- John Desborough
John Desborough (or Disbrowe) (1608 – 1680), English soldier and politician, son of James Desborough of
Eltisley ,Cambridgeshire , and of Elizabeth Hatley of Over in the same county, was baptized on13 November 1608 . He was educated for the law. On23 June 1636 he married Eltisley Jane, daughter of Robert Cromwell ofHuntingdon , and sister ofOliver Cromwell , the futureLord Protector .He took an active part in the
English Civil War , and showed considerable military ability. In 1645, he was present as major in the engagement at Langport on10 July , at Hambleton Hill on4 August , and on10 September he commanded the horse at the storming ofBristol . Later he took part in the operations roundOxford . In 1648 as colonel he commanded the forces atGreat Yarmouth .He avoided all participation in the trial of Charles I in June 1649, being employed in the settlement of the west of England. He fought at Worcester as major-general and nearly captured Charles II near
Salisbury .After the establishment of the
Commonwealth of England he was chosen, on7 January 1652 , a member of the committee for legal reforms. In 1653 he became a member ofthe Protectorate council of state, and a commissioner of the treasury, and was appointed one of the four generals at sea and a commissioner for the army and navy. In 1654 he was made constable ofSt Briavel's Castle inGloucestershire . During theRule of the Major-Generals (1655–1656) he was appointed major-general over the south west. He had been nominated a member of theBarebones Parliament in 1653, and he was returned to theFirst Protectorate Parliament of 1654 for Cambridgeshire, and to theSecond Protectorate Parliament in 1656 for Somersetshire. In the Second Parliament he introduced the "Militia Bill" which was voted down by one hundred and twenty four votes to eighty eight. If passed it would have helped to finance the Army by imposing a ten percent "Decimation Tax", on known Royalists.In July 1657 he became a member of the
Protector's Privy Council , and in 1658 he accepted a seat in Cromwell's Other House (House of Lords).In spite of his near relationship to the Protectors family, he was one of the most violent opponents of the assumption by Cromwell of the royal title, and after the Protector's death, instead of supporting the interests and government of his nephew
Richard Cromwell , he was, withCharles Fleetwood , the chief instigator and organizer of the hostility of the army towards his administration, and forced Richard Cromwell by threats and menaces to dissolve hisThird Protectorate Parliament in April 1659. Desborough was chosen a member of the Council of State by the restoredRump Parliament , and made colonel and governor ofPlymouth , but presenting with other officers a seditious petition from the Army Council, on5 October 1659 , was about a week later dismissed. After the expulsion of the Rump Parliament by Fleetwood on13 October he was chosen by the officers a member of the new administration and commissary-general of the horse.The new military government, however, rested on no solid foundation, and its leaders quickly found themselves without any influence. Desborough himself became an object of ridicule, his regiment even revolted against him, and on the return of the Rump he was ordered to quit
London . At the Restoration he was excluded from the act of indemnity but not included in the clause of pains and penalties extending to life and goods, being therefore only incapacitated from public employment. Soon afterwards he was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to kill the king and queen, but was quickly liberated. Subsequently he escaped to the Netherlands, where he engaged in republican intrigues. Accordingly he was ordered home, in April 1666, on pain of incurring the charge of treason, and obeying was imprisoned in theTower of London until February 1667, when he was examined before the council and set free.Desborough died in 1680. By his first wife, Cromwell's sister, he had one daughter and seven sons; he married a second wife in April 1658 whose name is unrecorded. Desborough was a good soldier and nothing more; and his only conception of government was by force and by the army. His rough person and manners are the constant theme of ridicule in the royalist ballads, and he is caricatured by Samuel Butler in "
Hudibras " and in the "Parable of the Lion and the Fox".References
*1911
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