Sir Michael Livesey, 1st Baronet (1614 - circa 1665), also spelt Livesay, was a Puritan activist and Member of Parliament who served in the Parliamentarian army during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. He was one of the regicides who approved the Execution of Charles I in January 1649.
At the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642, Livesey played a prominent role in securing Kent for Parliament, raising a regiment of cavalry and serving on the local administration. He resigned his commission in early 1645 and was appointed Member of Parliament (MP) for Queenborough in September. During the Second English Civil War in 1648, he once again displayed energy and commitment in suppressing Royalist risings in South East England.
Known as a Republican who opposed further negotiations with King Charles I, Livesey was one of the MPs retained after Pride's Purge in December 1648, and appointed a judge at Charles' trial. A strong believer in the sovereignty of Parliament, he became disillusioned after the establishment of the Protectorate in 1654, although he served as High Sheriff of Kent in 1655 and 1656.
Following the Stuart Restoration in 1660, he was condemned as a regicide and escaped to the Low Countries. Claims he was assassinated by Royalist agents shortly afterwards are incorrect; he appears to have died in Rotterdam around June 1665, although some biographies give an earlier date.
Personal details
Michael Livesey was the only surviving son of Gabriel Livesey (1567–1622) and his second wife Anne, daughter of Sir Michael Sondes, MP for Queenborough and High Sheriff of Kent. His paternal grandfather Robert was Sheriff of Sussex and Surrey in 1602 and 1603, who purchased estates in Kent at Hollingbourne and Eastchurch in 1571. These were transferred to Gabriel, who was Sheriff of Kent in 1618, making the family a leading part of the county gentry.
After Gabriel's death in 1622, Anne married her cousin Sir John Hayward (1591–1636), who sold his property in Shropshire and bought Hollingbourne. Hayward also served as Sheriff of Kent in 1623, an unusual move since such offices were normally held by an established member of the local community. He and his step-son do not appear to have been close; in 1632, Livesey unsuccessfully tried to recover Hollingbourne 'through a trick of law', rather than paying for it, and Sir John's will left it to a distant relative.
Livesey's marriage to Elizabeth Clinton-Fiennes (died 1666) produced two daughters, Deborah and Anne (1634–?), who later married Sir Robert Sprignell (1622–1688). His baronetcy was confiscated in 1660.
Career
Details on Livesey's life prior to 1640 are limited, other than the purchase of a baronetcy in 1627 and his appointment as Justice of the Peace in 1637. Known as a devout Puritan his marriage connected him to Theophilus Clinton, 4th Earl of Lincoln and William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, both leading opponents of Charles I. In February 1642, he organised and presented a petition to the Long Parliament on behalf of 'the Knights, Gentry and Commonalty of the County of Kent', which expressed support for the reforms carried out since November 1640.
When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, most of Kent supported Parliament and Livesey raised a regiment of local cavalry. His unit seized control of Rochester and Canterbury, although Livesey was forced to apologise for the damage they caused to the Cathedral. As part of the Army of the Southern Association commanded by Sir William Waller, he participated in the capture of Chichester in December 1642. He was also a member of the Kent County Committee which administered civil affairs, although he fell out with the more moderate members, allegedly due to the extremity of his views.
In late 1643, a Royalist army under Sir Ralph Hopton marched into Hampshire and Sussex, whose iron foundries were Parliament's main source of armaments. In late November, Livesey and 120 cavalry linked up with Waller at Farnham, where the Parliamentarian forces had concentrated to resist Hopton's advance. He missed the Battle of Alton on 13 December preventing an attack on Bramber, which controlled the road into East Sussex and Kent, important for its wealth and access to ports in Northern Europe. The furthest point reached by the Royalists, by January 1644 they had been forced back into Hampshire.