JOHN BRADSHAW (1647)

President of the court that condemned King Charles I of England to death.

Bradshaw was the son of a county gentleman.

He became a lawyer and in 1643 was appointed judge of the sheriff´s court in London.

During the early years of the Civil War (1642-51) he used his legal talents to aid the Parlamentarians cause. He became chief justice of Chester, Cheshire, in 1647, and in Jannuary 1649 the Independents (radical Puritans), who controlled the House of Commons, made him president of the court assembled to try Charles on a charge of treason.

Bradshaw prevented the King from testifying in his own defense and quickly brought about his conviction and execution (Jan. 30, 1649).

In March 1649 he became president of the Council of State, the executive body of the Commonwealth.

After Oliver Cromwell disolved the council and established the Protectorate in 1653, Bradshaw openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the new government and retired from politics (1654).

In May 1659, following the death of Cromwell and the abdication of Cromwell´s son Richard, Bradshaw was again a member of the Council of State, and in June he became commissioner of the great seal.