Sir Thomas Widdrington
c. 1600–1664
Speaker of the Commons (1656); legal historian; Recorder of York.
Biography
Of Christ's College Cambridge and Gray's Inn, then a long legal-parliamentary career — Recorder of York and (briefly) Recorder of Berwick before becoming MP for Berwick in the Long Parliament. Widdrington was a Commissioner of the Great Seal under the Commonwealth (1648-49) and Speaker of the Cromwellian Second Protectorate Parliament (1656-57). A moderate Presbyterian lay assessor at the Assembly. Married to Frances Fairfax, the future Lord General Sir Thomas Fairfax's sister. His Analecta Eboracensia, an antiquarian history of York compiled in retirement, was finally published in 1897. He survived the Restoration in private life and died in 1664.
Principal works
- Analecta Eboracensia (posthum. 1897)
Lay Assessor — House of Commons
Parliament seated lay assessors alongside the divines to represent its interest and keep it informed of the Assembly's progress. The ordinance of 1643 named thirty members of the House of Commons as assessors; they could take part in debate but were not among the voting divines, and their attendance was often occasional as the war and parliamentary business pressed on them.