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BRADSHAW, JOHN (i6o2-1659)

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 374 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BRADSHAW, See also:JOHN (i6o2-1659) , See also:president of the " High See also:Court of See also:Justice " which tried See also:Charles I., was the second son of See also:Henry Bradshaw, of See also:Marple and Wibersley in See also:Cheshire. He was baptized on the loth of See also:December 1602, was educated at See also:Banbury in Cheshire and at See also:Middleton in See also:Lancashire, studied subsequently with an See also:attorney at See also:Congleton, was admitted into See also:Gray's See also:Inn in 162o, and was called to the See also:bar in 1627, becoming a bencher in 1647. He was See also:mayor of Congleton in 1637, and later high steward or See also:recorder of the See also:borough. According to See also:Milton he was assiduous in his legal studies and acquired considerable reputation and practice at the bar. On the 21st of See also:September 1643 he was appointed See also:judge of the See also:sheriff's court in See also:London. In See also:October 1644 he was counsel with See also:Prynne in the See also:prosecution of See also:Lord Maguire and See also:Hugh See also:Macmahon, implicated in the Irish See also:rebellion, in 1645 for John See also:Lilburne in his See also:appeal to the Lords against the See also:sentence of the See also:Star Chamber, and in 1647 in the prosecution of Judge See also:Jenkins. On the 8th of October 1646 he had been nominated by the See also:Commons a See also:commissioner of the See also:great See also:seal, but his See also:appointment was not confirmed by the Lords. In 1647 he was made See also:chief justice of See also:Chester and a judge in See also:Wales, and on the 12th of October 1648 he was presented to the degree of See also:serjeant-at-See also:law. On the 2nd of See also:January 1649 the Lords threw out the See also:ordinance for bringing the See also:king to trial, and the small remnant of the See also:House of Commons which survived See also:Pride's Purge, consisting of 53 See also:independents, determined to carry out the ordinance on their own authority. The leading members of the bar, on the See also:parliamentary as well as on the royalist See also:side, having refused to participate in proceedings not only illegal and unconstitutional, but opposed to the plainest principles of See also:equity; Bradshaw was selected to preside, and, after some protestations of humility and unfitness, accepted the See also:office. The king refused to plead before the tribunal, but Bradshaw silenced every legal objection and denied to Charles an opportunity to speak in his See also:defence. He continued after the king's See also:death to conduct, as lord president, the trials of the royalists, including the See also:duke of See also:Hamilton, Lord See also:Capel, and Henry See also:Rich, See also:earl of See also:Holland, all of whom he condemned to death, his behaviour being especially censured in the See also:case of See also:Eusebius See also:Andrews, a royalist who had joined a See also:conspiracy against the See also:government.

He received large rewards for his services. He was appointed in 1649 attorney-See also:

general of Cheshire and See also:North Wales, and See also:chancellor of the duchy of See also:Lancaster, and was given a sum of £1000, together with confiscated estates See also:worth £2000 a See also:year. He had been nominated a member of the See also:council of See also:state on the 14th of See also:February 1649, and on the loth of See also:March became president. He disapproved strongly of the See also:expulsion of the See also:Long See also:Parliament, and on See also:Cromwell's coming subsequently to dismiss the council Bradshaw is said, on the authority of See also:Ludlow, to have confronted him boldly, and denied his See also:power to dissolve the parliament. An ardent republican, he showed himself ever afterwards an uncompromising adversary of Cromwell. He was returned for See also:Stafford in the parliament of 1654, and spoke strongly against vesting power in a single See also:person. He refused to sign the " engagement " See also:drawn up by Cromwell, and in consequence withdrew from parliament and was subsequently suspected of complicity in plots against the government. He failed to obtain a seat in the parliament of 1656, and in See also:August of the same year Cromwell attempted to remove him from the chief-justiceship of Cheshire. After the See also:abdication of See also:Richard Cromwell, Bradshaw again entered parliament,became a member of the council of state, and on the 3rd of See also:June 1659 was appointed a commissioner of the great seal. His See also:health, however, was See also:bad, and his last public effort was a vehement speech, in the council, when he declared his abhorrence of the See also:arrest of See also:Speaker See also:Lenthall. He died on the 319t of October 1659, and'was buried in See also:Westminster See also:Abbey. His See also:body was disinterred at the Restoration, and exposed on a gibbet along with those of Cromwell and See also:Ireton.

Bradshaw married See also:

Mary,daughter of See also:Thomas Marbury of Marbury, Cheshire, but See also:left no See also:children.

End of Article: BRADSHAW, JOHN (i6o2-1659)

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