BEDELL, Sir Capell, 1st bt. (1602-43), of Hamerton, Hunts.

The earliest references to the Bedell family place them at Wollaston in Northamptonshire in the early fifteenth century. Following its acquisition by them in 1565, the manor of Hamerton in Huntingdonshire had served as their principal seat, with this MP being the fifth generation of the family to live there.17Vis. Hunts. 1613, 38-9; VCH Hunts. iii. 67. When Bedell married in 1619, he was described as ‘a young gentleman of good parts and means without father, mother, brother or sister’.18Letters of John Chamberlain, ed. McClure, ii. 249-50. An only child, his father had died when he was aged 11, and his upbringing had occasioned a lengthy dispute between Sir Richard Chetwood (who tried to abduct him) and his grandfather, Sir Arthur Capell. He was probably brought up in the Capell household at Little Hadham after the dispute was settled in Sir Arthur’s favour.19PROB11/122/95; CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 508; Cotton Julius C III, ff. 102-3; APC 1616-17, p. 306; VCH Herts. Fams. 91. The grant of his baronetcy in 1622 no doubt marked Bedell’s coming of age.20CB. In 1631 he would attempt to avoid paying his knighthood fine by arguing that he had owned less than £40 a year in land in 1622.21Bodl. Carte 74, ff. 174-175, 191, 194; Procs. of the Soc. of Antiquaries, 2nd ser. i, pp. 295, 296. That may well have been true, but, once he gained full control of the family estates, he ranked among the leading gentlemen of his county.

Huntingdonshire was a small county with a corresponding limit to the number of powerful gentry families within its borders, and during the 1620s and 1630s Bedell inevitably played his part as one of the tight-knit group of local gentlemen who ran the county’s affairs. He was admitted to the major local offices, such as the commission of the peace and the deputy lieutenancy, at just about the earliest age he could have been. In the case of his service as a justice of the peace, there is enough evidence to think that he performed the duties assiduously.22Add. Ch. 33169; Add. 34400, ff. 8v, 149, 153, 161, 173, 190, 251; Add. 34401, f. 229; CSP Dom. 1631-3, p. 30. His election for Hertford in 1626 through the interest of his in-laws, the Fanshawes, was followed two years later by his election as one of the knights of the shire for Huntingdonshire, another mark of his standing within the county.23HP Commons 1640-1660. He served his turn as sheriff in 1632.24List of Sheriffs, 14; Coventry Docquets, 364. The privy council relied on him in 1637 to investigate claims that the curate at Easton had preached against the Forced Loan and Ship Money.25CSP Dom. 1637, pp. 52, 106, 150, 165-6, 208-9. Much of Bedell’s life can thus be summed up as an unremarkable career of service as a magistrate within his local community.

His final years were overshadowed by serious financial problems. These were, in part, due to his association with Lord St John (Oliver St John†), the son and heir of the 1st earl of Bolingbroke. It is known that Bedell stood surety for St John for £500 in about 1636 for the repayment of a loan of £250, but that may well have been only one transaction among many involving the two of them. St John defaulted on the deal and Bedell became liable to his creditors.26Privy Co. Reg. x. 496; xi. 745; CSP Dom. 1640, p. 177; 1640-1, p. 95. Bedell’s appointment as a gentleman of the privy chamber in extraordinary in early 1639 looks suspiciously like an attempt to gain the legal immunities conferred by court office.27LC5/134, p. 307. However, the disadvantages of the appointment soon became obvious, because he was thereby required to accompany the king on campaign against the Scottish rebels later that year.28The Portraiture of the Mighty Monarch Charles (1639).

On 29 February 1640 Bedell was again elected as one of the MPs for Huntingdonshire. As in the two previous Parliaments in which he had sat, he made little obvious impact, being named to only two committees: those for privileges (16 Apr.) and on the Bramber election dispute (2 May).29CJ ii. 4a, 18b. It cannot be ruled out that the real attraction for Bedell of a seat in this Parliament was that it gave him further protection against St John’s creditors. He was certainly well aware that the ending of the Parliament after only three weeks renewed his difficulties. Twelve days later, the king informed the privy council that Bedell had applied for special immunity to last for one year in order to negotiate with Bolingbroke for the payment of St John’s debts. The council compromised, agreeing to a six-months immunity.30Privy Co. Reg. x. 496; CSP Dom.1640, p. 177. This was waived only four months later as Bedell had still not made any attempt to pay off the debts.31Privy Co. Reg. xi. 745; CSP Dom. 1640-1, p. 95. A subsequent attempt by the creditors (including Sir Harbottle Grimston* and Sir Sidney Montagu*) to persuade the Long Parliament to take action against St John and his sureties put further pressure on Bedell.32Herts. RO, VIII.B.152.

Bedell took the Protestation at Hamerton in February 1642.33G. Proby, ‘The Protestation returns for Hunts.’, Trans. Cambs. and Hunts. Arch. Soc. v. 324. However, almost immediately he sided with the king. In March he was with Charles when he travelled through Huntingdonshire and he may have accompanied him on to York.34Museum of London, Tangye MS 46.78/675. On 18 August the Commons declared him to be a delinquent for assisting in the attempted removal of the plate of the Cambridge colleges to the king.35CJ ii 726a. He ignored their summons and instead joined the court at Oxford. It was there that he died late the following year. It seems likely that in the meantime he had served in the king’s army and it cannot be ruled out that he died as a result of military action. His body was removed from Oxford on 5 December 1643 for burial at Hamerton nine days later.36Dugdale, Life, Diary, and Corresp. 56; CB. Because he had still not paid off his debts, administration of the estates had to be granted to one of his creditors, Henry Sherman.37PROB6/21, f. 45v. The lands at Hamerton eventually passed equally to his two daughters, Elizabeth, wife of Sir Francis Compton†, and Mary, wife of Sir Thomas Leventhorpe. Compton bought out Leventhorpe’s share and, after the death of his wife, gained full control of the estates.38VCH Hunts. iii. 67. It was at that point that Bedell’s widow, who seems not to have got on with Compton, moved out of the house at Hamerton and went to live with her brother-in-law, (Sir) Philip Warwick*.39Mems. of Anne, Lady Halkett and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, ed. Loftis, 190. Sir Capell was the only member of the Bedell family ever to sit in Parliament.