Robert
Lilburne, the brother of John
Lilburne, was born in 1613. was
born in Thickley Puncherdon, in 1615. His father, Richard Lilburne,
owned land in Durham.
His mother, Margaret Lilburne, was the daughter of Thomas Hixon, the
yeoman of the wardrobe to Elizabeth I.
On the
outbreak of the Civil
War
Lilburne
joined the Parliamentary forces. He served under Edward
Montagu
and by 1644
had reached the rank of captain. He later joined the New
Model Army and
in 1647 was promoted to the rank of colonel.
A supporter
of the Levellers,
Lilburne's regiment took part in the Corkbush Field in November 1647.
He was sent for by the House of Commons where he was questioned about
his conduct. Soon afterwards General Thomas
Fairfax appointed Lilburne
as Governor of Newcastle.
In December
1648, Lilburne was nominated as one of the judges in the trial of
Charles
I.
He attended the proceedings and signed the king's death warrant.
Lilburne
served under Oliver
Cromwell during
his Scottish campaigns. Left in charge of Lancashire he defeated the
Earl of Derby near Wigan on 25th August, 1651. Cromwell praised Lilburne's
services to the House of Commons and he
was granted land in Scotland worth £300 a year.
Some officers
complained that Lilburne was too sympathetic to the Anabaptists
and the
Levellers
in the army.
However, he still had the support of Cromwell and in 1655 he was given
command of the army against the royalist insurrection in York.
In 1656 Lilburne was elected
to the House of Commons where he represented
the East Riding of Yorkshire. He also served as Governor of York.
Oliver
Cromwell died on 3rd September 1658. His son, Richard
Cromwell,
became Lord Protector but in May 1659, the generals forced him to
retire from government. 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 1659 he marched on London.
When Monck arrived he reinstated
the House of Lords and the Parliament of
1640. Royalists were now in control of Parliament. Monck
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.
Lilburne and John
Lambert attempted
to arouse resistance to the restoration of the monarchy. He marched
against George Monck in November 1659 but
his army deserted and he was forced to surrender York.
On the
Restoration
Lilburne,
like other Regicides,
was arrested. On 16th October, 1660, Lilburne was sentenced to death,
but later this was commuted to life imprisonment. Robert Lilburne
died in prison in August, 1665.
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