James Berry (Major-General)

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James Berry was an English Major-General, (d.1691).

He worked as a clerk at an iron works in Shropshire during the 1630s and was a member of the congregation of the Puritan divine Richard Baxter. In 1642, Berry enlisted in Oliver Cromwell's cavalry regiment, where he adopted radical religious beliefs that caused a split with the more moderate Baxter. At the battle of Gainsborough in July 1643, Berry killed the Royalist leader Charles Cavendish. By 1651, he was a colonel of horse in the New Model Army.

After suppressing a Royalist uprising in the spring of 1655, Berry was appointed Major-General for Herefordshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire and Wales during the Rule of the Major-Generals. One of the most radical of the Major-Generals in matters of religion, Berry associated with the Fifth Monarchist Vavasor Powell and ordered the release from prison of a number of Quakers at Evesham. He was elected to the Second Protectorate Parliament as MP for Worcestershire in 1656. When Parliament adjourned in June 1657, Berry rejoined his regiment in Scotland, where General Monck complained about the number of Quakers amongst his men.

One of the few Major-Generals who urged Cromwell to accept the Crown, Berry was appointed to Cromwell's Upper House in 1657. After Oliver's death, he supported Charles Fleetwood in the Army's struggle against Richard Cromwell in 1659, which he later regretted. He then supported John Lambert against the Rump. But Monck, who deeply distrusted Berry, occupied London in 1660. When the MPs excluded at Pride's Purge returned to Parliament, Berry was imprisoned for refusing to give an undertaking to live peaceably. According to some accounts, he remained a prisoner in Scarborough Castle for the rest of his life, at one time sharing a cell with the Quaker leader George Fox. According to Richard Baxter, Berry was released in the early 1670s and became a gardener.

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This article incorporates text under a Creative Commons License by David Plant, the British Civil Wars and Commonwealth website http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/berry.htm