TWISDEN, Thomas (1602-83), of Bradbourne, East Malling, Kent, the Inner Temple, and Serjeants Inn, London.

The younger son of a leading member of the Kent gentry, who would receive a mere £100 from his father’s estate, Twisden rose to become one of the country’s leading lawyers.51PROB11/155/94; Cent. Kent. Stud. U1832/2/T24. Twisden – who consistently spelt his name differently to other members of his family – was educated at St Paul’s School, London, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was admitted in 1617 to the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1626. In the years before the civil wars, Twisden evidently built up his legal practice, and played little recorded part in public life.52LMA, ACC/0312/223. Nevertheless, in December 1635 he was named to a commission to enquire into the management of Chatham Chest, and it is possible that this appointment reflected the patronage of the 4th earl of Dorset (Sir Edward Sackville†).53CSP Dom. 1635, p. 543. Dorset certainly consented to grant Twisden the keepership of Grafton and Potterspury Parks in Northamptonshire in 1637.54Cent. Kent. Stud. U269/O7; CSP Dom. 1636-7, p. 409. Evidence relating to Twisden’s political views, however, is minimal, although he was prepared to join other lawyers at the Inner Temple who made contributions to the first bishops’ war in March 1639.55CSP Dom. 1625-49, p. 605.

Twisden was retained as counsel for the Cinque Ports in July 1639, and this may have provided him with the connections to support his candidacy at Winchelsea in the elections for the Short Parliament, although his name is not recorded in the papers of the corporation.56E. Kent RO, Do/AAm1, f. 243; Twisden, Fam. of Twysden, 342. Plausibly, he was also the ‘Thomas Twysden’ who was the unsuccessful duchy of Cornwall nominee at Camelford.57DCO, ‘letters and warrants, 1639-43’, f. 44v. Thereafter, he supported the parliamentarian cause, albeit without assuming a role in county affairs or national politics before the end of the first civil war. There is little evidence that he shared the political zeal, let alone radicalism, of his brother-in-law, the future regicide, Matthew Thomlinson*. Although Twisden is known to have contributed financially to Parliament – having been assessed at £100 for his fifth and twentieth parts in November 1643 – his only known activity during this period was as a lawyer.58CCAM 303. He was appointed recorder, town clerk and steward of Maidstone in February 1642, and from August 1644 he also served as retained counsel for another Kent borough, Tenderden.59Cent. Kent. Stud. Md/ACm1/2, f. 195; Te/S2, p. 38; Recs. Maidstone, 112. By November 1646 he had been elevated to the bench at the Inner Temple.60CITR ii. 273. The only mention of him in the official parliamentary records was his summons to attend at Westminster on Maidstone business in September 1643, and his petition to the Lords in relation to a legal dispute with William Grey, 1st Baron Grey of Wark in October 1645.61CJ iii. 258a; HMC 6th Rep. 79; LJ vii. 626.

Twisden’s growing stature within the legal community made him an obvious choice in November 1646 as recruiter MP for the borough to which he was most closely attached, although he did not become an active participant in proceedings at Westminster. Twice granted leave of absence from the House in the early months of his parliamentary career, Twisden was named to just one committee in his first six months, to consider measures for bringing delinquents to trial (25 Jan. 1647), and did not take the covenant until late February 1647.62CJ iv. 736a; v. 61b, 95b, 97a. Although he subsequently played a central role in a scandal concerning the forging of the clerk’s hand on a supposed act of Parliament, in May 1647, there is no indication that he himself was suspected, even though the papers were found be in his possession.63CJ v. 177a, 180a. Although his legal expertise ensured that he was named to committees regarding the indemnity ordinance in June 1647, he may have remained preoccupied with his own legal career.64CJ v. 198b, 199a. He served as counsel for one John Poyntz in May 1647, as well as for those lobbying on behalf of the Cinque Ports in the same year.65HMC 6th Rep. 177; E. Kent RO, CP/Bp/85.

In fact, Twisden made no real impression on proceedings until the tense debates on negotiations with the king in January 1648, when he was a teller in the crucial divisions over the motion to make ‘no further addresses’ to Charles, in an unsuccessful attempt to ensure the continued search for a negotiated settlement (3 Jan.).66CJ v. 415b. Thereafter, however, Twisden quickly resumed his largely anonymous position in the House, and after being named to the committee for grievances (4 Jan.) and the committee to consider petitions regarding church repairs (10 Jan.), his name is absent from the Journal until the weeks before Pride’s Purge in December.67CJ v. 417a, 425a. His nomination to the committee to consider the king’s concessions on 27 October probably reflected his support for negotiations, and ensured that, shortly after being named to the committee to consider the cases of notorious royalists like Henry Rich†, 1st earl of Holland, George Goring†, 1st earl of Norwich and Lord Capell (Arthur Capell*), he was secluded by the army in early December.68CJ vi. 62b, 77b; A List of the Imprisoned and Secluded Members (1648, 669.f.13.62).

Twisden’s opposition to the republic prompted a retreat from public life. His failure to fulfil his obligations to Maidstone eventually led to his being forced to resign his civic offices in April 1650.69Cent. Kent. Stud. Md/ACn1/3, f. 29; Recs. Maidstone, 121. He may also have placed his legal skills at the disposal of prominent opponents of the regime. In April 1651, for example, he acted as one of the counsel to George Brydges, 6th Baron Chandos, a former royalist commander who was charged with treason for corresponding with Charles Stuart.70CSP Dom. 1651, p. 150. However, this may equally have reflected the fact that Twisden had now assumed a position of some eminence within his profession, and upon the establishment of the protectorate, this was given recognition by the Cromwellian regime, with his appointment as one of the serjeants-at-law in February 1654.71TSP i. 603-4, 750; Noble, Mems. of House of Cromwell, i. 435, 438.

This close relationship between Twisden and the government lasted little more than a year, however, thanks to his involvement in one of the most important legal cases of the period. In May 1655, Twisden acted as counsel for George Cony, and he sought to demonstrate not merely that there was no legal basis for the collection of customs after the dissolution of the Rump, but also that since the abolition of star chamber, subjects ought only to be imprisoned following due legal process, and trial by jury. This outburst clearly surprised the attorney general (Edmund Prideaux I*), and on 18 May, having been summoned to attend the protector’s council, Twisden was committed to the Tower, for using words tending to sedition, and the subversion of the government.72CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 167-8; Clarke Pprs. iii. 40; HMC 5th Rep. 171, 180. Twisden quickly issued a petition pleading for his release, professing regret for his comments at Cony’s trial, and his innocence of seeking to provoke sedition and discontent.73CSP Dom. 1655, pp. 179, 196. The date of his release is unknown, but he was certainly at liberty before June 1656, and during the remainder of the 1650s he pursued his legal career in less high-profile way.74Cent. Kent. Stud. Te/ZB2/9; Te/ZB6/2; Te/ZB2/10/1-2; LI Black Bks. ii. 413.

After the fall of the protectorate, and the readmission of the secluded members in February 1660, however, Twisden returned to Westminster, and played a more active part in proceedings. His most important activity was as a member of committees preparing for the Convention Parliament, not least in terms of the form of writs and the position of the House of Lords.75CJ vii. 855a, 868b, 872b, 875a. But he was also involved in other matters requiring legal expertise, such as the possible revival of the jurisdictions of the counties palatine, and the preparation of legislation, as well as in considering the enforcement of laws against Catholics, and in overseeing the printing of legislation.76CJ vii. 860b, 866a, 867a, 878a. When elections were held in the Spring of 1660, Twisden was returned once again for Maidstone.

Twisden’s professional eminence, and his allegiance to the Stuart dynasty, were recognised soon after the Restoration, with his confirmation as a serjeant-at-law and his nomination as a king’s serjeant, and as one of the justices of king’s bench.77Baker, Serjeants at Law, 190, 192; Whitelocke, Diary, 608; CCSP iii. supp. xxxii-xxxiii. Thereafter, he was able to abandon his work as a provincial lawyer, in favour of high profile legal cases.78Cent. Kent. Stud. Te/S2, p. 170; Recs. Maidstone, 145; HMC 9th Rep. ii. 5. He was one of the judges who presided at the trials of the regicides in October 1660, as well as at the 1662 prosecution of Sir Henry Vane II*.79State Trials, v. 986; vi. 155. In March 1664 he oversaw the prosecution of George Fox at the Lancashire assizes.80CSP Dom. 1663-4, p. 523. Furthermore, although his position as a judge ensured his withdrawal from the Commons, his legal duties were intimately involved with parliamentary proceedings.81HMC 8th Rep. i. 116, 127, 128, 138, 141. In 1665 he was rumoured to be in the frame for nomination as lord chief justice, and in the following year he not only received a baronetcy, but also served as one of London’s fire judges, service which resulted in his portrait being commissioned by the civic authorities.82HMC Hastings, ii. 153; The Fire Court, ed. P.E. Jones (2 vols. 1966-70), i. 17-37, ii. 6-15; Twisden, Fam. of Twysden, 362-3.

Twisden retired as judge in 1678, when he was granted a pension, but his reputation survived through the circulation of manuscript copies of his legal reports.83C66/3203; HMC 7th Rep. 471; Add. 10619. Having prepared his will in 1675, in which he remembered his kinsman, Matthew Thomlinson, Twisden died in January 1683, when he was buried in the family vault in East Malling granted to him by Gilbert Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1664. Five sons each received £1,000, while two of his daughters each received £2,000.84PROB11/373/173; Cent. Kent. Stud. U49/F8. The heir to the baronetcy, Sir Roger Twisden†, represented Rochester in 1689.85HP Commons 1660-1690.