John Lambert

English general and politician

• Born: September 7, 1619 (baptized)
• Birthplace: Calton, West Riding, Yorkshire, England
• Died: March 1, 1684
• Place of death: St. Nicholas Isle, Plymouth Sound, Devon, England

After serving as one of Parliament’s leading officers in the English Civil War, Lambert emerged as a central figure in the Protectorate. After Oliver Cromwell’s death, Lambert led the army’s unsuccessful attempt to maintain a republic and prevent the Stuart Restoration.

Early Life

John Lambert’s family was part of the rising British gentry class, having gained several manors after Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries during the Reformation. Lambert was probably educated at the grammar school in Kirby Malham and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He then appears to have attended one of the Inns of Court, probably the Middle Temple. This pattern was typical for a young gentleman of the time, and Lambert’s later performance indicates that he was well educated and familiar with the law.

Lambert’s father, Josiah, died in 1632, four years before his son entered Cambridge. Just after his twentieth birthday, John married Frances Lister, the daughter of a prominent Yorkshire family. The match tied Lambert to two additional leading county families, the Fairfaxes and the Bellasises. These connections would aid Lambert in future years, both as the First English Civil War began and after the Restoration.

Until the strains between Charles I and the Long Parliament brought England to the verge of civil war, Lambert’s life was that of a successful young country squire. Handsome and charming, he had married well and could anticipate improving his position through active participation in the affairs of the county community. The outbreak of war, however, transformed him into a national figure who rose to be the second most powerful man in England within a dozen years.

When Yorkshire was divided in 1642, Lambert followed the third Baron Fairfax in support of Parliament. Despite Lambert’s youth and lack of military experience, Fairfax made him a captain in his cavalry regiment. Like Oliver Cromwell, Lambert proved to be a natural-born soldier and an excellent leader of men. His courage, dashing appearance, and amiable personality served him well, and he quickly gained a reputation as a soldier’s soldier that lasted throughout his career. Always concerned for his men’s welfare, he came to be known throughout the parliamentary army as “Honest” John Lambert.

Lambert rose quickly during the war. By the end of 1643, he commanded his own regiment. His first major triumph as an independent commander came at Bradford in his home county in March, 1644. Fighting a larger Royalist force commanded by his wife’s relative, Colonel John Bellasis, Lambert won the battle with a cavalry charge after most of his men had run out of powder. At Marston Moor, he distinguished himself while serving under Fairfax in July, 1644. Toward the end of the first part of the war, he negotiated the surrender of Oxford and for a time served as governor of the city. When he returned to Yorkshire, he was a major general and one of the outstanding parliamentary commanders.

Life’s Work

Charles I’s defeat opened a new phase in the English Revolution and in Lambert’s life. The struggle for power shifted from the battlefield to the political arena, and, like many of his colleagues, Lambert was transformed into a soldier-politician. For the remainder of his career, politics became his main focus, even though he took to the field several more times. Unlike Oliver Cromwell and his main rival during the early 1650’s, Major General Thomas Harrison, Lambert was not concerned primarily with religion. Little, indeed, is known about his personal religious views, an unusual situation for so central a figure in this religious conflict. Lambert was motivated by a desire for political change and personal ambition. He did not, however, seek the sweeping social and economic changes desired by the radicals.

As tension grew between Parliament and the army, Lambert was chosen by his fellow officers to help Henry Ireton draft a statement of the army’s political and constitutional goals, the Heads of Proposals. This was Lambert’s first venture into developing political positions and statements.

When the second phase of the Civil War flared in 1648, Lambert again took to the field for Parliament. Given command of the north, he defeated local Royalists but was forced to fall back when the Scots invaded. He distinguished himself at the climactic Battle of Preston and was left in charge of eliminating lingering resistance after Cromwell returned to London. The siege of the last Royalist garrison at Pontefract caused him to miss the trial and execution of Charles I in January, 1649. Lambert later claimed that he opposed these acts, but in any case, his duties in the north saved his life at the Restoration by freeing him from the taint of regicide.

Lambert was now second only to Fairfax and Cromwell in the army. In the campaigns against the Scots and Prince Charles in 1650 and 1651, Lambert was Cromwell’s second-in-command. With Harrison, he drove Prince Charles’s forces toward Worcester and defeat when they crossed into England. For his services at Worcester, he received lands worth one thousand pounds per annum from Parliament.

By 1653, many in England and the army were calling for the ouster of the “Rump” of the Long Parliament. Lambert led those officers pressing Cromwell to move against the Rump and set up a government more responsive to the landowning classes. Harrison and the radicals simultaneously urged Cromwell to replace the Rump with an “Assembly of Saints” and usher in a “Godly Commonwealth.” In late April, Cromwell did dismiss the Rump, but Harrison’s views prevailed and Lambert withdrew to his residence to prepare for future opportunities.

Lambert’s residence at that time was the former royal estate at Wimbledon. In addition to monies gained through parliamentary grants and the fruits of command and office, Lambert had earned great wealth by buying Royalist and church lands and speculating in the debentures soldiers received when their pay was in arrears.

As Lambert expected, Cromwell soon became disenchanted with the saintly Barebones Parliament over its reformism and objections to ending the costly war with the Dutch. In December, Lambert engineered the Barebones’ dissolution and presented his new plan for governing England, the Instrument of Government.

England’s first and only written constitution, the Instrument of Government established the Protectorate. While providing for a parliament, the Instrument placed power in the hands of the Lord Protector, Cromwell, and a Council of State. Because the council had to approve most actions and was not simply appointed and controlled by the Lord Protector, it had considerable influence. With a solid group of allies on the council, Lambert enjoyed substantial power between 1654 and 1657. He was regarded widely as Cromwell’s viceregent and heir apparent.

Still in his thirties, Lambert had risen to unexpected heights in a manner unmatched by any of his contemporaries. Despite his political and administrative skills, he lacked patience and, at times, sound judgment. He was principally responsible for two policies that brought great criticism from many loyal Englishmen, the 1655 rule by major generals and the purge of unfriendly Members of Parliament after the election of 1656. These mistakes, coupled with signs that he had forgotten that Cromwell was still the true source of authority, brought Lambert’s influence to an abrupt halt.

In 1657, many moderates were urging Cromwell to take the crown. Lambert and many other leading officers opposed this, calling on Cromwell to reject Parliament’s Humble Petition and Advice embodying the plan. When Cromwell refused the crown but accepted the concept of a hereditary lord protectorship, most officers and civilian moderates consented. This support strengthened the Lord Protector’s position considerably. Cromwell was now king in all but name, the council lost most of its power, and Lambert was no longer the protector-designate.

Claiming loyalty to the cause, Lambert refused the oath to the new order. He was stripped of his offices and commissions and forced into retirement. He did receive, however, a stipend of two thousand pounds per annum. Lambert’s eclipse proved only temporary. Following Cromwell’s death in September, 1658, England gradually slipped toward chaos. Richard Cromwell proved unable to maintain his father’s position, and Lambert slowly returned to politics. Still popular in the army, he received his regiment back in time to suppress the pro-Royalist rebellion led by George Booth in August, 1659, for the now-restored Rump Parliament.

Lambert emerged as the most dynamic, able, and ambitious of the senior officers challenging the Rump for power. When Parliament moved to dismiss him along with eight other officers on October 12, 1659, he padlocked the Houses of Parliament and dispersed its members. This coup was typical of Lambert. Bold and sudden, it also displayed a disdain for civilians and their sensibilities and a lack of thought about long-term consequences. Lambert’s action provided General George Monck, the English commander in Scotland, with the necessary pretext to intervene in English politics to restore constitutional rule and end military tyranny. What Monck restored was the monarchy.

Because he had not signed Charles I’s death warrant, Lambert was not executed or jailed at the Restoration. In 1662, however, he was tried and condemned for causing rebellion. His real crime was being able, popular, and ambitious. In 1659, Charles II’s advisers had considered using Lambert as a means to restore the king by arranging a marriage between Charles and Lambert’s daughter. Lambert may have been an acceptable royal father-in-law then, but by 1662 he was an unacceptable royal risk.

Thanks to quiet activity by Yorkshire friends such as Fairfax and Bellasis, and also because of his humble manner at his trial, Lambert was reprieved almost immediately after being sentenced. He could not, however, go free. Until 1670, he was held in comfortable confinement on Guernsey, usually with his wife and family. Then he was transferred to the less comfortable but more secure St. Nicholas Isle in Plymouth Sound. Here, too, Lambert enjoyed the company of his wife, until her death in 1676. He reportedly received two visits from Charles II and James, duke of York. During his imprisonment, Lambert occupied himself with botany and painting. He died in late March, 1684, and was buried on March 28.

Significance

Lambert represented several forces shaping English life in the middle of the seventeenth century. He also embodied characteristics the English have long regarded with great suspicion. His charisma, ability, and ambition caused him to stand out to his and future generations.

Lambert personified the social and economic mobility and dynamism within the English ruling classes. The Civil War and revolution simply made his rise faster and easier than would have been possible during normal times. Members of the nation who enjoyed good connections, significant ability, and luck could go far. Thanks to his times, his personality, and his instinctive flair for military leadership, Lambert provides a meteoric example of the rising gentleman.

At the same time, Lambert exemplified the overambitious military man entering politics and using the sword to thwart the will of the nation. He relied on force to reach his goals, showed scant respect for political forms and traditions, and often displayed a clear lack of principles. As the most successful of the officer-politicians after Cromwell, and lacking his superior’s redeeming sense of mission, Lambert personified a most un-English type, the would-be military despot.

Lambert’s greatest political accomplishment, the Instrument of Government, struck many as also essentially un-English. It was a thoughtful effort to provide a legal basis for a regime trying to consolidate the gains of a successful revolution. It was, in the abstract, a good example of a written constitution. Thanks to the course of events between 1653 and 1660, however, Lambert’s effort helped confirm the English disdain for written constitutions.

Lambert had the ability to take advantage of his times and the ambition to press his advantages to the limit. In the end, he pressed too hard and ended by helping to destroy the republic he had worked so hard to create, and restoring the Stuarts he had fought so skillfully. Perhaps his youth and lack of prewar political experience caused him to ignore too much that was essential to political success in seventeenth century England. As dashing as any Cavalier, Honest John Lambert ultimately helped ensure that England would remain a monarchy. He also helped keep England a constitutional monarchy, through both his successes and his excesses.

Bibliography

Ashley, Maurice Percy. Cromwell’s Generals. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1955. Provides a summary of Lambert’s career with emphasis on the creation of the Protectorate. Also contains chapters on other key army figures.

Davies, Godfrey. The Early Stuarts, 1603-1660. 2d ed. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1959. A solid and thorough account of the context of Lambert’s career and a reliable narrative of his times.

Dawson, William H. Cromwell’s Understudy: The Life and Times of General John Lambert and the Rise and Fall of the Protectorate. London: William Hodge, 1938. Until recently, the only full biography of Lambert of even reasonably modern vintage. Provides an accurate account of his actions but is quite laudatory and at times exaggerates his role.

Durston, Christopher. Cromwell’s Major-Generals: Godly Government During the English Revolution. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2001. Reevaluates the rule by major-generals, a form of government that Lambert advocated and that later contributed to his loss of influence within Cromwell’s government.

Farr, David. John Lambert, Parliamentary Soldier and Cromwellian Major-General, 1619-1684. Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell Press, 2003. The first biography of Lambert to be published in recent years, this is a thorough account of his life and military career.

Fraser, Antonia. Cromwell: The Lord Protector. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973. Reprint. New York: Grove Press, 2001. An exhaustive and often insightful account of Oliver Cromwell’s life and the events and figures surrounding him.

Heath, George D., III. “Cromwell and Lambert, 1653-1657.” In Cromwell: A Profile, edited by Ivan Roots. New York: Hill and Wang, 1973. Argues that Lambert was the central figure in the first Protectorate and provides an excellent analysis of the Instrument of Government.

Hill, Christopher. God’s Englishman: Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution. New York: Dial Press, 1970. A lively and provocative analysis of Cromwell and his era, but not simply a life-and-times narrative. Requires some understanding of the period for full appreciation.

Hutton, Ronald. The Restoration: A Political and Religious History of England and Wales, 1658-1667. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. Gives the most complete account of the power struggles following Oliver Cromwell’s death. Very good on the contest between Lambert and Monck and Lambert’s last months of political activity.

Jones, J. R. Country and Court: England, 1658-1714. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978. Provides a summary of the latter part of Lambert’s career and a shrewd assessment of his character.