WHITELOCK, BULSTRODE [SSNE 4438]

Surname

WHITELOCK, WHITELOCKE, WHITLOCK

First name

BULSTRODE

Title/rank

AMBASSADOR

Nationality

ENGLISH

Social status

GENTRY

Text source

Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605-1675) was the son of Sir James Whitelocke. From 1626 he was a member of Parliament in England and was involved in the political turbulence of the times during the 1640s. He served as the Cromwellian ambassador to Sweden between 1653-4, and as leader of British foreign policy during the Cromwellian protectorate. Whilst in Sweden he spent time in Gothenburg where he met Governor David Sinclair [SSNE] Colonel John Nairn [SSNE 3189] and the former Royalist John Maclean [SSNE 1631]. His audience with Queen Christina took place on the 23rd of December. Colonel Potley [SSNE 3273] accompanied the ambassador as a translator

Historical Manuscripts Commission 58; Bath I-III; Swedish Riksarkiv, Svenske Sandebuds till Utlandske Hof och Deras Sandebud till Sverige, 1841, p.84'; L. Bittner and L. Gross, Reportorium der diplomatischen vertreter aller lander, vol. 1, 1648-1715 (Oldenburg and Berlin, 1936), p.198; G. M. Bell, A Handlist of British Diplomatic Representatives 1509-1688 (London, 1990); Dictionary of National Biography; Spalding, Diary of Whitelocke, pp.301-2.

English Civil War

Service record

ENGLAND, SWEDEN

Arrived 1653-09-14

Departed 1654-07-07

Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY