William Heveningham

William Heveningham (1604-1678) was one of the Regicides of Charles I of England.

Life

A Norfolk gentleman and Member of Parliament, he was active in the administration of East Anglia for the Parliament of England during the civil wars. In January 1649, Heveningham was appointed a commissioner on the High Court of Justice for the trial of King Charles. Although he attended every session of the trial, he refused to sign the King's death warrant. During the Commonwealth of England and the Protectorate, he bought up many properties confiscated from the Church and from Royalists, and also speculated in buying army debentures. He was a member of the Council of State in 1649 and 1650.

Heveningham was probably the first of the regicides to surrender to the authorities at the Restoration in 1660. He was brought to trial in October 1660, found guilty of treason for his part in the King's trial and sentenced to death. However, he successfully petitioned for mercy, claiming that he had tried to prevent the King's execution, had opposed Oliver Cromwell's tyranny and had contributed £500 to Booth's Uprising in 1659. He was imprisoned at Windsor Castle, where he remained until his death in 1678.

In 1662 Sir William's wife Lady Mary Heveningham petitioned the king to be allowed to remove her husband from Windsor Castle to her own house at Heveningham in Suffolk. On 15 August 1664 a warrant was issued to Lord Mordaunt, constable of Windsor Castle, to take Heveningham into custody and keep him safe until further orders. In September 1667 he was still confined in Windsor Castle. He died on 21 February 1677-8, and was buried at Ketteringham church on the 25th of the same month.

Family

Sir William Heveningham was the second son of Sir John Heveningham of Ketteringham in Norfolk and his wife Bridget Paston.

Sir William married twice; his first wife was Katharine Wallop daughter of Sir Henry Wallop and he married secondly Mary Carey (d. 1696), daughter of John, Earl of Dover. The Carey's were descended from Mary Carey (Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn)

Sir William Heveningham was not the only Heveningham to serve in the English Civil War. Amongst his Staffordshire cousins were brother Symon and Christopher Heveningham but unlike William they were Royalists.

Unlike the Puritan and Whig Heveninghams of Norfolk and Suffolk, the Staffordshire branch were Cavaliers, and mostly 'popish Recusants'. The Heveningham family seat of Pype Hall near Lichfield was plundered by Roundhead soldiers about the time that Heveningham Church was desecrated by Puritan fanatics.

During the Civil War Symon Heveningham of Pype Hall served in the North Midlands Army (Royalist Army), Dudley Garrison, under Henry Hastings. The North Midlands Army were present at the battles of Edghill, Marston Moore and Naseby and also at the sieges of Lichfield and Newark. Symon, together with his brother Christopher were both majors. Symon Heveningham served in Sir John Fitzhert of Norbury's Regiment and was promoted to Lt. Col. having previously been Levenson's major. Both brothers survived the war.

References

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