John Barwick

For other people named John Barwick, seeJohn Barwick (disambiguation).

John Barwick

John Barwick(1612–1664) was an early English royalist churchman and Dean ofSt. Paul's Cathedral.

Early life

He was born atWitherslack,inWestmorland.John was the third of five sons, and he and his brotherPeter Barwick(later his biographer) were the ones given an education. After time at local grammar schools John was sent toSedbergh School,then inYorkshire.In 1631 he enteredSt. John's College, Cambridge,where Thomas Fothergill was his tutor, and graduated B.A. in 1635.The MasterOwen Gwynhad died in 1634, and the subsequent election was disputed and attracted the attention of the king; Barwick became involved as the college's representative. He was then elected to a fellowship. He took holy orders, and in 1638 his M.A. degree.

Civil War period

In 1642 royalists at Cambridge raised a sum of money for the king, and gathered together somecollege plate.Parliament received information of what was going on, and sentOliver Cromwellwith a party of infantry to a place called Lower Hedges, on the road between Cambridge andHuntingdon.A party of horse was formed underBarnabas OleyofClare College,of which Barwick was one, who conveyed the treasure along back roads toNottingham.Subsequently, Cromwell moved on Cambridge, taking over the castle. Two pamphlets were put together by Cambridge academics against Cromwell: the firstwas by Barwick withIsaac Barrow,Peter Gunning,andSamuel Ward;the secondis attributed to Barwick alone.

Barwick left Cambridge, and became chaplain to BishopThomas Morton,who nominated him to a prebend at Durham Cathedral and the rectories of Houghton-le-Spring and Walsingham; Barwick in fact settled in London, since Morton at the time had no effective patronage. AtDurham HouseBarwick undertook royalist correspondence and intelligence work, and tried to make converts of some parliamentarians. He worked for theTreaty of Newportof 1648, and was supported by his brothers Peter and Edward. In the end he was betrayed by a post-office official, and Barwick had to destroy his ciphers while arresting officers were breaking into his room. He was charged withhigh treason,and was committed (April 1650) first to theGatehouse prisonat Westminster, and then to theTower of London.He was released, without any trial but in much better health, in August 1652.

He then spent a period moving in royalist circles, first with Bishop Morton, and residing for some months in the house ofSir Thomas EversfieldinSussex.He finally settled in his brother Peter's house in St. Paul's Churchyard, and renewed his management of the king's correspondence. He visitedJohn Hewit,preacher at St. Gregory's, when he was imprisoned for conspiring against Cromwell, and attended him on the scaffold (June 1658), when he received from him a ring with the motto "Alter Aristides", which he wore until his death. He was also with Bishop Morton in his last moments (22 September 1659), preached hisfuneral sermon,and wrote his life (1660). Barwick withRichard Allestreewere concerned about the continuity of theepiscopal successionof the Church of England, and in 1659 Barwick was riding about between the surviving bishops, gathering their opinions. He was then sent over by the bishops to report the state of church affairs to Charles II atBreda.There he preached before the king, and was appointed one of the royal chaplains.

After the Restoration

After 1660 he did not return to his fellowship at St. John's, where he approved of his successor. He accepted the bishopric of Sodor and Man, only to step aside for a candidate sponsored by the Countess of Derby,and now unwilling to become a bishop was madeDean of Durham.In October 1661 he becameDean of St Paul's.He was one of the nine assistants of the bishops at theSavoy conference,and he was unanimously elected prolocutor of the lower house of convocation of the province of Canterbury. In 1662 his health began to fail, and he died in London from an attack ofpleurisy,which carried him off in three days. He was attended by his old friend, Peter Gunning, who preached his funeral sermon, andHumphrey Henchman,Bishop of London, performed the obsequies. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Stephen, Leslie,ed. (1885). "Barwick, John (1612-1664)".Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 3. London: Smith, Elder & Co.