Andrew Broughton (1602/03–1687) was Clerk of the Court at the High Court of Justice for the trial King

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

Biography

There are not many records of his early life. He was probably born in Seaton,

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

as the younger son of Richard Broughton (d. 1635). By 1627 Broughton was living in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and in 1639 he was appointed clerk of the peace for the county of Kent by the

Earl of Pembroke Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its origin ...

who was at that time

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

. He lost this position under the machinations surrounding the start of the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

, specifically his involvement in the impeachment of

Earl of Strafford Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history. The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the 1st Viscount Wentworth, the clo ...

and the imprisonment of

Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, member of parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pal ...

for protesting against the

Grand Remonstrance The Grand Remonstrance was a list of grievances presented to King Charles I of England by the English Parliament on 1 December 1641, but passed by the House of Commons on 22 November 1641, during the Long Parliament. It was one of the chief even ...

. cites: *G. J. Armytage, ed., ''The visitation of the county of Rutland in the year 1618–19'', Harleian Society, 3 (1870), 28–9 *will, TNA: PRO, PROB 11/168, fols. 39v–40r ichard Broughton*will, TNA: PRO, PROB 11/239, fols. 32r–33r ohn Broughton*J. Cave-Browne, ed., ''The marriage registers of the parish church of All Saints, Maidstone'' (1901), 50 *W. Newton, ''The history and antiquities of Maidstone'' (1741), 135–6 *J. M. Russell, ''The history of Maidstone'' (1881), 192–5, 354 *K. S. Martin, ed., ''Records of Maidstone'' (1926), 98, 102, 113, 116, 119, 120 *E. Stephens, ''The clerks of the counties'', 1360–1960 (1961), 109 *J. G. Muddiman, ''The trial of King Charles the First'' (1928) *CSP dom., 1649–50, 315; 1653–4, 45, 47–8, 53, 94, 122, 145, 161, 199, 225; 1672, 78, 199 *State trials, 4.1292 *F. A. Inderwick and R. A. Roberts, eds., ''A calendar of the Inner Temple records'', 2 (1898), cix, 292, 299, 306 * A. Woolrych, ''Commonwealth to Protectorate'' (1982), 160, 221–3, 412–13 *''Diary of Thomas Burton'', ed. John Towill Rutt, 4 vols. (1828), vol. 4, pp. 144, 292, 325–6, 330 and n. *''The memoirs of Edmund Ludlow'', ed. C. H. Firth, 2 vols. (1894), vol. 1, pp. 214, 215, 218; vol. 2, pp. 276, 343, 344, 347, 357, 513 *J. H. Dixon, ‘The regicides’, N&Q, 5th ser., 6 (1876), 13 "Broughton was a member of the Kent county committee from 1643. He acted as attorney on behalf of the corporation of Maidstone during the First English Civil War. In November 1648 he was elected Mayor of the town. Two months later he was appointed Clerk of the Court at the High Court of Justice for the trial of King

. As Clerk of the Court, it was Broughton who read out the charge against the king and required him to plead, and at the end of the trial declared the court's sentence of death. During the

English Interregnum The Interregnum was the period between the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649 and the arrival of his son Charles II of England, Charles II in London on 29 May 1660, which marked the start of the Stuart Restoration, Restoration. During the ...

he served as a member of the

Barebones Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the inst ...

, on the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

between 14 July 1653 and November 1653, and in the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

in which "Towards

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

himself he was positively insulting" (Woolrych, 222). At the Restoration Broughton, was exempted from the general pardon under the

Indemnity and Oblivion Act The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 ( 12 Cha. 2. c. 11) was an act of the Parliament of England, the long title of which is "An Act of Free and Generall Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion". This act was a general pardon for everyone who had com ...

, and was likely to lose his life—The other clerk at the trial, John Phelps was also exempted but only for "penalties not extending to Life"—so Broughton and Phelps fled, reports in 1662 placed them in Hamburg, but later that year Broughton arrived in Lausanne in Switzerland where several other regicides were residing. In 1664 he travelled to Bern with

Edmund Ludlow Edmund Ludlow (c. 1617–1692) was an English parliamentarian, best known for his involvement in the execution of Charles I, and for his ''Memoirs'', which were published posthumously in a rewritten form and which have become a major source ...

and Nicholas Love, to thank the senate of Bern for their offer of sanctuary. Broughton remained in exile for 25 years dying peacefully in

Vevey Vevey (; ; ) is a town in Switzerland in the Vaud, canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Leman, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the Vevey (district), district of the same name until 200 ...

, where he was buried in the church of St Martin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broughton, Andrew 1600s births 1687 deaths Regicides of Charles I Clerks