Zouch Tate
1606–1650
Sponsor of the Self-Denying Ordinance; Northamptonshire Presbyterian MP.
Biography
Of Christ Church Oxford and the Middle Temple, Tate was MP for Northampton and one of the parliamentary managers of the Solemn League and Covenant. He moved (with Sir Henry Vane the Younger seconding) the Self-Denying Ordinance of 9 December 1644 — which removed sitting MPs from military command and cleared the way for the New Model Army under Fairfax — and chaired the committee that drafted it. A steady Presbyterian lay assessor at the Assembly, he died in 1650.
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.