James Berry | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Scarborough_Castle_3.jpg) Scarborough Castle, where Berry was imprisoned from 1660 until his release in 1672 | |
| Member of Parliament for Worcestershire | |
| In office September 1656 – February 1658 | |
| Rule of the Major-Generals, responsible for Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Wales | |
| In office November 1655 – January 1657 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Unknown Uncertain |
| Died | 9 May 1691 Stoke Newington |
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse | Mary Berry (died 1681) |
| Military service | |
| Rank | Major General |
| Battles/wars | |
James Berry, died 9 May 1691, was a Clerk from the West Midlands who served with the Parliamentarian army in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Characterised by a contemporary and friend as "one of Cromwell's favourites", [1] during the 1655 to 1657 Rule of the Major-Generals, he was administrator for Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Wales.
In this role, Berry's sympathetic treatment of Fifth Monarchists and Quakers, two religious sects many viewed as anarchic revolutionaries, meant he was seen as unreliable by George Monck, architect of the 1660 Stuart Restoration. Arrested in early 1660, he was held in Scarborough Castle until 1672; after his release, he became a Market gardener in Stoke Newington, where he died in 1691.
- ^ Reece 2013, p. 41.