page_title: Humphrey Mackworth (Parliamentarian)
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Humphrey Mackworth (Parliamentarian) / Death
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial to the 21 Parliamentarians disinterred from Westminster Abbey and reburied in the churchyard of St Margaret's, Westminster in September 1661 following the Restoration
context_page_description: Humphrey Mackworth was an English lawyer, judge, and politician of Shropshire landed gentry origins who rose to prominence in the Midlands, the Welsh Marches and Wales during the English Civil War. He was the Parliamentarian military governor of Shrewsbury in the later phases of the war and under The Protectorate. He occupied several important legal and judicial posts in Chester and North Wales, presiding over the major trials that followed the Charles Stuart's invasion in 1651. In the last year of his life, he attained national prominence as a member of Oliver Cromwell's Council and as a Member of the House of Commons for Shropshire in the First Protectorate Parliament.
context_section_description: Mackworth died in London some time in December 1654, perhaps suddenly, as he died intestate. However, he last attended Council on 5 December, missing meetings on the 12th, 16th and 19th of the month, which makes a short illness possible. The last mention of him in action has him presenting to the Council the papers of "Emanuel Martyns Dorindo, alias David Abrabanell, a Hebrew," about a year before the tacit acceptance of the resettlement of Jews in England. He was given a state funeral in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey, as 'Colonel,' at night on 26 December.
  Mackworth's widow, Mary, was in some difficulty because of his intestacy. On 14 March 1655 her mews home was assigned to Major-General Philip Skippon, pending her vacating the premises. Edmund King, who acted as an assistant to Mackworth in his work for the State, also seems to have suffered financially and was given £30 by the Council in June 1655, with the recommendation that Cromwell find him a suitable post, possibly in the customs service. Johnstone says Mrs Mackworth was allowed £300 for funeral expenses, and Coulton follows, stating that "his burial was paid for by the state at a cost of £300." The State Papers seem to show that only in March 1657 did the Protector's Council did give his widow £300 towards the funeral costs. Moreover, this was not a grant but part of Mackworth's pay arrears, which appear to have been considerable, as a further £300 was paid to his son and executor at the same time, using Walter Strickland as intermediary. In May 1658 Mackworth's daughter Anne petitioned the Council:
  My father served in civil and military offices all through the wars to his death, and died 3 years ago intestate, without providing for me, on which you have several times promised to settle something on me. I implore you to order your good intentions to be executed.
  This was sent for favourable consideration to the Privy Council, again via Strickland, and a committee set up to consult with the younger Humphrey Mackworth on what to offer. In December of the same year, three months after Oliver Cromwell's death, a pension of £160 was at last settled on Mrs Mackworth.
  After the Restoration (1660) Mackworth was regarded as attainted and as a regicide, although he was never named in an act of attainder and was not one of the judges at the trial of Charles I. His body was disinterred in September 1661, with other servants of the Commonwealth buried in Westminster Abbey, and buried in an unmarked pit in the churchyard of St Margaret's, Westminster.
caption: Memorial to the exhumed and reburied Parliamentarians at St Margaret's, Westminster.
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