Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 45.djvu/275

 castle gives brief notices (Life of the Duke of Newcastle, ed. Firth, p. 219).

[Doyle's Official Baronage; Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges. A paper on Kingston by Mr. Edward Peacock is printed in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd ser. ix. 285.]  PIERREPONT, WILLIAM (1607?–1678), politician, born about 1607, was the second son of Robert Pierrepont, first earl of Kingston [q. v.] Henry Pierrepont, first marquis of Dorchester [q. v.], was his elder brother. Pierrepont married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Sir Thomas Harris, bart., of Tong Castle, Shropshire (Life of the Duke of Newcastle, ed. Firth, p. 217). In 1638 he was sheriff of Shropshire, and found great difficulty in collecting ship money (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1637–8 pp. 266, 423, 1638–9 p. 54). In November 1640 he was returned to the Long parliament as member for Great Wenlock. Pierrepont at once became a person of influence in the counsels of the leaders of the popular party. Mrs. Hutchinson describes him as ‘one of the wisest counsellors and most excellent speakers in the house.’ Of his oratory the only specimens surviving are a speech at the impeachment of Sir Robert Berkeley, 6 July 1641, and a few fragmentary remarks in the notebooks of different members (, iv. 318;, Notes of the Long Parliament, p. 181; Diary of Sir John Northcote, p. 44; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1641–3, p. 277). His value in counsel is shown by his appointment as one of the committee established during the adjournment of the commons after the attempted arrest of the five members (5 Jan. 1642), and as one of the committee of safety established on 4 July 1642.

During the early part of the war Pierrepont was one of the heads of the peace party (, Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, pp. 535, 571). He was one of the commissioners selected to treat with Charles in November 1642, and in January 1643. Whitelocke, who was his associate in the negotiations at Oxford in March 1643, describes him as acting his part ‘with deep foresight and prudence’ (Memorials, i. 201, ed. 1853). After the failure of the renewed attempts to open negotiations in the summer of 1643, Pierrepont seems to have had thoughts of retirement. On 8 Nov. 1643 he asked the House of Commons for leave to go beyond seas, ‘but they were so desirous of his assistance, being a gentleman of great wisdom and integrity, that they gave him a friendly denial’ (ib. i. 225; Commons' Journals, iii. 304). The reason which he gave for his request was a conscientious objection to taking the covenant (Memoirs of the Verney Family, ii. 179). In February 1644 Pierrepont was appointed one of the committee of both kingdoms, and thenceforward threw himself with vigour into the conduct of the war. At the Uxbridge treaty in February 1645 Clarendon marked an alteration in his temper and in that of his fellow commissioner, John Crewe. Both were ‘men of great fortunes, and had always been of the greatest moderation in their counsels, and most solicitous upon all opportunities for peace,’ but they appeared now ‘to have contracted more bitterness and sourness than formerly.’ They were more reserved towards the king's commissioners, and in all conferences insisted peremptorily that the king must yield to the demands of the parliament (Rebellion, ed. Macray, viii. 248). At this time and for the next three years Pierrepont was regarded as one of the leaders of the independent party. He and St. John, wrote Robert Baillie, were ‘more staid’ than Cromwell and Vane, but not ‘great heads.’ His favour with the parliament was shown by their grant of 7,467l. to him on 22 March 1647, being the amount of the fine inflicted on his brother Henry, marquis of Dorchester, for adhering to the king (Cal. Committee for Compounding, p. 1473).

Pierrepont's policy during 1647 and 1648 is not easy to follow. His name and that of his brother Francis appear in the list of the fifty-seven members of parliament who engaged themselves to stand by Fairfax and the army (4 Aug. 1647;, vii. 755). In September he supported the proposal that further negotiations should be opened with the king, in spite of his refusal of the terms parliament had offered to him (, Putney Projects, 1647, p. 43). In the following April he was again reported to be concerting a treaty with the king, and voted against the bulk of his party on the question of maintaining the government by king, lords, and commons (Hamilton Papers, Camden Soc. pp. 174, 191). Appointed one of the fifteen commissioners to negotiate with Charles at Newport in September 1647, he seemed to Cromwell too eager to patch up an accommodation with the king. In a letter to Hammond Cromwell refers to Pierrepont as ‘my wise friend, who thinks that the enthroning the king with presbytery brings spiritual slavery, but with a moderate episcopacy works a good peace’ (Clarke Papers, ii. 50). On 1 Dec. 1648 he received the thanks of the house for his services during the treaty. Pride's Purge and the trial of the king produced a rupture between Pierrepont and the independents. He expressed