December 1641 was a month of high tension in Parliament, as Dr Vivienne Larminie from our Commons 1640-1660 project explores…
© National Portrait Gallery, London
It was after fierce debate that on 9 December 1641 MPs expelled three of their number from Parliament. After months of leaks, rumours and investigations, the Commons finally resolved that Henry Wilmot, William Ashbournham and Sir Hugh Pollarde stood accused of misprision of treason, a felony punishable by life imprisonment. Their offence was to have witnessed other army officers and courtiers making plans to stage some kind of military coup and rescue Charles I’s chief minister from the Tower of London before his execution, but then to have failed to inform the relevant authorities. The trio – and co-accused Sir John Berkeley – were lucky. Their implication in the ‘Army…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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