Pride's Purge - The Purge

The Purge

On Wednesday 6 December Colonel Pride’s Regiment of Foot took up position on the stairs leading to the House, while Nathaniel Rich’s Regiment of Horse provided backup. Pride himself stood at the top of the stairs. As MPs arrived, he checked them against the list provided to him; Lord Grey of Groby helped to identify those to be arrested and those to be prevented from entering. The purge was not over in one day, and a military watch was kept on the entrance until 12 December. By then 45 members had been imprisoned of which 25 were released before Christmas. It is not known exactly how many were excluded as many, once they heard of the purge, voluntarily stayed away, either because they feared they would be arrested but more usually as a sign of protest. Pre-purge the number of members who were still eligible to sit in the house was 507 but 18 seats were vacant and a further 18 members had not sat for a long time which meant that there were 471 active members. After the purge just over 200 members were sat in what would become known as the Rump Parliament. Of the 200, 86 absented themselves voluntarily, 83 were allowed back in Parliament after formally dissenting from the decision to accept the King's proposals, and 71 were supporters of the army from the outset (see List of MPs not excluded from the English parliament in 1648).

The imprisoned members were taken first to the Queen’s Court within the Palace of Westminster, and then to a nearby public house. There were three public houses next to the Palace in 1648, called Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell. The imprisoned members were taken to Hell where they spent the night. On the next day they were moved to two inns in the Strand. By 12 December the first of the imprisoned members was allowed home; many more were released on 20 December.

The Rump now had a majority that would establish a Republic. Any doubts the remaining members may have had over the wisdom of this course were suppressed by the presence of the Army in great numbers. On 4 January 1649 an Ordinance was passed to try the King for treason; the House of Lords rejected it. The House of Commons then passed an ‘Act’ by itself for the same purpose, and the King was beheaded on 30 January. On 6 February the House of Lords was abolished; the monarchy went the same way on 7 February, and a Council of State established on 14 February. Between the purge and the King's trial and execution only about 70 attended the Commons and attendance in the Lords rarely reached a dozen.