The Speakers of the House of Commons from the Earliest Times to the Present Day with a Topographical Description of Westminster at Various Epochs & a Brief Record of the Principal Constitutional Changes During Seven Centuries (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1911 Excerpt: ... for Great Grimsby) was conducted to the Chair by Sir Anthony Irby and Mr. Richard Lee, and there he remained until replaced by Lenthall in the month of August, when the Army and Cromwell had become the real masters of the situation. As one of the leading Presbyterians, he was secluded and imprisoned when Pride's Purge took place in 1648, but was liberated six days later. In the "Barebones," or Little Parliament, the Chair 1 He was the third son of Sir William Pelham, of Brocklesby, by Anne, daughter of Charles, second Lord Willoughby of Parham. was filled by the Rev. Francis Rous, a Cornish gentleman of good family and education. His career was a most singular one, even in an age of unexpected happenings. An ordinance passed by the Lords on 10 February, 1643-44, deprived Richard Steward, the Provost of Eton, of his post and appointed Rous in his stead "for the term of his natural life." He contrived to get Eton exempted from the "Self-Denying Ordinance," in order that he might retain his emoluments, and it was probably owing to Rous's exertions that the College was also exempted from the sale of the estates of religious corporations. The Provost was rewarded for his subservience in the Chair by a writ of summons to Cromwell's short-lived House of Lords. He was buried in Lupton's Chapel at Eton, and his portrait still hangs in the Provost's Lodge. Sir Thomas Widdrington, of an old Northumbrian family, many of whose members were Cavaliers, filled the Chair in Oliver's second Parliament, from 17 September, 1656, till it was dissolved on 4 February, 1657-58. He then became Chief Baron of the Exchequer. He was brother-in-law to Fairfax, and sat in the Commons Chair when Cromwell declined the crown. At the Restoration Widdrington wa...