John Barkstead, a London
goldsmith and silversmith, joined Parliament's army at the start of
the Civil War. A good soldier he became
a colonel in the New Model Army and
fought with General Thomas
Fairfax at
the siege of Colchester 1648.
Barkstead served on the
High Court of Justice and in 1649 signed the king's death warrant.
Barkstead was appointed military governor of Middlesex and was knighted
for his services during the Commonwealth.
On 3rd September 1658,
Oliver Cromwell died. Parliament and
the leaders of the army now began arguing amongst themselves about
how England should be ruled. General George
Monck, the officer in charge of the English army based in Scotland,
decided to take action, and in 1660 he marched his army to London.
When Monck arrived he reinstated
the House of Lords and the Parliament of
1640. Royalists were now in control of Parliament. Monk
now contacted Charles
II, who was living
in Holland. Charles agreed that if he was made king he would pardon
all members of the parliamentary army and would continue with the
Commonwealth's policy of religious toleration. Charles also accepted
that he would share power with Parliament and would not rule as an
'absolute' monarch as his father had
tried to do in the 1630s.
This information was passed
to Parliament and it was eventually agreed to abolish the Commonwealth
and bring back the monarchy. Barkstead fled to Germany and lived for
a while in Hanau.
In August 1660, Charles
II and Parliament
agreed to pass the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion. This resulted in
the granting of a free pardon to anyone who had supported the Commonwealth
government. However, the king retained the right to punish those people
who had participated in the trial and execution of Charles
I.
A special court was appointed
and in October 1660 those Regicides
who were still alive and living in Britain were brought to trial.
Ten were found guilty and were sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered.
This included Thomas Harrison, John
Jones, John Carew and Hugh
Peters. Others executed included Adrian Scroope, Thomas Scot,
Gregory Clement, Francis Hacker, Daniel Axtel and John Cook.
Oliver
Cromwell, Henry Ireton, Thomas
Pride and John Bradshaw were all
posthumously tried for high treason. They were found guilty and in
January 1661 their corpses were exhumed and hung in chains at Tyburn.
In 1662 Barkstead went
to Holland to meet his wife. While there he was arrested by George
Downing and forced to return to England. Sir John Barkstead was executed
in 1662.
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