BEKE (BEAKE), Richard (1630-1707), of Haddenham, Bucks.

It has been claimed that the Beke family dated back to the Norman Conquest, but their descent can only be traced with certainty from Sir John Beke who held the manor of Erlegh Whiteknights in Berkshire in the early fifteenth century.26Beke, ‘Some particulars’, 155-6. One of Sir John’s descendants, Richard Beke, served as an equerry to Queen Elizabeth, who rewarded him with the grant of the lease on the royal manor of Haddenham in Buckinghamshire.27Beke, ‘Some particulars’, 156. When the equerry’s grandson Richard died in 1628, the lands at Haddenham passed to his brother Henry, the father of this MP.28Lipscombe, Buckingham, ii. 216; RCHME Bucks. i. 178; PROB11/153/32; Beke, ‘Some particulars’, 156-8. During the 1640s Henry Beke supported Parliament and in 1644 was appointed by it as the sheriff of Buckinghamshire. He was granted dean and chapter lands worth £2,000 by the Commons in 1649 to cover the costs he claimed to have incurred during his year in office as sheriff.29CJ vi. 255b.

Even before he came of age, Richard Beke signed up for military service. In the autumn of 1650 he was commissioned lieutenant-captain under Charles Howard* in the lifeguard regiment.30Wanklyn, Reconstructing the New Model Army, ii. 69. The lifeguards were the lord general’s own unit and so this appointment gave Beke his first contact with Oliver Cromwell*. As heir to his father, Beke may not have needed to join the army, and thus may have felt some sort of genuine attachment to the defence of the commonwealth, possibly inspired by his brother-in-law, Robert Lilburne*. The lifeguards served with Cromwell at the battle of Worcester in September 1651.31Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 52.

Beke accompanied Bulstrode Whitelocke* on his embassy to Sweden in late 1653, probably as commander of his troop of bodyguards.32Longleat, Whitelocke pprs. XIV, f. 132. That Whitelocke had strong Buckinghamshire connections may explain the appointment. During their stay Beke received a gold chain from Queen Christina’s master of ceremonies. When they reached London in July 1654, Whitelocke sent him on ahead to Hampton Court to inform Cromwell of their return.33Whitelocke, Diary, 296, 359, 365, 388. Beke would later try to use his friendship with Whitelocke to influence the appointment of a scholar at Westminster School.34Whitelocke, Diary, 463.

During his absence abroad his father had died, so, on his return, Beke succeeded to the estates at Haddenham.35PROB11/246/46. When some in Buckinghamshire wished to elect Whitelocke as one of their MPs for the 1654 Parliament, Whitelocke declined, suggesting Beke as a substitute (10 July).36Longleat, Whitelocke pprs. XVI, ff. 55, 74. Buckinghamshire voters chose Whitelocke anyway, but Beke soon made his mark in local politics in other ways. Appointed as a commissioner for scandalous ministers the following month, he now assumed the role in local politics his father had formerly fulfilled.37A. and O. He also resumed his military career and by November 1654 had succeeded Charles Howard as the captain of the lifeguards.38Wanklyn, Reconstructing the New Model Army, ii. 69; T. Carte, A Collection of Original Lttrs. and Pprs. (1739), ii. 81; CCSP iii. 415. The following year he swapped commands with Howard to become major in the regiment of horse under Nathaniel Rich*.39Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 152; Wanklyn, Reconstructing the New Model Army, ii. 68. When he then married for the first time, his choice of bride had a political dimension. Levina Whetstone, stepdaughter of John Jones I*, was one of Cromwell’s nieces and the marriage took place at Whitehall on 7 February 1656 in the lord protector’s presence.40Peck, Desiderata Curiosa, ii. lib. XIII, 17.

Beke’s election to the 1656 Parliament owed everything to government influence. He had no connections at all with his constituency and at the time he was stationed in Cumberland.41Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 152. He was a prime example of an army officer with Cromwellian connections being parachuted in to a Scottish seat. Tracing Beke’s career in this and the following Parliament is difficult, as neither the Journal nor Thomas Burton* and John Gell* in their parliamentary diaries distinguish between him and the MP for Coventry, Robert Beake. It is likely that Beake was the more active and, as he had also attained the rank of major, it is possible that almost all the references to ‘Major Beake’ relate to him. He was certainly the ‘Major Beake, life guard’ listed as having voted in favour of offering the crown to Cromwell in the first article of the Humble Petition and Advice, on 25 March 1657.42Narrative of the Late Parliament (1658), 23 (E.935.5). The only other certain fact about Beke’s activity in the 1656 Parliament is that, as a teller, he sided with those who tried to block the passage of the bill for catechising (9 June 1657).43CJ vii. 551b. However, it is possible that this underestimates his role, for his nomination to the committee for the improvement of the revenues suggests that he was seen as a more substantial political figure.44A. and O. Again, his connections with the Cromwells would have helped. His wife, who had been born abroad, was included in the naturalization bill.45CJ vii. 435a; Lttrs. of Denization and Acts of Naturalization ed. W.A. Shaw (Huguenot Soc. xviii), 73. His epitaph, which noted the four subsequent Parliaments in which he sat, would omit any mention of his membership of this Parliament.46Beke, ‘Some particulars’, 163. In late May 1658, at the launch of the ship, the Richard, Beke was riding with the lord protector in the coach of Richard Cromwell* when the horses got out of control.47The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell ed. R. Vaughan (1839), ii. 468.

Beke continued supporting the protectorate in the months following Cromwell’s death. His wife’s death earlier that year did not loosen the connection with the Cromwells, as by the end of 1658 he was considering a match with Henry Cromwell’s sister-in-law, Sarah Russell, the widow of Sir John Russell*.48Clarke Pprs. iii. 141; Henry Cromwell Corresp. 519. Three days after the new Parliament was called, Beke was knighted by Richard Cromwell, one of only two men to receive that honour from the new lord protector during his brief period in power.49Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 224; Whitelocke, Diary, 502. Beke’s estates were located just outside Aylesbury, but, on this occasion, it was the electors of Amersham who selected him. His only confirmed appointment in this Parliament was to the committee created in April 1659 to consider whether to transact business with the Other House.50CJ vii. 627a.

Beke survived the reshuffle in military commands later that year following the creation of the committee of safety. The committee agreed on 15 July 1659 his appointment as captain in Philip Twisleton’s regiment in place of Edward Whalley*, and this was endorsed by the Commons four days later.51CSP Dom. 1659-60, pp. 31, 577; CJ vii. 724a; Wanklyn, Reconstructing the New Model Army, ii. 129. His troop was probably one of those disbanded four months later, however.52Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. i. 169. On 21 January 1660 the reassembled Rump decided not to include him on the Buckinghamshire assessment commission.53CJ vii. 818a. That he was then included on the assessment commission for Nairn was presumably an administrative oversight, with his name simply carried over from its predecessor.54A. and O.

Elected to the Convention in April 1660, Beke had few reasons to welcome the Restoration. He took the precaution of obtaining a pardon under the great seal from Charles II in January 1661 excusing him of any treasonable actions he might have committed before 1660.55PSO5/8, unfol.; Beke, ‘Some particulars’, 164-70. He nevertheless remained under suspicion throughout that reign and in 1685 he was briefly imprisoned in the Tower during the rebellion of the duke of Monmouth.56CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 209; 1663-4, p. 562; 1664-5, p. 484; Add. 1660-70, p. 281; 1683, p. 362; I.F.W. Beckett, ‘The evolution and decline of the Restoration militia in Bucks. 1660-1745’, Recs. of Bucks. xxvi. 35; The Entring Book of Roger Morrice 1677-1691 ed. M. Goldie (Woodbridge, 2007-9), iii. 24; B.A. Harrison, The 1991 Revision of the Condensed Summary of Prisoners of the Tower (1991), 151. His political career really only revived in the more favourable climate of William III’s reign.57HP Commons 1660-1690; HP Commons 1690-1715.