however, a further postponement, and meanwhile, as the business of the King's Bench was at a standstill, one of the three judges being with the king and another in the Tower, the two houses, 'taking into consideration that Judge Berkeley had carried himself with modesty and humility, and inoffensively to both houses,' invited him to act as judge for the Michaelmas term. On 10 Sept. following he was brought to trial, and adjudged to pay a fine of 20,000l. within six weeks, to be deprived of the office of judge, and rendered incapable of holding any place or receiving any honour in the state or commonwealth, and to be imprisoned in the Tower during the pleasure of the lords. As however there pleasure of the lords. As, however, there was an urgent need of ready money for the payment of he subsidy to the Scotch, he was allowed his liberty and an abatement of half the sum on his volunteering immediate payment (Clarendon, vii. 262). The remainder of his life was spent in retirement at Spetchley, but not without molestation, for before the battle of Worcester the Scotch presbyterians, though employed in the service of Charles II, robbed him of a large sum of, money and burned his mansion to the ground, their motives being partly religious animosity, partly a love of plunder, and partly to prevent the occupation of the mansion by Cromwell. According to Habington (Worcesterskire MS, in library of the Society of Antiquaries, quoted in Granger's Letters, 259, and in Nash's Collections of Worcestershire, ii. 359), Berkeley converted the stables into a dwelling house, and resided there during the remainder of his life. Lloyd states that 'he died heartbroken with grief anno 1649 (Memoirs, 95), but the date on his tombstone is 5 Aug. 1656. Nash gives the year 1692, which, though plainly impossible, has found its way into other books. He was buried in the church at Spetchley, where, in the south side of the chapel on a raised monument of black and white marble, is a figure of the judge in his robes (see the engraving in Nash's Collections for Worcestershire). According to Habington the likeness is an admirable one, and was taken from a plaster cast after death. There are engraved portraits of the judge by Hollar, by Powle, and by some other person. That of Hollar bears a close resemblance to the figure on the monument. By his marriage to Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Conyers, of East Barnet, Hertfordahire, he left; one son Thomas.
Whitelocke characterises Berkeley as 'a very learned man in our laws, and a good orator and judge, moderate in his views except in his desire for court favour.' Lloyd, in much more eulogistic terms, as was to be expected refers to him as 'the greatest master of maxims in his time,' and 'a person whose worth was set in his pedigree as a rich diamond in a fair ring.' The founder of the hospital in Worcester, in Foregate Street, was not Judge Berkeley, as is frequently stated, but a grandson of the same name. The judge, however, left a rent-charge of about 5l. 10s. annually to be distributed among the poor. He also gave twenty-three timber trees towards the rebuilding of the church at Spetchley, and was at a charge of more than 100l. for mending and increasing the ringing of the bells.
[Lloyd's Memoirs, 93-7; Whitelocke's Memorials; Rushworth's Historical Collection; Clarendon's History of the Rebellion; Granger's Letters. 217-20, 253-61; Granger's Biog. ii. 224-225; Nash's Collections for Worcestershire, ii. 358-60; Green's History of Worcester, ii. 61, 69; Chambers's Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire, pp. 108-113; Articles of Impeachment against Sir John Bramston, Knight, Sir John Berkley, Knight, &c., 1641; The True Copie of a Speech delivered by the Hon. William Perpoynt against Sir Robert Berkley. 1641; Foss's Judges of England.]
BERKELEY, ROBERT (1713–1804), political writer, was son of Thomas Berkeley of Spetchley, Worcestershire, by Mary, daughter and heiress of Davis, of Clytha, Monmouthshire. He published 'Considerations on the Oath of Supremacy,' and 'Considerations on the Declaration against Transubstantiation,' both addressed to Dr. Josiah Tucker, dean of Gloucester. These were the result
of their frequent conversations, and led to a friendly correspondence between them. It is presumed that Berkeley was the author of several other works, and that the catholic nobility and gentry were principally stimulated by him to present their petition to the king in 1778, which was followed by the repeal of the Act of the 11th William and Mary. The Rev. Thomas Phillips, author of the 'Life of Cardinal Pole,' resided as chaplain in the house of this gentleman, and there he wrote his celebrated work. Berkeley married first Anne, sister and co-heir of John Wyborne of Flixton, Norfolk; secondly, Catharine, daughter of Thomas Fitzherbert, of Swinnerton, Staffordshire; and thirdly, Elizabeth, daughter of Peter Parry, of Twysog, in Denbighshire. Dying without issue on 20 Dec. 1804, he was succeeded in the family estates by his nephew, Robert Berkeley, of Spetchley.
[Burke's Hist. of the Landed Gentry (1837), i. 471; Burke's Dict. of the Landed Gentry (1868), 90; Chambers's Illustr. of Worcestershire Biog. 501.]
