John Thurloe, the son of
a rector, was born in Essex in 1616. He trained for the law at Lincoln's
Inn and later became secretary of Oliver St. John, a leading figure
in the House of Commons.
Thurloe was a strong supporter
of Oliver Cromwell and in 1652 was
appointed clerk to the Council of State. He became an increasingly
powerful figure in the Commonwealth
and in effect became the country's sole Secretary of State.
In 1653 Thuroe was placed
in charge of intelligence department. In this post he employed spies
to discover plots against Cromwell's government. He also hired mathematician
John Wallis to establish a cryptology department that could break
secret codes. With this information he was able to dismantle the royalist
secret society, the Sealed Knot. However, Thuroe's attempt to kidnap
Charles
II ended in failure.
When Oliver
Cromwell died Thuroe attempted to get Richard
Cromwell
to replace him as
Lord Protector of the Commonwealth.
The English army was unhappy with this decision and in May 1659, the
generals forced him to retire from government.
On the Restoration
Thurloe was dismissed from office. However, his life was spared in
exchange for providing Charles
II with important
government documents. John Thurloe died on 21st February, 1668.
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