BLACKWELL, John (1624-1701), of Mortlake, Surr.

This MP’s grandfather, John Blackwell, described at different times as ‘gentleman of Clement’s Inn’ and ‘yeoman’, was living in Watford, Hertfordshire, when the MP’s father (also John) was born in 1594; in 1615 he acquired the manor of Hawkridge, Buckinghamshire.37Misc. Gen. et Her., n. s. i. 177. The MP’s father was a London Grocer who from at least 1628 was supplier to the household of Charles I and thereby among the king’s creditors.38Misc. Gen. et Her., n. s. i. 178; E115/14/91; E115/45/50; E115/62/144; Aylmer, State’s Servants, 243. Although by 1625 he had acquired property at Mortlake in Surrey, where several of his children were baptized and where he was a benefactor to the church and school, his principal residence seems to have been in the City in Cripplegate.39Mortlake, Surr., St Thomas the Apostle, Vintry, London, par. regs.; J.E. Anderson. Hist. of Mortlake (1886), 18, and ed. Mortlake Parish Vestry Minute Bk. (1914), 98. In 1621 he joined the Honourable Artillery Company, often seen as a breeding ground of puritans, while the 1640 funeral sermon for his first wife, celebrating an archetypal godly gentlewoman, was preached by the controversial former lecturer at St Giles Cripplegate and future parliamentarian army chaplain, John Sedgwick.40Ancient Vellum Bk. 31; J. Sedgwick, The Eye of Faith Open to God (1640), A3 and passim; ‘Sedgwick, Obadiah’, Oxford DNB. On 11 June 1641 he was named as a ringleader in the allegedly violent removal of the altar rails at his parish church of St Thomas the Apostle, Vintry, an incident referred to the Commons’ committee for religion.41CJ ii. 194a; PA, Main Pprs. 30 June 1641.

On the outbreak of civil war, John senior became a captain in the 4th London regiment under Alderman Thomas Adams*. His son John junior, the future MP, who had joined the Artillery Company in April 1642, perhaps interrupted an apprenticeship to serve as an ensign in the same company.42Ancient Vellum Bk. 64; The Names, Dignities and Places of all the Collonells. The promotion of the latter within the next two years resulted in two Captain John Blackwells. They were not always distinguished in records and the subsequent involvement of both in public affairs has given rise to some confusion.

Before 9 May 1644, when officers of Colonel Harvey’s regiment were summoned before the Committee of Both Kingdoms, ‘Captain John Blackwell junior’ had joined them.43CSP Dom. 1644, p. 155. He may have been the Captain Blackwell reported missing in Cheshire in January 1645.44SP21/17, f. 181v. He was almost certainly the John Blackwell who on 10 July that year wrote to his father in London an account of a parliamentarian victory in Somerset which was promptly published. The defeat of George Goring*, Lord Goring, was attributed to God, ‘who hath raised up a poor company of men to do him such service’. These were

men who by some were thought not fit to be tolerated in the kingdom, but faithful to God and those who have employed them, without any other ends than God’s glory, and the public welfare of this poor kingdom.45J. Blackwell, A More Exact Relation (1645), 7 (E.293.8).

Such sentiments chimed with those of Oliver Cromwell*, whose notably radical regiment Blackwell junior joined – probably soon afterwards – when he stepped into the shoes of an officer killed at Naseby.46J. Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva (1647), 331; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 200-1. It is unclear whether it was he or his father, who on 16 July 1647 was present at the general council of war which took place at Reading and who between November 1648 and February 1649 attended army councils and committees.47Clarke Pprs. i. 176; ii. 270-1.

From 1646 Blackwell senior was acting as a deputy treasurer-at-war – an appointment confirmed in June 1647 – while in November 1646 he headed the list of contractors for the sale of episcopal lands, to which he added dean and chapter lands in 1649.48CSP Dom. 1645-7, p. 376; SP16/515/2, ff. 74, 89; SP/539/3, f. 273; J. Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, 325; A. and O.; Aylmer, State’s Servants, 243. By 1648 he had gained a reputation among City Presbyterians as ‘that kickshaw Blackwell’, who ‘put fines for delinquency and officers’ pay in his own pocket ... a cowardly fop, a silly goose, that if he had a will, hath not parts to acquire an thing in the art military’.49A Paire of Spectacles for the Citie (1648), 11 (E.419.9). A combination of pre-war commercial wealth and opportunities for profit and for acquisition on privileged terms probably explains the extensive land purchases made by both father and son through the 1640s, with the latter possibly acting as proxy in cases where the former was prohibited (as a contractor) from buying.50SP63/292, f. 123; Norf. RO, DN/MSC1/39; Bodl. Rawl. B. 239, pp. 1, 24, 41, 44; Coll. Top. et Gen. i. 3, 127; CJ vi. 23a; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 126. It is conceivable that the son’s resignation of his commission in June 1649 marked a point at which he became his father’s assistant in the treasurership; it may also have been around this time that he became free of the Grocers’ Company.51Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 202; Beaven, Aldermen of London, i. 40. The father-son partnership was evidently close, and rendered closer when in June 1647 Blackwell junior married Elizabeth Smithesby, a kinswoman both of his father’s second wife Martha Smithesby (whose family were also London merchants who had supplied the royal household) and of Cromwell.52Par. reg. St Andrew Undershaft; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 122, . The wedding was probably conducted by another kinsman, Elidad Blackwell, preacher at St Andrew Undershaft.53Al. Cant.; E. Blackwell, A Caveat for Magistrates (1645, E.290.12).

Both Blackwells prospered under the Rump, being regularly placed on local commissions.54A. and O.; CJ vii. 44b; C193/13/3; C193/13/4 Blackwell senior, who had been a Surrey justice of the peace since 1646, was placed on the militia committee for London on 17 January 1649 and was explicitly named on 30 January as the man handling money for payment of the expenses of the court which tried the king.55C231/6, p. 35; A. and O.; CSP Dom. 1648-9, p. 351-2. In 1651 he managed to escape service as alderman for Castle Baynard ward in London on the grounds of the insufficiency of his estate, but the £1,500 debt mentioned may have been an accounting fiction or a temporary lack of ready cash.56Beaven, Aldermen of London, i. 95, 230. The appointment of Blackwell junior as treasurer-at-war with William Leman*, resolved on 31 December 1651 and formalized on 2 January 1652, appears to have signalled Blackwell senior’s retirement from financial functions.57CJ vii. 61a; A. and O. It is not clear from an account given in the Commons’ Journal (17 Feb.) which man had attended a meeting of the council of war at Whitehall on 29 December at which proposals had been agreed for the payment of arrears to officers and soldiers for service in Scotland.58CJ vii. 91a.

Meanwhile, on 16 February 1652, Blackwell junior subscribed to a petition submitted to Parliament by moderate Independents, which finally surfaced in the House on 11 February 1653. With ministers like John Owen*, Philip Nye and Adoniram Byfield, he called for a measure of toleration, accommodating tender consciences while still preserving godly order.59CJ vii. 259a. After the act of August 1653, both Blackwells conducted marriages at Mortlake in their capacity as magistrates.60Mortlake Par. Reg. ed Cockin and Gould, 44-6.

The Nominated Parliament renewed Blackwell’s appointment as joint treasurer, referred sensitive local business to him as an active Surrey justice of the peace, and ensured that his right to satisfaction in a £2,350 adventure in Ireland were specifically enshrined in a general ordinance instructing commissioners on the spot (26 Sept. 1653).61CJ vii. 286a, 289b, 304a; A. and O. His power over army finances was in itself liable to engender resentment, but this appears to have been exacerbated both by the privileging of his Irish claims above those of others and by his subsequently selecting an especially advantageous land allocation, as the otherwise appreciative deputy of Ireland, Charles Fleetwood*, reported to secretary of state John Thurloe*.62Clarke Pprs. v. 95-6; TSP ii. 357. The sense of unfairness was doubtless compounded when, under the protectorate, his father, who had also invested in Ireland, was put on the committee for determining differences between adventurers (1 Aug. 1654).63A. and O. Both men clearly benefited from their closeness to Oliver Cromwell as ‘Mr Smithesby’s near relations’, while both Fleetwood and Thurloe recommended the son to Henry Cromwell* for favourable treatment over his Irish land claims, with Thurloe describing him in May 1656 as ‘a person who deserves very well of the state, and is of great use daily in the things which relate to his trust’.64Bodl. Rawl. A.27, ff. 295-6; TSP iv. 765-6; Henry Cromwell Corresp. 86-7, 105.

It was thus almost certainly as a government candidate that ‘treasurer Blackwell’ was elected to Parliament for Surrey in August 1656.65TSP v. 337. None of his 46 committee appointments over the ensuing two parliamentary sessions related directly to the county, but other recurring interests were apparent. Having been placed on the privileges committee (18 Sept.), his second nomination was to the Committee for Irish Affairs (25 Sept.).66CJ vii. 424a, 427a. Thereafter he was on several committees relating to individual and collective land settlements in Ireland (and Scotland) and to the attainder of rebels there.67CJ vii. 463b, 492b, 505b, 515a, 526a, 537b. The bill establishing his own claims to land in counties Dublin and Kildare surfaced regularly – once again provoking criticism that these should precede a more general resolution of entitlements – before being passed and referred on for the protector’s consent (2 May 1657).68CJ vii. 475b, 477a, 478a, 498b, 517a, 529b; Burton’s Diary i. 244-5; ii. 102.

Otherwise, although in the autumn of 1656 he played no recorded part in committees or lengthy debates addressing James Naylor and the controversial questions of toleration and of judgement of religious questions raised by his case, Blackwell was a regular member through the Parliament of committees devising measures to better provide for parish ministry.69CJ vii. 434a, 448b, 453b, 469a, 485b, 488b, 515b, 580b. He had been one of the ‘triers and ejectors’ of ministers in Surrey since 1654, but his personal religious convictions are hard to pin down.70A. and O. Called upon on 28 April 1657 to report on the additional ordinance he was less than forthcoming, according to diarist Thomas Burton*, while on 9 June he was a teller for the minority who wanted more time to consider a bill on catechising alleged to be ‘discontenting’ many ministers and ‘godly persons’, but apparently did not speak to the matter.71Burton’s Diary, ii. 62, 202-3; CJ vii. 551b. It may be indicative of a relatively conservative cast of mind that Blackwell was on the committee tasked on 20 October 1656 with investigating both the ‘obnoxious publication’ of radical separatist Samuel Chidley’s latest ‘exposé’ of abuses, Thunder from the Throne of God against the Temples of Idols and measures to regulate the press, but that evidence is hardly conclusive.72CJ vii. 442b.

That Blackwell was named to a selection of committees dealing with a selection of social, economic and legal issues argues at least some commitment to reform. Among other appointments were those to consider abuses in alehouses; the wages of artificers, labourers and servants; the pricing and adulteration of wine; the regulation of the court of chancery; and the curbing of unregulated building in London.73CJ vii. 429a, 430a, 435a, 436b, 457b, 528a, 532a, 542a. His inclusion in committees addressing petitions from the Isles of Ely and Axholme might indicate some interest in fen drainage and land improvement, just as that in discussing representations from the Common Council of London probably reflected his links nearer home.74CJ vii. 460b, 470b, 471a, 472a. His office as treasurer clearly underlaid his appointments to investigate arrears in the prize office, establish the public debt and inspect the treasuries of the three kingdoms with a view to raising money, and he added to the committee of public revenue (26 June 1657).75CJ vii. 440b, 477b, 543a, 576a.

Blackwell gave every indication of remaining a protectorate insider. On 27 April 1657 he conveyed Cromwell’s desire to know what the Commons proposed to raise for the war with Spain.76Burton’s Diary, ii. 32. He was among those named to prioritise parliamentary business and wait upon the protector to obtain his consent to the passing of bills, and was also involved on committee and as a teller in the refinement of the Petition and Advice which offered Cromwell the crown, although once again he made no recorded speech on the matter.77CJ vii. 540b, 542b, 545b, 557b, 573a; Burton’s Diary, ii. 300-1. He was one of three MPs deputed on 24 June to organise the solemnities which were to be the backdrop to proffering an oath to the protector and his council.78Burton’s Diary, ii. 302.

Just before the second session of the Parliament, Blackwell’s father died. He had only two committee nominations in January 1658, the second being to consider the bill against non-resident heads of colleges in the universities (22 Jan.).79PROB11/272/315; CJ vii. 580b, 581a. This was to be his last visible parliamentary service: there is no evidence that he stood for the third protectorate Parliament in 1659.

However, before its dissolution he was identified as one of the Wallingford House group of army officers led by Lieutenant-general Fleetwood and Colonel John Disbrowe*.80Ludlow, Mems. ii. 61. On 6 May he was one of the deputation of officers led by Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper* and Sir Arthur Hesilrige* who presented to former Speaker, William Lenthall, a declaration inviting Members of the Rump to return to Westminster.81A Declaration of the Officers (1659), 6 (E.980.20). When it duly assembled, he was continued as a treasurer for war (18 May), although it might have been a cause for concern when on 11 July he, like others, was ordered to return sums of money lent to him by the committee of excise – £1,000 in his case.82CJ vii. 656b, 657a, 712a.

During the summer’s insurrections he was issued with a warrant to raise a troop and made captain of horse in the Surrey militia (10, 15 Aug., 1 Sept.), but he chose the losing side in the autumn’s tussle for power by dissident army commanders, remaining loyal to John Lambert*.83CSP Dom. 1659-60, p. 563; CJ vii. 759a, 772b. Once General George Monck* had overcome Lambert’s forces and a civilian commonwealth had been reasserted, Blackwell and his fellow treasurer Richard Dean were dismissed from their posts; on 27 January 1660 they were ordered to surrender any money remaining in their hands.84CJ vii. 824a. A few days later they were granted some sizeable payments due to them by previous orders, but warrants presented by Blackwell for sums due to him as executor of his late father were declared illegal.85CJ vii. 831a-833b. Meanwhile, on 19 January he was discharged because of ‘present inability’ from his place as alderman for Bishopsgate ward, to which he been admitted on 25 October 1659.86Beaven, Aldermen of London, i. 40; ii. 90.

Implicated in Lambert’s efforts to raise further rebellion, Blackwell lived through the spring under a cloud.87By the Council of State: a Proclamation (1660) (669.f.24.70); Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 134. After the Restoration, partly because it was thought that he rather than his father had sat in judgement on royalist insurgents in 1648, the Convention debated including him among persons exempted from the Act of Oblivion.88CJ viii. 65a; LJ xi. 119a He escaped the worst penalties, but was disabled from public office; reputed a rich man, he forfeited all his land purchases in England, together with the house at Mortlake inherited from his father in 1658.89CJ viii. 73a, 118a, 118b, 119a, 135a, 139b; LJ xi. 78b, 115a; Tanswell, Hist. of Lambeth, 48; HMC 5th Rep. 154; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 135. His lands in Ireland, controversial even at the point of acquisition, for the most part slipped from his grasp.90Bodl. MS Carte 42, ff. 358, 439; CSP Ire. 1660-2, pp. 67, 204, 270, 433; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii, 136.

For nearly thirty years Blackwell lived an ostensibly precarious life moving between England and Ireland, remaining close to the now imprisoned Lambert and dependent on the patronage of such men as John King, 1st Baron Kingston, who had bought some of his Irish land and employed him as an agent.91CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 49; 1663-5, p. 271; D. Farr, John Lambert (2003), 224–6; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 137. Visiting London in spring 1665, he came under suspicion and was briefly imprisoned.92CSP Dom. 1664-5, pp. 282, 318. Following the death of his wife Elizabeth in Dublin in March 1669 he was left ‘with seven children and no great estate’, but about three years later he married Lambert’s daughter Frances. The family lived on at residual properties in Ireland until December 1684, when they left for Massachusetts and Connecticut. There Blackwell held public office and established a short-lived credit bank, similar to a venture he had recently tried with partners in England.93Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 138–9; Cent. Kent. Stud. U951/C145/2. In July 1688 he was appointed by William Penn as his deputy governor of Pennsylvania, with a brief, as a non-Quaker, to resolve local animosities. He was, explained Penn

of high repute as a wise and virtuous man; and yet, though treasurer, in the Commonwealth’s time, to the army in England, Scotland and Ireland, a place in which he might have gained many thousands by the year, he was remarkably just, and refused all perquisites and a great place in King Charles’s and King James’s time, in Ireland, because it depended upon them.94S.M. Janney, The Life of William Penn (1856), 356; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 139.

Penn’s perspective hints at an unexpected side to Blackwell in the 1650s and claims a surprising respectability thereafter, but despite Penn’s high hopes, Blackwell soon found Pennsylvania unmanageable and resigned, leaving the colony in January 1690.95C.M. Andrews, The Colonial Period of American Hist. iii. 308-11; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 139-41.

Returning to England, in 1693 he at last received compensation for lands lost in Ireland.96CSP Dom. 1693, p. 113. He died in Bethnal Green in 1701, leaving at least two sons – John, a merchant in Bethnal Green, and Sir Lambert Blackwell†, probably the eldest son of his second marriage, a diplomat and merchant who sat in Parliament for Wilton between 1708 and 1710.97Cent. Kent. Stud. U951/C145/2; Penn. Mag. of Hist. and Biog. lxxxviii. 141; HP Commons 1690-1715.