Arthur Haselrig (1601-7 January 1661) was an English politician who served in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1659. He was one of the five members of Parliament whom King Charles I of England attempted to arrest in 1642, and he served as a Parliamentarian commander in the English Civil War before opposing Oliver Cromwell's authoritarian rule and supporting the restoration of King Charles II of England.
Biography[]
Arthur Haselrig was born in Noseley, Leicestershire, England in 1601, and he was elected to Parliament in 1640. On 3 January 1642, King Charles I of England sent troops to arrest Haselrig, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, John Pym, and William Strode for treason, but they were tipped off by Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, allowing for them to escape. During the English Civil War, he raised a troop of horse for the Earl of Essex and fought at the Battle of Edgehill; he was shot three times at the Battle of Roundway Down, but the bullets bounced off his armor. He later supported Oliver Cromwell in his dispute with the Earl of Essex and Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, and he was appointed Governor of Newcastle on 30 December 1647. He was antagonized by Cromwell's attempt to dismiss Parliament, however, and he refused Cromwell's offer of a seat in the House of Lords. On Cromwell's death, he refused to support Richard Cromwell, and he supported the Parliament at the time of the restoration of the House of Stuart's monarchy. Haselrig was imprisoned at the Tower of London after the restoration, and he died there in 1661.