A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



and they were executed with the Duke of Hamilton 9 March 1648—9. 

 Each met his death bravely. Lord Capel with the words, ' God Almighty, 

 staunch, staunch this issue of blood : this will not do the business, God 

 Almighty, find out another way to do it.'"* 



The earlier years of the Commonwealth appear to have passed quietly 

 in Bedfordshire. Sir Samuel Luke, who was so conspicuous while the actual 

 fighting was going on, disappeared from the leadership at its close. He was 

 a staunch Presbyterian, and on the occasion of the king's stay at Woburn he 

 was seized by a party of soldiers on suspicion that he was raising forces in the 

 county to help the London Presbyterians against the army, i August 1647, 

 but was speedily released by Fairfax. He was again under arrest for a time 

 when Colonel Pride so effectively 'purged' Parliament in December 1648. 

 From that time nothing more is heard of him till he reappears in the Con- 

 vention Parliament in April 1660.'** The county had two representatives in 

 the assembly known as ' Barebone's Parliament,' *'* and under the ' Instrument 

 of Government ' five members were allotted to the county and one to the 

 town of Bedford.'" 



When Cromwell in 1655 divided the country into districts under the 

 ruleof' Major-generals,' Bedfordshire, with Northamptonshire, Rutland, and 

 Huntingdonshire, was allotted to Major Butler,'" who reported to Thurloe 

 on 19 November that he did not find ' many delinquents in this county whose 

 estates arise so high as to fall under our decimation.''" He asked for a 

 decision about the Earl of Bedford and Sir Robert Napier, the latter having 

 been 'sequestered three years together,' and having sat in the Long Parliament 

 ' when he saw which way success was like to go.' Another difficulty con- 

 cerned Richard Conquest, who had woods to the value of ^8, 000 or ^10,000, 

 ' and yet little or no yearly profit is made of them.' "* The list of decima- 

 tions includes sixteen names,'" and the sums range from Sir Thomas Leigh, 

 of Leighton Buzzard, £i2S^ ^"'^ Richard Conquest, of Houghton Conquest, 

 esq., £120, to Mr. Audley of Biggleswade, £2 4J. gd., and John Russell, of 

 Woburn, esq. (brother of the earl) ^i,'" the total amounting to ^686 6s. i id. 

 Butler also undertook with the help of his commissioners to discover 

 ' the prophane and idle gentry and others, whose lives are a shame to 

 Christian commonwealth,' such as Goddard Pemberton, ' that was formerly 

 in arms against the Parliament, a very desperate person, having no estate, 

 and living at the rate of four or five hundred a year,' being supported by a 

 Royalist lady of the county. ' I do not think his Highness can be 



'" Tie Several Speeches of Duke Hamilton l^c. on the Scaffold (1649), 41 ; B.M. Pamphlets, E. 546 (21). 



'" Diet. Nat. Biog. For his arrest i Aug. 1 647 see his own letter to the Speaker in Gary's Memorials of 

 the Civil War sub anno. 



'" Nathaniel Taylor and Edward Cator (Cobbett, Pari. Hist, iii, 1407). 



'" The county members in the Parliament of Sept. 1654 were, according to Cobbett, op. cit. iii, 141 8 

 Sir William Boteler, John Harvey, Samuel Bedford, John Neal, and Edmund Wingate, while no less a person 

 than Bulstrode Whitlocke was elected for the borough ; he chose, however, to sit for Bucks., for which he had 

 also been elected, and Henry Chester was chosen in his place (Ret. ofMemb. of Pari.). 



"* Gardiner, Hist. Commonw. and Protect, iii, 197. 



'" The 'decimation ' was a fine of 10 per cent, per annum on rental of land of ^^loo and upwards • 

 if there was no real property a fine of j^io per annum was levied on every ^1,500 of personal property 

 with a maximum fine of £100 ; Gardiner, loc. cit. 177. The major-generals demanded that the limit should 

 be lowered, say to ^50 rental, and ^^500 or even ;^300 personal property; ibid. Suppl. Chap. i. 



^ Thurloe, State Papers, iv, 218. '^ Ibid, iv, 5 1 3. 



"» He was fined ;^2,204 in 1648 {Cal. of Com. fir Compounding, 1209). Edward Russell vras fined ;^SOo 

 in 1644-5 ; his 'decimation' was ;^5o, but he obtained exemption (ibid. 846). 



54 



