DIXWELL, John (1613-89), of Folkestone, Kent.

The uncertainty that once attended Dixwell’s origins has now been resolved.38Noble, Lives of the Regicides, i. 180-2; Hasted, Kent, viii. 160. He was the third of four sons of Edward Dixwell, graduate of Merton College, Oxford, and vicar of Ponteland, Northumberland, which was in the college’s gift. Edward, a younger brother of William Dixwell (d. 1639) of Coton Hall, near Rugby in Warwickshire, probably died some years before William made his will in 1636.39Vis. Warws. (Harl. Soc. xii), 297; Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. xiv), 41; PROB11/180/656. At the time of their admissions to Lincoln’s Inn, John’s elder brother Mark Dixwell (Jan. 1629) and John himself (Feb. 1631) were recorded as living in Folkestone, where they seem to have settled with another uncle, Sir Basil Dixwell† of Terlingham (d. Dec. 1642), MP for Hythe in 1626 and then sheriff of Kent.40LI Admiss. i. 207, 212; Cent. Kent. Stud. U270/T264, 267; CB; HP Commons 1604-1629. In 1635 John Dixwell witnessed the will in which Sir Basil, who had received his Kentish estate in the early 1620s from a maternal uncle, bestowed it in turn on Mark Dixwell.41Cent. Kent. Stud. U270/T264.

Although he was called to the bar in January 1638, it is not clear if John Dixwell practised the law.42LI Black Bks. ii. 345. In July 1641 Sir Basil, Mark and John all subscribed the petition of the inhabitants of Folkestone seeking a supplement to the income of their perpetual curate, and the appointment of ‘a younger and more pregnant man’.43Procs. in Kent 1640 ed. Larking, 233-4. Both brothers joined the parliamentarian forces in Kent at or soon after the outbreak of the civil wars; Mark, who had also been appointed a sequestration commissioner, rose to the command of the regiment of Aylesford Lathe, in which they both served, before his death in February 1644.44A. and O.; Cromwell Assoc. database; Parsons, Monuments in Kent, 312. The previous July Mark had conveyed his estate to John in trust in consideration of £13,000, in order to provide for his wife and children, and in August 1644 Parliament granted John the wardship of his nieces and nephews.45F.B. Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, Pprs. of the New Haven Colony Hist. Soc. vi. 349, 371; Add. 20001, ff. 48r-v; Cent. Kent. Stud. U270/T267; Add. 40717, ff. 160, 181-99. Dixwell thereby controlled a sizeable estate in Kent, and he also acquired a share in the Irish adventure on his own account.46Add. 40717, ff. 169-74; Cent. Kent. Stud. U270/T267. Dixwell later claimed to have provided portions of £2,000 for both his nieces, as well as of £2,000, £3,000 and £4,000 for his three nephews, £300 a year for the widow and £250 a year for the children’s education. In addition, he extended the estate through the acquisition of other properties, some apparently on his own account.47Stiles, History, 138-43, 148; Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, 371-3; Oxinden and Peyton Lttrs. ed. Gardiner, 110.

Even before his brother’s death Dixwell was named a commissioner for the the defence of Kent; thereafter he accumulated other local appointments.48CJ iii. 689a; A. and O. His correspondence with more established parliamentarian figures in the county including Henry Oxinden* reveals his involvement in the organisation of the war effort and his zeal as a member of the county committee.49Add. 42586, ff. 21-2; Add. 20001, ff. 48, 66-7; Cent. Kent. Stud. Sa/ZB3/37; HMC Pepys, 203-4; Oxinden and Peyton Lttrs. ed. Gardiner, 78-9, 81. In the spring of 1646 he attended Parliament, probably in pursuit of resources with which to defend Dover against a cavalier threat.50Add. 20001, ff. 68, 73, 75, 84, 132; Oxinden and Peyton Lttrs. ed. Gardiner, 81-2, 88-9. Such service probably explains why, at a by-election on 28 August, Dixwell was returned as recruiter MP for the Cinque Port of Dover, replacing the deceased Sir Edward Boys*.51Supra, ‘Dover’; CJ iv. 642; Return of Members, i. 497. Dixwell was in the Commons by 3 October, when he was named to a committee on a petition from Kent, but he did not take the Solemn League and Covenant until 9 December, the day after he had been appointed to deal with another.52CJ iv. 681b; v. 6b, 7b.

Judging by his modest committee appointments and by correspondence, Dixwell’s parliamentary career in the later 1640s took second place to his work in the county.53CJ iv. 681b; v. 6b; Add. 20001, ff. 207, 209, 229; Oxinden and Peyton Lttrs. ed. Gardiner, 97-100, 103-4. None the less, while his nomination to a committee discussing proposals for the navy by Andrewes Burrell (9 Jan. 1647) doubtless arose from his status as a Member for one of the Cinque Ports, other appointments related to matters of wider concern: the selection of sheriffs and justices of the peace (30 Oct. 1646); the arrangements for the disposal of the great seal (3 Nov. 1646, 18 Mar. 1647); the ordinance for restraining malignant ministers (22 Mar. 1647).54CJ iv. 709b, 714a, v. 47a, 117b, 119b; A. Burrell, The Humble Remonstrance for a Reformation of England’s Navie (1646, E.335.6); Aylmer, State’s Servants, 292. On 28 May Dixwell was given leave of absence, but he reappeared in the Journal on 10 June, when his nomination to the committee to consider the cases of those Members who had waged war against Parliament indicates an alignment with the Independents.55CJ v. 129b, 205a. Four weeks later he was added to a committee chaired by John Bulkeley* which was investigating particular individuals (8 July).56CJ v. 237b. Although granted leave on 19 July for 14 days, as Presbyterian agitation gathered strength outside, he was in the House on 21 July, when he was named to a committee regarding soldiers’ pay.57CJ v. 250a, 253a. That he then disappeared from the Journal suggests that he was among Independents who left Westminster at the Presbyterian coup of 26 July, although his name does not appear on the list of those Members who went to the army and signed the engagement of 4 August.58HMC Egmont i. 440; LJ ix. 385. Following the collapse of the coup, Dixwell’s reappearance in the Journal on 9 October to be named to a committee to investigate absentee MPs suggests that he himself had returned some time previously.59CJ v. 329a.

Thereafter Dixwell continued to keep a low profile at Westminster, although his correspondence with Henry Oxinden suggests that he was occasionally in London.60Add. 20002, f. 10; Oxinden and Peyton Lttrs. ed. Gardiner, 131-2. On 20 April 1648 he was named to a committee addressing those who had defaulted on musters in Kent, and on 14 June to investigate the royalist uprising in the region.61CJ v. 538a, 599b. In late November he and Sir Michael Livesay* were ordered to bring in the county’s assessment money.62CJ vi. 87b.

Within a few weeks of Pride’s Purge Dixwell assumed a more active role in Westminster politics. On 23 December he was added to a committee addressing bribery, and shortly afterwards to the Committee for Plundered Ministers (6 Jan. 1649) and to the Committee of Navy and Customs (by 24 Jan.).63CJ vi. 103a, 112b; Bodl. Rawl. A.224, f. 4v. Having been appointed a commissioner for the high court of justice established to try the king (6 Jan.), he attended the majority of their meetings in the Painted Chamber, and all four days of the trial in Westminster Hall.64A. and O. On the day that he signed the death warrant (29 Jan.), Dixwell also took the dissent from the vote of 5 December.65CJ vi. 124b. Direct evidence for Dixwell’s motivation is lacking but he seems to have been committed to the new republic; later in the year he appears as a friend of fellow regicide, Edmund Ludlowe II*.66SP28/258, f. 450.

In early February Dixwell was named a clutch of committees discussing the navy, Kentish petitions, scandalous books attacking the king’s trial, and the remodelling of commissions of the peace; more importantly, on the 20th he was nominated to work on the ordinance for the abolition of deans and chapters.67CJ vi. 127b, 130a, 131b, 134a, 147b. Thereafter, however, his attendance as recorded by the Journals became little more than occasional. There were two relatively minor committee nominations in July 1649; two more significant ones in March 1650 (to consider the bills for the sale of the crown’s estate and for regulating the universities); a fifth that July concerning the settlement of dean and chapter lands on Sir Henry Vane II*; and a sixth in April 1651 to consider a petition from Algernon Percy†, 4th earl of Northumberland.68CJ vi. 265b, 267a, 382a, 388b, 441a, 567a. It is clear that Dixwell’s most important service to the commonwealth was performed not in the Commons but in Kent, where he was appointed to the commission of the peace, and where he received a commission as colonel of a militia regiment of foot in June 1650.69CSP Dom. 1649-50, pp. 264-5, 391, 413; 1650, pp. 340, 450, 451, 507; 1651, pp. 393, 406. Active also as a militia commissioner, in the early 1650s Dixwell worked closely (as his superior officer) with Thomas Kelsey*, appointed governor of Dover Castle in May 1651.70CSP Dom. 1651, pp. 174, 189, 408; 1651-2, p. 91.

Dixwell’s local significance probably underpinned his election to the council of state on 25 November 1651.71CJ vii. 42b-43a. After this his profile in Westminster increased dramatically, albeit not noticeably in Parliament, where he received only three committee appointments in the following year, concerning petitions from ministers (10 Feb. 1652) and from contractors for the sale of bishops’ lands (6 Apr.), and a bill settling a jointure on the wife of Robert Wallop* (15 Sept.).72CJ vii. 86b, 115a, 182a. On the other hand, Dixwell was among the most consistent attenders at council meetings, and was appointed to numerous committees on diverse issues including the Mint, Sion College, assessments, prisoners, the City of London, poor relief, St James’ Palace, Alderman Fowke, and the ordnance.73CSP Dom. 1651-2, pp. 43, 52, 54, 65, 150, 210, 316, 416, 428, 432, 461. His most important conciliar role was as an expert on admiralty matters, partly because of his continuing responsibilities as Member for Dover and doubtless partly because of the need to implement orders relating to the navy in the Downs.74CSP Dom. 1651-2, pp. 91, 117, 219, 251, 265, 324-5, 333, 337. Assiduous in attending the council’s admiralty committee and in corresponding with the navy commissioners, he was appointed by the council in October 1652 as a commissioner to attend General Robert Blake.75CSP Dom. 1651-2, pp. 285, 430; Bodl. Rawl. A.226, ff. 148v-250v; Add. 22546, f. 65. His personal perspective on the Anglo-Dutch war does not appear, but he was not re-elected to the council of state in November, and there is no further evidence of his presence in the Rump, although he appears to have remained available for consultation by such bodies as the committee of trade and foreign affairs, particularly on Kentish matters.76CSP Dom. 1652-3, pp. 160, 230, 249-50. He remained active alongside the governor of Dover Castle.77CSP Dom. 1652-3, p. 216.

Following the dissolution of Parliament in April 1653 Dixwell lost his lodgings in Whitehall (15 June).78CSP Dom. 1652-3, p. 412. There is no direct evidence of his attitude towards the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell*, but he continued to be appointed to local commissions and was returned as a knight of the shire to the Parliaments of 1654 and 1656.79A. and O. He made no impression on Commons proceedings in either case. Dixwell was somewhat more visible in the 1659 Parliament of Richard Cromwell*, in which he represented Dover once again. Although there is no record of his contributing to debate, he was named to three committees: to prepare reasons for holding a public fast (30 Mar.); to consider how transactions with the ‘Other House’ (6 Apr.); and to consider what to do with the records of the committee for the sale of the lands of the king, deans and chapters in Worcester House (14 Apr.).80CJ vii. 622a, 627a, 639a.

Following the dissolution of the 1659 Parliament (22 Apr.), Dixwell participated in meetings at Wallingford House, along with Edmund Ludlowe and Robert Wallop.81Ludlow, Mems. ii. 66. His own views were probably less in tune with the army leaders present there than with the republicans whom he joined in the restored Rump in May 1659. On 14 May he was elected to the council of state.82CJ vii. 654a; CSP Dom. 1658-9, p. 349; Ludlow, Mems. ii. 84. The same day he was nominated to the important Commons committee bringing in an act of indemnity, and later in the month to another for settling the Westminster militia, as well as to a council committee on the Tower of London.83CJ vii. 655a, 664a; CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 135, 230 But, as suggested by his only other Commons committee nomination until the end of year – to consider a petition from Deale (28 May) – his most pressing concerns over a late spring and summer of insurrection related to security in Dover and Kent, and to his own military responsibilities.84CJ vii. 668a; Add. 4197, f. 190. Restored to his Whitehall lodgings on 19 July, on 6 August he reported to the Commons from the council of state the list of those to be entrusted with Dover port, while three days later MPs were asked to approve officers in his militia regiment.85CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 34, 89; CJ vii. 750a, 753a. For the rest of August and September, apart from an occasional appearance at the council of state, he was evidently engaged on his duties in Kent.86CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 68, 135, 174, 230. His nomination as lieutenant of Dover Castle on 12 October, the day when the commissions of some longstanding senior army officers were revoked, may have contributed, in a small way, to the army’s decision to terminate the Rump’s sittings again (13 Oct.).87CJ vii. 796b.

Dixwell’s loyalty to the Rump rather than the army is indicated by his return to Westminster after Parliament resumed its sittings on 26 December.88CJ vii. 800a. On 31 December he was both elected to the council of state and confirmed as governor of Dover Castle.89CJ vii. 800b; Whitelocke Diary, 588. He also took the oath of abjuration, indicating his rejection of the Stuart cause.90SP18/220, f. 114. As previously, however, in January 1660 he served the Rump – and defied John Lambert* and the Wallingford House faction – at Dover rather than in Westminster, although he endeavoured to keep Parliament and the council fully informed of developments in his locality.91CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 302, 307, 309, 316, 325, 330, 349; SP18/220, f. 116v

Dixwell’s activity is elusive during the last weeks of the Long Parliament, after the readmission of the secluded Members. However, by March 1660 he was evidently sufficiently convinced of an imminent restoration of the Stuart monarchy to sell his estate, or at least portions of it, to his kinsman Sir Thomas Peyton*, thereby realising £3,758.92Add. 40717, ff. 175, 177. Dixwell’s precautionary sale, and release to his nephews of property held in trust for them, seems to have been rewarded.93Stiles, History, 150. Subsequent confiscation took only that worth £234 a year, and even this was recorded to have been charged with payments worth £2,500.94LR2/266, f. 1.

On 18 May the arrest of Dixwell and the other regicides was ordered.95LJ xi. 32b, 52b, 101b, 102a. In June he apparently sought extra time to surrender on the grounds of ill health, but this was probably only a ruse to facilitate his escape from England.96Kennet, Register, 185. Dixwell subsequently went with John Barkstead*, John Okey* and Valentine Wauton* to Hanau in Hesse, where according to Ludlowe they were all made burgesses and Wauton died in Dixwell’s arms.97Ludlow, Voyce, 297; Bodl. MS Eng. hist. c.487, p. 1250. By 1665, however, Dixwell was in America, where William Goffe* recorded him as being at Hadley, Massachusetts; sometime before 1673 he settled at New Haven, Connecticut, under the assumed name of James Davids.98Stiles, History, 125-6. The adoption of an alias prompted Noble to claim that Dixwell ‘lived in constant fears of being betrayed’, although it was also claimed that, amongst friends, he exulted in his role in the trial of Charles I.99Noble, Lives of the Regicides, ii. 181-2. That he was able to live in quiet normality is suggested by his admission to the church fellowship at New Haven in 1685.100Stiles, History, 128. Following an extremely brief marriage in 1673 to Joanna, widow of one Mr Ling, in 1677 Dixwell married Bathsheba How, with whom he had a son John, born in 1681, and two daughters, Mary (b. 1679) and Elizabeth (b. 1682).101Stiles, History, 128. He received news and books from a niece in England, Elizabeth Westrow, who also relayed messages from another old republican, John Wildman*.102Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, 342-3, 349. Detailed newsletters covering events in England during the years of crisis between 1678-81 found their way to him.103Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, 358-68.

In 1682 Dixwell settled his estate, although the papers were kept secret until after his death. He conveyed to his wife property in Hougham, Kent, and to his son the priory of Folkestone, as well as property in Romsey Marsh and Hougham, and Buckland Manor in Faversham. He also detailed his activity as trustee for his brother.104Stiles, History, 138-43, 148; Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, 371-3. In March 1689, shortly before his death, he made arrangements for the guardianship of his three children.105Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, 373-4.

In September 1689 Dixwell’s kinsman Thomas Westrow sent news of the Glorious Revolution, and, ‘finding all things going so well and [that] our king is bent to the honest party’, of his attempt ‘to get your pardon which I doubt not but to obtain and also an act of Parliament to back it’. He urged Dixwell and his family ‘to make all the haste you can possible to Amsterdam in Holland, where I have friends that will rescue you and you may be as safe as where you are’. However, this counsel, based on advice from John Wildman, arrived too late for Dixwell, who died at New Haven on 18 March 1689.106Dexter, ‘Dixwell Papers’, 135, 356-7. His son John (d. 1725) became a goldsmith, while Dixwell’s widow removed to Middleton, Connecticut, where she lived until 1729.107Stiles, History, 148, 150. Dixwell’s will, dated 7 May 1688, was proved at New Haven, and an inventory recorded a personal estate of £276. He left a house and small parcels of land in New Haven, and bequeathed a copy of Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World to the minister there; most of his other possessions were left to his son, while his surviving daughter Mary received only £20.108Connecticut State Lib. New Haven Probate Recs. ii, pt. 1, pp. 8-9; Stiles, History, 136-7. A monumental inscription quoted Dixwell to the effect that he was ‘confident that the Lord will appear for his people, and the good old cause for which I suffer, and that there will be those in power again who will relieve the injured and oppressed’.109N. and Q. 5th ser. ix. 466.