Slingsby Bethel was a Member of Parliament with republican sympathies, during the period of the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Early life

Slingsby Bethel was the third son of Sir Walter Bethel of Alne, North Yorkshire

Alne, North Yorkshire

Alne is a village and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England, about twelve miles north-west of York and four miles from Easingwold. The parish has a population of 711 ....

, who married Mary, the second daughter of Sir Henry Slingsby of Scriven, near Knaresborough

Knaresborough

Knaresborough is an old and historic market town, spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located on the River Nidd, four miles east of the centre of Harrogate.-History:...

, and was baptised at Alne 27 Feb. 1617. Being a younger son, he was placed in business, and went to Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 in 1637, staying there until December 1649.

Civil war period

He was strongly opposed to the cause of the cavalier

Cavalier

Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...

s, but did not approve of the conduct of the Protector

Lord Protector

Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

, nor did he, as member for Knaresborough

Knaresborough (UK Parliament constituency)

Knaresborough was a parliamentary constituency which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1868, and then one MP until its abolition in 1885.-Before the Great Reform Act:...

 in the parliament of 1659, support Richard Cromwell

Richard Cromwell

At the same time, the officers of the New Model Army became increasingly wary about the government's commitment to the military cause. The fact that Richard Cromwell lacked military credentials grated with men who had fought on the battlefields of the English Civil War to secure their nation's...

's adherents in their efforts to procure his succession as protector with unlimited powers of action. In the new council of state appointed to hold office from 1 Jan. 1660, he was the last of the ten non-parliamentary members. When the estates of his uncle, Sir Henry Slingsby

Sir Henry Slingsby, 1st Baronet

Sir Henry Slingsby was a Yorkshire landowner and Member of Parliament who was executed for his adherence to the Royalist cause during the English Civil War....

, the unfortunate cavalier who suffered for his devotion to the royal cause, were sequestered, they were bought in for his family by Mr. Stapylton and Slingsby Bethel; the letters which passed between them on this matter are printed in the Diary of Sir Henry Slingsby (1836), pp. 344–54, 411.

After the Restoration

Through success in trade and through his family descent, he acquired considerable property in the East Riding of Yorkshire

East Riding of Yorkshire

The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Yorkshire, is a local government district with unitary authority status, and a ceremonial county of England. For ceremonial purposes the county also includes the city of Kingston upon Hull, which is a separate unitary authority...

, and for many years after the Restoration he passed a retired life in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, living on his means, and taking no active part in opposition to a government which he distrusted. But on 24 June 1680 Bethel, who was a member of the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers

Worshipful Company of Leathersellers

The Worshipful Company of Leathersellers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation originated in the latter part of the fourteenth century and received a Royal Charter in 1444...

 (elected Master for 1692-93), and Henry Cornish

Henry Cornish

Henry Cornish was a London alderman, executed in the reign of James II of England.-Life:He was a well-to-do merchant of London, and alderman of the ward of St. Michael Bassishaw; in the London Directory for 1677 he is described as a factor residing in 'Cateaton Street, near Blackwelhall Gate.' He...

, were chosen sheriffs of London and Middlesex, though they were unable to serve in consequence of their not having taken the oaths commanded by the Corporation Act

Corporation Act 1661

The Corporation Act of 1661 is an Act of the Parliament of England . It belongs to the general category of test acts, designed for the express purpose of restricting public offices in England to members of the Church of England....

. The country was divided into two parties through religious and political differences; Bethel and his colleague being the candidates of the whig and popular party in the city. Roger North, the tory historian, in his Examen, p. 93, says of them that 'the former used to walk about more like a corncutter than sheriff of London. He kept no house, but lived upon chops, whence it is proverbial for not feasting "to Bethel the city"'; and Dryden

John Dryden

John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...

, in the first part of his Absalom and Achitophel threw at Bethel, under the name of Shimei, all the slanders of his opponents.

By Burnet

Gilbert Burnet

Gilbert Burnet was a Scottish theologian and historian, and Bishop of Salisbury. He was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Burnet was respected as a cleric, a preacher, and an academic, as well as a writer and historian...

 the whig historian Bethel was styled 'a known republican in principle' and 'a sullen and wilful man,' and he adds that the selection of these candidates gave some plausibility to the rumour that the king would not have justice done him against his enemies, as Bethel 'had expressed his approving the late king's death in very indecent terms', whilst their taking the sacrament, though they were independents, to qualify themselves for the office, damaged the anti-court party (History of own Times (1823 ed.), ii. 241-43). This last remark of Burnet refers to the fact that before the date of the second election Bethel and Cornish had duly qualified, and that thereupon they were elected by a large majority over the court candidates.

On their retirement in 1681 they were thanked by the grand jury for the city, but Bethel was defeated on 5 September in his candidature for the aldermanship of Bishopsgate ward. The sheriffs were accused, with Sir Robert Clayton

Robert Clayton

Sir Robert Clayton was a British merchant banker, politician and Lord Mayor of London.Robert Clayton was born in Northamptonshire, England. He became an apprentice to his uncle, a London scrivener, where he met a fellow apprentice, Alderman John Morris...

 and others, of having visited Edward Fitzharris

Edward Fitzharris

Edward Fitzharris was an Anglo-Irish conspirator. His prosecution at the time of the Popish Plot hoax became a struggle for jurisdiction involving the courts and the two Houses of Parliament.-Life:...

 in Newgate

Newgate Prison

Newgate Prison was a prison in London, at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey just inside the City of London. It was originally located at the site of a gate in the Roman London Wall. The gate/prison was rebuilt in the 12th century, and demolished in 1777...

 with a message from Lord Howard that nothing would save his life but a discovery of the popish plot ; but the accusation was promptly denied in a pamphlet called Truth vindicated, 1681, which is reprinted in the State Trials, viii. 411-25. Several pamphlets were published on the conduct of the sheriffs in taking the sacrament, and on Bethel's attempt to be returned for Southwark

Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)

Southwark was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English Parliament from 1295 to 1707, to the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 at the election of February 1681. A folio tract published in his interest at this election, entitled The Vindication of Slingsby Bethel (1681), gave an emphatic denial to the assertion of his antagonists that he was a papist, a Jesuit, a cruel soldier in the parliamentary army, a judge of the late king, and an assistant at the scaffold when King Charles

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 was executed. He was defeated at the poll for the borough of Southwark, and in the following October was fined five marks for assaulting a watchman at the election day, the fact being that he had removed two men who were preventing his electors from tendering their votes (The Trial of Slinqsby Bethel (1681), and State Trials, viii. 747-58). In the same month of October 1681, Bethel showed his liberality by a gift of several hundred pounds for the relief of poor prisoners for debt.

In July 1682 he thought it prudent to retire to Hamburg, and there he remained until February 1689. Whilst absent he was found guilty and heavily fined, with several others (8 May 1683), for an assault on the preceding midsummer day at the election of sheriffs, a proceeding which was generally condemned. After the accession of William and Mary

William and Mary

The phrase William and Mary usually refers to the coregency over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, of King William III & II and Queen Mary II...

 the convicted persons presented a petition to the king, praying him to except out of his act of grace all those who were concerned in this prosecution (The humble Petition of Sir Thomas Pilkinyton, Slingsby Bethel, &c.) Bethel died early in February 1697. In Foster's Yorkshire Pedigrees (vol. ii.) he is said to have married Mary Burrell of Huntingdon

Huntingdon

Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...

; but if this statement be correct, he was a widower in 1681.

Works

Bethel was the author of several works. In 1659 he published A true and impartial Narrative of the most material Debates and Passages in the late Parliament reprinted in the Somers Tracts (1748), iv. 524-33, in vol. vi. of the 1809 edition of the same work, and again as an appendix to his anonymous tract, The Interest of Princes and States, 1680. Most of the discourses in the last-mentioned volume were written many years previously, when the author was on his travels. They advocated freedom of trade and liberty of conscience. The World's Mistake in Oliver Cromwell (anon.), 1668, contained a severe censure of Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

's foreign policy, and of his conduct towards Lilburne

John Lilburne

John Lilburne , also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after English Civil Wars 1642-1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law...

 and Sir Henry Vane

Henry Vane the Younger

Sir Henry Vane , son of Henry Vane the Elder , was an English politician, statesman, and colonial governor...

. Another of Bethel's anonymous pamphlets, Observations on the Letter written to Sir Thomas Osborn, 1673, by the Duke of Buckingham

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG, PC, FRS was an English statesman and poet.- Upbringing and education :...

, advocated the support of Holland against France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The last of his works, The Providence of God observed through several ages towards this Nation (anon.), 1691, republished in 1694 and 1697, dealt mainly with the proceedings under the Stuarts for the establishment of arbitrary power.

External links

• The trial of Slingsby Bethel, in A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason... by Thomas Bayly Howell, William Cobbett, from Google Book Search.