Reading's Great People

Blagrave, Daniel (1603-1668?), MP for Reading and Regicide

Born into an old Reading family who give their name to Blagrave Street, he was the nephew of John Blagrave, the noted Tudor mathematician. He was trained as a lawyer, but the civil war saw his rise to power. In the Parliamentarian siege of Reading in 1643 he allowed his house, Southcote Manor, to be used by the Earl of Essex as a headquarters. The capture of the town by Parliament allowed Blagrave a seat on the corporation and in 1645 he was made Recorder of Reading. He raised money and men for Parliament throughout Berkshire. He became MP for Reading in 1648, though Royalists made accusations of bribery against him in the election, and in Parliament he soon became a noted figure.

He was active in preparing for the trial of Charles I and and in the trial itself and was one of those who signed the King’s death warrant. He also participated in the abolition of the House of Lords, and was a Commissioner for forfeited estates, becoming a wealthy man through purchases of land including the Manor of Sonning. He was on the Committee for the Ejection of Scandalous Ministers for Berkshire that removed Royalist and High Church clergy from office. He faced accusations of corruption in 1653, but was cleared after an investigation. In Reading, Presbyterians accused Blagrave of protecting the local religious radical John Pordage: they prevented his re-election as MP in 1654 and removed him from office as Recorder in 1656. Blagrave’s supporters, however, managed to get him re-elected as MP in 1656 and again 1659, when he was also reinstated as Recorder. The Restoration saw him flee into continental exile at Aachen in Germany where he died.

Link to the Dictionary of National Biography (only from a Library terminal). Daniel Blagrave

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