Sir James Whitlocke

Other Events and Attributes:

• Of: Fawley Court, Buckinghamshire, England
• Parentage: Son Richard Whitlocke
• Occupation: Judge
• Baptism: 30 Nov 1570, Saint Dunstan's In The East, London, England

James married Elizabeth Bulstrode on 10 Sep 1602 in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. Elizabeth (daughter of Edward Bulstrode and Cecilia Croke) was born in Jul 1575 in Upton Cum Chalvey, Buckinghamshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Between 1626 and 1670; M.P. and Lawyer
• Office: 1670, Westminster, London, England; Ambassador to Sweden & Keeper of the Great Seal

Notes:

Bulstrode Whitelocke, who was born at the home of his great-uncle Sir George Croke in Fleet Street on 6th August 1605, was christened at St. Dunstan's in the West on 19th August. Like his father, he was educated at Merchant Taylor's School and St. John's College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1626 and became Treasurer there in 1628. He was M.P. for Stafford in 1626 and appointed Recorder of Abingdon and Henley. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. M.P. for Great Marlow in the Long Parliament, he played a prominent part on the side of Parliament in the conflict with Charles I, like his uncle Henry Bulstrode and cousin Thomas.

When Bulstrode Whitelocke was at Oxford, the President of his College was William Laud, the future Archbishop of Canterbury, a friend of his father's, who took a great interest in his education. Because of this friendship, in spite of Laud's merciless persecution of the Puritans, Bulstrode refused to take part in his prosecution.

While in college, Bulstrode played an active part in field sports and musical activities and, at Christmas 1628, he was chosen Master of Revels at the Middle Temple. Five years later, when the four Inns of Court joined forces to organise a masque to be performed before the King and Queen, Bulstrode had the whole care and charge of the music for the great masque, which was so performed that it excelled any music that ever before that time had been heard in England. This may possibly have given him a little consolation, for his first wife, Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Bennett, Alderman of London, whom he married in June 1630, had become insane. She died on 9th May 1634. Their eldest son, James, became a colonel in Cromwell's army and was knighted by the Protector at the age of twenty-five. Bulstrode married, secondly, on 9th November 1635, Frances, sister of Francis, Lord Willoughby of Parham. Their eldest son, William, was knighted by William III in 1689.
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