir John Wentworth | Somerleyton | 1619 | ||||
Francis Bacon | Ipswich | |||||
Nathaniel Bacon | Ipswich | |||||
Nathaniel Bacon | Friston | |||||
Francis Brewster | Wrentham | |||||
William Blois | Grundisburgh | 1620 | ||||
Robert Brewster | Wrentham | |||||
Robert Duncon | Ipswich | Brother of Samuel Duncon | ||||
Peter Fisher | Ipswich | |||||
John Base | Saxmundham | |||||
Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, KG, KB, FRS was an important commander of Parliamentary forces in the First English Civil War, and for a time Oliver Cromwell's superior.
Matthew Hopkins was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament.
William Dowsing (1596–1668), also known as "Smasher Dowsing", was an English puritan, and a particularly notable iconoclast at the time of the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia.
Christopher Saxton was an English cartographer who produced the first county maps of England and Wales.
The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian military effort until early 1645. In January 1644 committeemen of the Eastern Association gathered at the Bury Conference to discuss their concerns as regards the proposed New Model Army. However in the following months many of its units were incorporated into this new military formation.
The Suffolk House refers to two early residences built on the same site located some four miles west of George Town, Penang, Malaysia. Located on the banks of the Air Itam River, the earliest of the two buildings is notable for having served as the residence of Francis Light, the founder of the first British settlement on Penang. Following Light's death in 1794, and with Penang becoming the fourth presidency of India in 1805, a newer Suffolk House replaced the original house, assuming multiple roles before it was later neglected and subsequently restored.
John White was a Welsh lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1645. His work The first Century of Scandalous Malignant Priests (1643) earned him the nickname "Century White".
The Committee for Plundered Ministers was originally established in late 1642 by the Presbyterian faction in the Long Parliament following the start of the English Civil War. In December 1642 the committee was formalised as a parliamentary committee charged with the purpose of supporting the puritan ministers who had been removed from their livings by royalists. Its power was restricted to conducting preliminary investigations, before being forwarded to the House of Lords, who retained the power to actually deprive a minister of their living. However, as Parliament gained the upper hand in the war, so the work of the committees became less to do with supporting clerics who supported their cause and more to do with suppressing those who supported the monarchy.
1644 was the third year of the First English Civil War. The King's position continued to decline and the Long Parliament sent the Propositions of Uxbridge, an attempt to end the war, to the king at Oxford
Sir William Spring, 1st Baronet was an English landowner and politician. During the English Civil War, he was one of the leading Parliamentarian officials in East Anglia. He was the Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds before being removed during Pride's Purge in 1648, but was returned to the House of Commons as the MP for Suffolk shortly before his death in 1654.
The siege of Lincoln took place from 3 to 6 May 1644 during the First English Civil War, when the important town of Lincoln was besieged by Parliamentarian forces under the Earl of Manchester. On the first day, the Parliamentarians took the lower town. The Royalist defenders retreated into the stronger fortifications of the upper town, which encompassed and incorporated Lincoln Castle and Lincoln Cathedral. The siege ended four days later when the Parliamentarian soldiers stormed the castle, taking prisoner the Royalist governor, Sir Francis Fane, and what remained of his garrison.
William Spurstow was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1644. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.
Henry Mildmay was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1692. He fought in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
Robert Brewster (1599–1663) was an English landowner of Parliamentarian sympathies who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1645 and 1659.
Samuel Moody was a seventeenth century English politician. He was an Alderman in Bury St Edmunds by 1644. He was appointed to the First Suffolk Committee for Scandalous Ministers that year. He was later one of the two MPs for Bury St Edmunds in 1654 and 1656.
The Church of St Clare, Bradfield is the Anglican parish church of Bradfield St Clare, in the district of West Suffolk, Suffolk. The original structure dates back to the 12th century, with modifications being made through the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. The building was restored in 1874. It is a Grade II* listed building.
William Soame (1579–1655) was a prominent English merchant, landowner and politician. He was High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1633 and a committeeman on one of the Suffolk Committees for Scandalous Ministers.
Peter Fisher was a puritan politician active in Ipswich, Suffolk in the seventeenth century.
Nathaniel Bacon of Friston was a committeeman active with the Second Commission of the Suffolk Committees for Scandalous Ministers.