The Putney Debates, which took place from 28 October to 8 November 1647, were a series of discussions over the political settlement that should follow

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

's victory over Charles I in the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

. The main participants were senior officers of the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

who favoured retaining Charles within the framework of a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

, and radicals such as the

Levellers The Levellers were a political movement active during the English Civil War who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance. The hallmark of Leveller thought was its populism, as sh ...

who sought more sweeping changes, including

one man, one vote "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...

and freedom of conscience, particularly in religion. Alarmed by what they viewed as the dangerous radicalism and increasing power of the New Model Army, in March 1647 the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

moderates who dominated the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

ordered the army to disband, a demand which was refused. In June, the army removed Charles from the custody of Parliament and in August established its headquarters at

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, just outside the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

in South West

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Its senior officers or " Grandees" hoped the debates would end political divisions with the

Agitators The Agitators were a political movement as well as elected representatives of soldiers, including members of the New Model Army under General the Lord Fairfax, during the English Civil War. They were also known as ''adjutators''. Many of the id ...

who represented the rank and file, and allow them to reach consensus on a peaceful settlement. Collectively, the two sides were grouped together into the Army Council. The debates began on 28 October 1647 at St. Mary's Church, Putney and continued until 8 November, when senior officers including

Thomas Fairfax Sir Thomas Fairfax (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671) was an English army officer and politician who commanded the New Model Army from 1645 to 1650 during the English Civil War. Because of his dark hair, he was known as "Black Tom" to his l ...

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

, and

Henry Ireton Henry Ireton (baptised 3 November 1611; died 26 November 1651) was an English general in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and a son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell. He died of disease outside Limerick in November 165 ...

, grew concerned at the possible impact on military discipline and closed them down. The most contentious item was that of the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

: the Grandees wanted to restrict it to property-owners, but this was challenged by the Leveller spokesman, Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, who encapsulated his and the Levellers' position by saying: :" ...for really I thinke that the poorest hee that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest hee; and therefore truly, Sir, I thinke itt's cleare, that every man that is to live under a Governement ought first by his owne consent to putt himself under that Governement; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that Government that he hath not had a voice to put Himself under." (Putney Debates record book 1647, Worcester College, Oxford, MS 65. Spelling and capitalisation as in the original manuscript.)

Background

Earlier that summer Sir

, Commander-in-Chief of the Army,

(then Member of Parliament for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and second-in-command),

(Cromwell's son-in-law) and other officers, known as the "

Grandee Grandee (; , ) is an official royal and noble ranks, aristocratic title conferred on some Spanish nobility. Holders of this dignity enjoyed similar privileges to those of the peerage of France during the , though in neither country did they ha ...

s", attempted to negotiate an inclusive settlement with

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 ...

in the aftermath of the

. Termed the

Heads of Proposals The Heads of Proposals was a set of propositions intended to be a basis for a constitutional settlement after King Charles I was defeated in the First English Civil War. The authorship of the Proposals has been the subject of scholarly debate, al ...

, these included provisions for social justice, but the monarchy and

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

would have retained a power of veto over the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. It also stipulated the king would be restored before the issues of the soldiers' indemnity for acts committed during the war and their arrears of pay were entrenched in law. This clear compromise position was contrary to the

's Declaration on 14 June and consequently the Heads lost the support of those seeking social reform (at the time generally called Levellers and radicals). Sometime before October 1647, five of the most radical cavalry regiments elected new

– known as the ''New Agents'' – to represent their views. The New Agents issued a political manifesto: ''The Case of the Armie Truly Stated''. The fundamental ideas of the ''Case of the Armie'' came to be reflected in a written constitutional draft: the ''

Agreement of the People '' An Agreement of the People'' was a series of manifestos, published between 1647 and 1649, for constitutional changes to the English state. Several versions of the ''Agreement'' were published, each adapted to address not only broad concerns b ...

''. The Putney Debates came about as a result of the publication of the ''Case of the Armie''. According to the author of a book called ''A Call to all the Soldiers of the Armie'' (a work usually ascribed to John Wildman), Ireton was so incensed by the ''Case of the Armie'' that the New Agents were invited to debate the ''Case of the Armie'' before the General Council of the Army.

Debates

The radicals wanted a constitution based upon

, biennial Parliaments and a re-organisation of parliamentary constituencies. Authority was to be vested in the House of Commons rather than the King and Lords. Certain "native rights" were declared sacrosanct for all Englishmen: freedom of conscience, freedom from impressment (conscription) into the armed forces and equality before (when judged under or seeking a judgement under) the law. Since Sir

was unwell and could not be present, Cromwell chaired the debates. He flatly refused to accept any compromise in which the King was overthrown, while his son-in-law, Henry Ireton, pressed the case that his own '' The Heads of the Proposals''The Heads of the Proposals offered by the Army
/ref> covered all of the concerns raised by the New Agents in ''The Case of the Armie''. The New Agents accepted the meeting, sending Robert Everard (identified on the first day of the Putney Debates as 'Buff Coat') and another New Agent from Col. Whalley's Regiment only identified as 'Bedfordshire Man' (this was possibly Trooper Matthew Weale, a signatory of the ''Case of the Armie'' and the ''Agreement of the People''). Other members of the Army present were Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, a successful commander in the Civil War, and lately MP for Droitwich, his brother Major William Rainsborough, and the Agitators Edward Sexby and William Allen. The New Agents also brought John Wildman and Maximillian Petty, two civilian advisors who had been involved with Army affairs since at least July 1647. The debates opened on 28 October and were transcribed by secretary William Clarke and a team of stenographers. From 2 November however, all recording ceased. The debates were not reported and Clarke's minutes were not published at the time. They were lost until 1890 when they were rediscovered at the library of

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, and subsequently published as part of the Clarke Papers. Cromwell and Ireton's main complaint about the ''Agreement'' was that it included terms for near universal male suffrage, which Ireton considered to be anarchy. Instead, they suggested suffrage should be limited only to landholders. The Agitators, on the other hand, felt they deserved the rights in payment for their service during the war. Thus Thomas Rainsborough argued: And Ireton, for the Grandees:

Conclusion

The debates concluded with the understanding that a modified version of the ''Agreement'', approved by a committee chosen mainly from the ranks of the Army's officers, would be the basis of any future constitutional settlement and that it would be presented to the Army itself at a mass meeting. However, the Agitators wanted to discuss the future of the King, leading the Grandees, fearing a complete breakdown of discipline in the Army, to propose on 8 November that the Agitators and New Agents return at once to their regiments to restore order, thereby suspending the meetings. This was reinforced on 11 November when King Charles escaped from

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

, apparently fearing (possibly on the advice of Oliver Cromwell) that the Grandees could easily lose control of the more radical elements in the Army. The King's flight brought all debate to an end as the New Model Army was faced with a more immediate threat. On the same day, the General Council drafted a new manifesto to be presented at the mass meeting which contained, among other provisions, a clause in which the members of the army would sign a declaration of loyalty to Lord Fairfax and the General Council (and hence making further agitation when ordered to desist a mutinous offence). The presentation itself was split from one mass meeting to three smaller ones. Those regiments invited to the first meeting on 15 November agreed with the manifesto, but two regiments arrived uninvited and objected, sparking the Corkbush Field mutiny. Fairfax and Cromwell suppressed the mutiny and at the other two meetings the other regiments agreed to the terms in the manifesto. On 7 December 1647, at a meeting in Windsor the General Council drew up a non-political petition to present to Parliament called the ''Humble Representation of the General Council of the Army'' (which requested that Parliament pay the soldiers arrears and secure the future funding of the army), and a month later, on 8 January 1648, the General Council voted to terminate itself. The symbolic importance of the debates may have been a factor, 36 years later, following the Restoration of the monarchy, when King Charles II chose Putney Heath as the site of a parade of 6,000 soldiers, in October 1684.

Notes

References

* * selected and annotated texts with an introduction by Geoffrey Robertson QC. * * * * * * *

External links

The Putney Debates 1647
St Mary's Church Putney
Putney debates
The British Library 1647 in England Levellers New Model Army Republicanism in England History of the London Borough of Wandsworth 17th century in Surrey Putney Debates