Studley, to his nephew 
Edward Bulstrode, Esq. to whom he forgives a debt of £50. The books 
excepted in his study at Waterstock, to his son Thomas. All his divinity 
books in English, except the three new books of Martyrs of the last edi- 
tion, and the English Bible in folio at Waterstock, to his wife, the book of 
Martyrs and Bible to his son, his wife to have the use for life, or widow- 
hood. To his son, all his Latin books, and books written in Latin, French, 
or any other language not before given. Legacies to his servants. To 
his nephew and godson, George Croke, son of his nephew Doctor Henry 
Croke, ,£100, for an annuity towards his maintenance and bringing up in 
learning. To his wife, one complete armour for a horseman, and two 
armours for two footmen. The residue of his armour to his son. Debts 
owing from his brother William to be released. His wife, his nephew 
Bulstrode Whitelocke, Thomas Hampsted, Alexander Croke, Esquires, 
and his good neighbour, William Tipping, to be his executors. His wife 
to have the sold administration, and the others to be coadjutors, and to have 
i 3 20 each. And whereas Lord Bayning, Viscount Sudbury, had ap- 
pointed him one of his executors, and he had not intermeddled in his 
affairs, though he had joined in the probate, and the other acting executor 
was dead, and the executorship was now come to him by survivorship, he 
appoints Lady Anne, widow of Lord Bayning the son, his executrix of 
the said estate. Signed George Croke. Christus mihi vita, mors 
mihi lucrum. Witnesses, Har. Grimston, Tho. Hampson, L. Hurst, 
Fran. Croke, Robert Newburgh, John Cammocke, Robert Dur- 
ham. 

His lady, Dame Mary Croke, survived him fifteen years, and dying on 

the first of December, 1657, was buried at Waterstock, under a flat stone 

in the chancel near her husband. She appointed Colonel Ingoldsby, and 

Giles Hungerford, Esquire, her executors, and bequeathed five pounds to 

4 h 2 



604 SIR GEORGE CROKE. book iv. 

the alms-house, to which she had given many benefactions in money 
during her life, and settled upon it a small close in Easington a . 
The inscription upon her tomb-stone is as follows: 

HERE LYETH THAT HONOURABLE LADY, DAME MARY, RELICT 
OF SIR GEORGE CROKE, KNIGHT, LATE ONE OF THE JUDGES OF THE 
KING'S BENCH, WHO FOR HER PIETIE, CHARITIE, AND OTHER EMI- 
NENT VIRTUES, WAS THE HONOR OF HER SEX WHILST SHE LIVED, 
AND SCARCE LEFT HER EQUAL WHEN SHE DIED. SHE DEPARTED 
THIS LIFE, DECEMBER THE 1st, l6j7- 

They had only one son, named Thomas, and three daughters, Mary, 
Frances, baptized the 25th of September, 1618\ and Elizabeth. 

Of the children of Sir George Croke, little is known of his only son 
Thomas, nor indeed of the exact time when he died. He appears to have 
been bred to the law, for he was a member of the Inner Temple, and was 
admitted on the 26th of April, 1619, into the chambers of his uncle, Paul 
Ambrose Croke, who was a Bencher of that society'. Mr. Wood says, 
that he was " a sot, or a fool, or both d ." But he quotes no authority for 
this assertion, and the legacy of his father, in his will, in which he leaves 
him " all his Latin and French books, or books in any other language, 
" with his Statute books, Abridgments of Statutes, such as concern the 
" office of a Justice of the Peace, and any others undisposed of," are a be- 
quest not very well adapted to such a character. But as Sir George in 
his will left the bulk of his law library to Sir Harbottle Grimston, it 
should seem that at that time he had laid aside the study of the law, and 
had chosen the life of a country gentleman. This will was made Dec. 2d, 

1640, and it there appears to have been settled, that after his decease, his 
son was to live at Studley, and his lady to continue at Waterstock, as he 
devises to him part of his plate, the household goods at Studley, and =£200 
for better furnishing that house. Thomas was living on the 21st of June, 

1641, a few months only before his father's death. Whether he survived 
him or not is uncertain. At that time in the conversation with his nephew 

* The old alms-house accounts, sub anno 1647, &c. penes me. h Waterstock 

Register. c Ward's MS. Inner Temple Register, vol. ii. fol. 125. '' Life of A. Wood, 
p. 581. 



ch. vi. sec. i. SIR GEORGE CROKE. 60.5 

Alexander, he spoke of his succeeding to the Studley estate, after the 
death of his son Thomas, as if it were a probable event; perhaps from the 
state of his son's health. There is no proof that his son ever inherited 
any part of his property, as Waterstock went to his daughters, and Stud- 
ley to his nephew Alexander. Thomas was married, and his wife's name 
was Anne, as appears from Sir George's will in 1639. 

Of Sir George Croke's daughters, Mar//, the eldest, married Sir Har- 
bottle Grimston, Baronet: Elizabeth, the second, had two husbands ; the 
first was Thomas Lee, Esquire, of Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire; and 
her second husband was Sir Richard Ingoldsbij, Knight of the Bath : 
Frances, the third, married Richard Jervois, Esquire. 

After just premising, that Stephen Moore, ancestor of the Baron Kil- 
worth, Viscount Mountcashell, of the kingdom of Ireland, married the 
granddaughter of Sir George Croke, I have not discovered by which of 
his children*, I shall proceed to give some account of his sons-in-law. 

e Debrett's Peerage, Ireland, p. 734. 



606 SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 



SECTION THE SECOND. 

SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON, who married Mary, the eldest 
daughter of Sir George Croke, was one of the most respectable characters 
of that eventful aera. He was descended from an ancient family, and was 
born at Bradfield Hall, near Maningtree, in Essex, about the year 1594. 
He was the second son of Sir Harbottle Grimston, Baronet, who was the 
representative for that county, and was one of those who were imprisoned 
for a long time for refusing to pay the loan money. He was educated for 
the law, and was a member of Lincoln's Inn, but. upon the death of his 
elder brother, he abandoned his profession. Falling in love with Sir 
George Croke's daughter, her father would not bestow her upon him 
unless he would return to his studies ; which he did with great success, 
and became eminent as an advocate". In 1638, he was appointed Re- 
corder of Colchester ; and at the meeting of the Long Parliament, in 1640, 
he was chosen one of the representatives for that place. 

In his political conduct, though no enemy to the monarchy, he warmly 
opposed the illegal oppressions of the Crown, and was a zealous defender of 
liberty and the laws. His learning and talents were considerable, and his 
eloquence powerful. Upon every important question, his conduct was ani- 
mated, his language vehement, and he inveighed against those, whom he con- 
sidered as the enemies to his country, with unsparing severity b . Upon all 
measures in opposition to the King, and in the most important committees 
of that memorable parliament, for the redress of grievances, and for 
bringing obnoxious ministers to justice, he was always an active member. 
He was one of the first who proposed calling to account those who had 
been concerned in levying ship-money. In 1641, he was of the committee 

J Burnet, Hist, of his Own Times. " Upon one occasion he called Secretary Winde- 

banck, the very pander and broker to the Whore of Babylon. Rush. v. 122. Hume, vi. 
411. 



ch. vi. sec. ii. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 607 

to prepare the charge against the Earl of Strafford; and, in 1642, upon 
that for vindicating the privileges of Parliament, upon the King's going 
down to the House to demand the five members. In the same year, when 
the Parliament had passed the ordinance of the Militia, he accepted a com- 
mission as one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the county of Essex c . 
Soon after the King had erected his standard at Nottingham, Sir Thomas 
Barrington and Grimston seized upon Sir John Lucas and his Lady in 
Essex, and committed them to prison ; and Lucas was proclaimed a traitor 
for assisting the King d . He was one of the Commissioners named by the 
Commons, in 1647, to go down with a congratulatory declaration to the 
army, and of another for disbanding part of the army e . During the 
memorable siege of Colchester by the Parliament army, the King's troops 
took possession of Sir Harbottle's house at Bradfield Hall, where they 
placed two hundred musqueteers, and two troops of horse. This party 
plundered and ruined the house, took away and destroyed all the furniture, 
and turned out his lady f . In 1647, he was one of the Committee of 
Appeals from the Visitors appointed to reform the University of Oxfords. 

But during this time he was far from going all lengths with the Parlia- 
ment. In 1643, he refused to subscribe the solemn League and Covenant, 
and discontinued sitting in the House till it was laid aside h . In September, 
1648, he was appointed one of the Commissioners of the Parliament to 
treat with the King in the Isle of Wight, and was extremely desirous of a 
compromise between him and the Parliament. He, and Hollis, on their 
knees, begged the King to dispatch the business with all possible haste, 
before the army, then in the north, could interfere ; and they assured his 
Majesty, that " if he would frankly come forward, and send them back 
" with the concessions that were necessary, they did not doubt but that he 
" would in a very few days be brought up with honor, freedom, and 
" safety, to the Parliament, and matters brought to a present settlement."'' 
But the King unfortunately could come to no resolution, and the treaty 
failed. The King however was well pleased with Sir Harbottle's conduct, 
who, upon his return to Parliament, pressed the acceptance of the King's 
concessions 1 . 

When the King was brought to his trial, the persons in power had such 

' U'hitelock, p. 56. d ibid. 59. c Ibid. ^S^. f Ibid. 308, 9, 10. s Wood's 

History, by Gutch. ; ' Burnet. ' liurnet's HisL of his Own Times, vol. i. p. 44. Ed. folio. 



60S SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. book iv. 

apprehensions of Sir Harbottle's duty to his Majesty, and his interest with 
the army and people, that they put him under confinement, and did not 
release him till after the King's death. An order for his discharge was 
signed by Fairfax, on the 30th of January, which states that he had en- 
gaged himself not to act, or to do any thing to the disservice of the Parlia- 
ment or army k . He afterwards resigned the Recordership of Colchester, 
on the 6th of July, 1649, and went abroad for some time with his son for 
his education 1 . 

A man of Grimston's sound principles was not likely to be a friend to 
Cromwell, and he joined in a strong opposition to him and the Indepen- 
dents. During the disputes which began to take place between the Par- 
liament and the army, at a meeting of the officers, it was proposed, " to 
" purge the army." Upon which Cromwell said, " he was sure of the 
" army; but there was another body that had more need of purging, 
" name///, the House of Commons, and he thought the army only could do 
" that." Grimston reported these speeches of Cromwell to the House of 
Commons, and introduced the business by a speech, in which he stated, 
that " he had a matter of privilege of the highest sort to lay before them, 
" which concerned the very being and freedom of the House." He then 
charged Cromwell with the design of putting force upon the House, and 
proved the words which he had used by witnesses. Cromwell fell down 
upon his knees, and made a solemn prayer to God, attesting his innocence, 
and his known zeal for the Parliament, and submitted himself to the pro- 
vidence of God for his protection. This prayer was uttered with great 
vehemence, and was accompanied with many tears ; and he so confused 
and wearied out the members by a very long speech, in which he endea- 
voured to persuade them that the witnesses were not to be believed, that 
nothing farther was done in it™. But he soon afterwards proved the truth 
of the charge, by his forcible dissolution of the Parliament. 

When Cromwell summoned a Parliament in 16j6, according to his new 
model of representation, Grimston was elected as one of the sixteen mem- 
bers for the county of Essex. He was not however permitted to sit in the 
House, being in the number of those who were rejected by the council, for 

" Archdall's Peerage of Ireland, in seven vols. 8vo. 1789- vol. v. p. JJ)3. ' Biog. 

Brit, note F. "' Burnet. 



ch. vi. sec. ii. SIR HARBOTTLE GRIMSTON. 609 

refusing to recognize the Protector's government, or for being otherwise 
obnoxious to him. Upon which he joined in the strong and severe remon- 
strance which was published by the excluded members, against the 
oppression and tyranny of Cromwell, and by which they protested 
against the present assembly as not being the representative body of 
England. But this remonstrance was not attended to by the Protector, 
his Council, or the Parliament". After being thus excluded from the 
House of Commons, he was principally employed in following the 
practice of the law. As he was known to be a well wisher to the ancient 
government of England, he united himself with those who prepared the 
way for the King's restoration. In February 1660, he was appointed one 
of the Council of State, in which the princ