Thomas Harrison, the son
of a butcher, was born in Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1606. He was admitted
to the Inns of Court and worked as a lawyer in London.
A Puritan
Harrison
joined the Parliamentary army on the outbreak of the Civil
War. He became a Major in the Eastern Association army and during
the conflict he fought at Edgehill (1642),
Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby
(1645). He supported Oliver Cromwell
in his dispute with the Edward
Montagu and became
one of the leading figures in the New Model
Army.
Harrison was elected to
the House of Commons in 1646 and soon emerged
as one of the leaders of the radicals. Accused of being an Anabaptist
he was opposed to negotiations with Charles
I and advocated
that he should be placed on trial. Later he was one of those willing
to sign the king's death warrant.
In 1646
John Lilburne,
John Wildman, Richard
Overton and William Walwyn formed
a new political party called the Levellers.
Their political programme included: voting rights for all adult males,
annual elections, complete religious freedom, an
end to the censorship of books and newspapers, the abolition of the
monarchy and the House of Lords, trial by
jury, an end to taxation of people earning less than £30 a year
and a maximum interest rate of 6%.
Leveller supporters were
elected from each regiment of the army to participate in the Putney
Debates that began at the Church of St. Mary on 28th October,
1647. The debate was based on An Agreement
of the People, a constitutional proposal drafted by the
Levellers. Harrison took part in the debate and was one of the few
senior officers in the New Model Army
that supported the
demands of the Levellers.
Harrison was now one of
the most important political figures in England and was given command
of home forces while Oliver Cromwell
fought in Scotland (1650-51) and as a member
of the Council of State presided over an official commission for missionary
work in Wales.
Harrison retained his radical
political ideas and became a member of the Fifth
Monarchist group that sought the abolition of tithes, an increase
in the help for the poor and the release of debtors from prison. In
1653 he was dismissed from the army. He was also imprisoned four times
between 1653 and 1658 on suspicion of involvement in various plots
against Oliver Cromwell and his government.
On the Restoration
Harrison was an obvious target for the Royalists. Harrison refused
to flee the country and was therefore like other Regicides
arrested and brought to the Tower of London.
At his trial in October 1660 he was found guilty of treason and was
hung, drawn and quartered.
(1)
Thomas Harrison, speech on the scaffold (1660)
Gentleman, by reason of
some scoffing, that I do hear, I judge that some do think I am afraid
to die... I tell you no, but it is by reason of much blood I have
lost in the wars, and many wounds I have received in my body which
caused this shaking and weakness in my nerves.
(2)
Samuel
Pepys,
diary entry (13th October, 1660)
I went out to Charing Cross,
to see Major-General Harrison, hanged, drawn, and quartered... he
looked as cheerful as any man could do in that condition. He was presently
cut down, and his head and heart shown to the people, at which there
were great shouts of joy... Harrison's head has been set up (on a
pole) on the other side of Westminster Hall.
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