William Boteler (''

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

'' 1640s and 1650s) was a member of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

. After 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 ...

, he was appointed Major-General for Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland during the

Rule of the Major-Generals The Rule of the Major-Generals, was a period of direct military government from August 1655 to January 1657, during Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. England and Wales were divided into ten regions, each governed by a major-general who answered to ...

Early life

He was born in

Barnwell, Northamptonshire Barnwell (formerly Barnwell All Saints and Barnwell St Andrew) is a village in North Northamptonshire in England, south of the town of Oundle, north of London (via the A1 road) and south-west of Peterborough. The River Nene runs north of th ...

, the son of Noel or Neville Boteler;

Ivan Roots Ivan Alan Roots (3 March 1921, Maidstone, Kent – 8 February 2015) was a British historian, known as the author of ''The Great Rebellion'' (1966) and a leading expert on Oliver Cromwell. Biography Ivan Roots was one of five sons of Frank Roots a ...

considers that the clergyman

Edward Boteler There have been three baronetcies created for persons with the surname Boteler, all in the Baronetage of England. All three creations are extinct. The Boteler Baronetcy, of Hatfield Woodhall in the County of Hertford, was created in the Baronetag ...

(died 1670) was his brother.

Political career

In April 1640, Boteler was elected MP for

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

in a double return and was taken off. He became a Colonel of Horse (cavalry) in 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 ...

. He was zealous and uncompromising in his hostility to his religious and political enemies, and was a severe persecutor of

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

s in Northamptonshire. In 1656 he advocated that

James Nayler James Nayler (or Naylor; 1618–1660) was an English Quaker leader. He was among the members of the Valiant Sixty, a group of early Quaker preachers and missionaries. In 1656, Nayler achieved national notoriety when he re-enacted Christ's Palm ...

should be stoned to death for blasphemy. Boteler was also aggressive in his persecution of Royalists in his area, unlawfully imprisoning the

Earl of Northampton Earl of Northampton is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. Earls of Northampton, First Creation (1071) * Waltheof (d. 1076) * Maud, Queen of Scotland (c.1074–1130/31) * Simon II de Senlis (1103–1153) * Simon II ...

for failing to pay his taxes. Boteler represented Bedford in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the H ...

, and he represented

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

in the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first sess ...

from 1656 to 1658. Early in 1658, Boteler replaced William Packer as commander of

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 a ...

's regiment of horse.

Legal problems

Boteler was not returned to

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 1659, and his record as a Major-General in Northamptonshire, et al., was severely attacked, he was nearly impeached, by MPs in that Parliament. At the Restoration he was declared ''exempt from pardon'', making him liable for legal punishment, but he was not prosecuted. He lived at

Oatlands Park Oatlands Palace is a former Tudor and Stuart royal palace which took the place of the former manor of the village of Oatlands near Weybridge, Surrey. Little remains of the original building, so excavations of the palace took place in 1964 to ...

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, known locally as Walton, is a market town on the bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, Thames in northwest Surrey, England. It is in the Borough of Elmbridge, about southwest of central London. Walton forms part ...

and became a lawyer. In 1665, he was arrested on suspicion of plotting against Charles II, and, ironically, was arrested in 1670 for attending an unlawful prayer meeting. The date of his death is not known.

Notes

References

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Early life

Political career

Legal problems

Notes

References

Further reading