John Blakiston

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John Blakiston (c. 1603-1649), was a member of the English parliament, one of the regicides of King Charles I of England, a prominent mercer and coal merchant, puritan and anti-Episcopalian^[1].

[edit] Biography

In 1603 John Blakiston was born at Sedgefield, County Durham, as the third son of Marmaduke Blakiston, Prebendary of York and Durham Cathedral.^[2] In 1626 he married Susan Chamber.^[3] He was a fervent financial supporter of the Puritans migrating to America, though he himself never left the country. In 1636 he entered into an ideological dispute with Yeldard Alvey, an Arminian vicar at Newcastle, accusing him of heresy. Alvey emerged victorious from the fray, thanks to the support from Archbishop William Laud. Blakiston was fined and excommunicated.^[4] He served as a member of parliament for Newcastle in the Long Parliament where he voiced republican ideas early on,^[5] but did not take up his seat until 1641 due to a contest over the result.^[6] In 1645 he was elected Mayor of Newcastle. In January 1649, as a commissioner of the High Court of Justice at the trial of King Charles, he was 12th of the 59 signatories on the death warrant of the King. He died in June 1649.

In 1660 following the restoration his estate was confiscated by the sheriff of Durham.^[7]

[edit] Bibliography

• Stephen Foster (1991), The Long Argument: English Puritanism and the Shaping of New England Culture, 1570-1700, UNC Press, ISBN 0807845833

[edit] References

1. ^ Joseph Gough, Descendant of a Regicide, Trafford Publishing, p. 231
2. ^ Herbert Edward Douglas Blakiston, Trinity College, F. E. Robinson 1898, p. 82
3. ^ Eneas Mackenzie, An historical, topographical and descriptive view of the County Palatine of Durham, Mackenzie & Dent 1834, p. 51
4. ^ Forster (1991), p. 148
5. ^ Forster (1991), p. 150
6. ^ British Civil Wars site: John Blakiston, accessed 11th October 2007
7. ^ The Battle of Floddon Fields, printed for Emerson Charnley, Newcastle, 1822, p. 20