John Pickering

Colonel John Pickering, baptised 3 December 1615, died 24 November 1645, was a member of the landed gentry from Northamptonshire who served with the Parliamentarian army in the First English Civil War. Like his elder brother Sir Gilbert Pickering, a close ally of Oliver Cromwell, he was a religious Independent, known for his devout faith and radical views. Appointed colonel of an infantry regiment in the New Model Army, he died of fever at Ottery St Mary on 24 November 1645. Personal details John Pickering, baptised 3 December 1615, was born in Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire, second son of Sir John Pickering (1585–1628), and Susannah Dryden (d.1661). The Pickering family were known to be devout Puritans, and Sir John was arrested in January 1627 for refusing to pay "loans" imposed by Charles I. Although released from prison a few months later due to illness, he died in January 1628. Pickering's elder brother, Sir Gilbert (1611–1668), was MP for Northamptonshire from 1640 to 1659. Considered to be Oliver Cromwell's closest civilian ally, he sat on the English Council of State under The Protectorate, and was appointed Lord Chamberlain in 1655. Pickering also had a younger brother, Edward (1617–1698), and a sister Mary (1615–?); he never married, and does not appear to have had children. Career Pickering attended Oundle School before entering St Catharine's College, Cambridge, then known for its Puritan teachings. He graduated in 1631, and in October 1634 began legal studies at Gray's Inn; prior to the outbreak of the First English Civil War in August 1642, he was employed by Parliament as diplomatic liaison with their Covenanter allies in Scotland, a role he continued into 1643.