CRADOCK, Joseph (c.1605-86), of Evenwood, co. Dur. and Cradock Hall, Richmond, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1661 - 17 Jan. 1662

Family and Education

b. c.1605, 5th but 4th surv. s. of John Cradock, DD (d.1627), spiritual chancellor of Durham, by Margaret, da. of William Bateman of Wensleydale, Yorks., wid. of one Robinson. educ. Newcastle-upon-Tyne g.s.; Sidney Sussex, Camb. 1622, BA 1625, MA 1628; DCL by 1636. m. (1) Elizabeth (d.1643), da. of Robert Cruse, Grocer, of London, 2s. 3da.; (2) Jane (d. 18 Dec. 1676), da. and coh. of Anthony Maxton, preb. of Durham, 5da. Kntd. 11 May 1661.1

Offices Held

Commissary, archdeaconry of Richmond 1636-46, c. July 1660-81; j.p. co. Dur. July 1660-d., Yorks. (N. Riding) 1664-d.; commr. for assessment (N. Riding) 1661-79, co. Dur. 1661-3, 1679-80, corporations, Yorks, 1662-3, loyal and indigent officers 1662, recusants (N. Riding) 1675.2

Biography

Cradock claimed descent from the Staffordshire family, but his ancestors appear to have lived in Yorkshire for several generations. His father had a successful career in the Church, and as a younger son he was himself ordained deacon in 1625; but after his father’s death he was recommended by the bishop for membership of an ecclesiastical commission. Later he acquired a doctorate of civil law, presumably at a university abroad, and in 1636 he was appointed commissary in the archdeaconry of Richmond. A Royalist in the Civil War, he compounded in 1648 with a fine of £112. But by his second marriage he acquired an estate in county Durham, and during the Interregnum he built Cradock Hall in Richmond, which became his residence.3

Cradock was returned for Richmond in a contested election in 1661, the first of his family to sit in Parliament, and asserted his status as a layman by accepting a knighthood. A moderately active Member, he was named to nine committees, eight of which were in the first five weeks of the Cavalier Parliament. They included the committee of elections and privileges, and those for confirming public Acts and providing for the repair of highways. In June he was appointed to the committees for restoring the temporal jurisdiction of the clergy and ascertaining the fees chargeable by masters in Chancery. His last committee was for the uniformity bill on 3 July. But on the petition of his opponent, John Wandesford, the elections committee reported that Cradock was disqualified by his orders, and he was unseated. He remained active in local government, and it was reported that he and Humphrey Wharton incited a mob to attack a collector of the unpopular hearth-tax. During the exclusion crisis, however, he supported the Court, and in May 1684 Sunderland referred to the King’s satisfaction ‘with the affection and zeal you bear towards him and the Government on all occasions’. He died on 6 Apr. 1686 and was buried at Richmond, leaving an estate of £600 p.a., including colliery interests, and the butlerage and prizage of wine imports in the five northern counties.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: P. A. Bolton / Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Clay, Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. iii. 339; PCC 125 Clarke.
  • 2. C. Clarkson, Richmond, 176; R. Holmes, Pontefract Bk. of Entries, 77; N. Riding Recs. vi. 90; vii. 70.
  • 3. Arch. Ael. (ser. 3), xv. 44-49; CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 237; Royalist Comp. Pprs. (Surtees Soc. cxi), 178; Clarkson, 176-7; Durham Cathedral Reg. (Harl. Soc. Reg. xxiii), 86.
  • 4. CJ, viii. 346; EHR, li. 635; CSP Dom. 1683-4, pp. 39, 62; 1684-5, p. 33.