Bulstrode Whitelocke

Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke (6 August 1605 – 28 July 1675) was an English lawyer, writer, parliamentarian and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.

He was the eldest son of Sir James Whitelocke and Elizabeth Bulstrode, and was born on 6 August 1605 at George Croke's house in Fleet Street, London. He was baptized on 19 August 1605 at the church of St. Dunstans in the West, where his mother's parents were married in 1571; his notorious uncle Edmund Whitelocke, being one of the godfathers, announced that the child was to be called Bulstrode. The vicar demurred, but Edmund insisted that he bear his mother's name, "Bulstrode or Elizabeth, let them choose which they please." Bulstrode was educated briefly at Eton College, then at Merchant Taylors' School and at St John's College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 8 December 1620.

He left Oxford, without a degree, for the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1626 and chosen treasurer in 1628. He was fond of field sports and of music, and in 1633 he had charge of the music in the great masque performed by the Inns of Court before the king and queen. Meanwhile, he had been elected for Stafford in the parliament of 1626 and had been appointed recorder of Abingdon and Henley. In 1640 he was chosen member for Great Marlow in the Long Parliament.

He took a prominent part in the proceedings against Strafford, was chairman of the committee of management, and had charge of articles XIX.–XXIV. of the impeachment. He drew up the bill for making parliaments indissoluble except by their own consent, and supported the Grand Remonstrance and the action taken in the House of Commons against the illegal canons; on the militia question, however, he advocated a joint control by king and parliament. On the outbreak of the English Civil War he took the side of the parliament, using his influence in the country as deputy-lieutenant to prevent the king's raising troops in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

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