John Alured, 1607-51

Yorkshire puritan, ally of Fairfax and regicide

John Alured was born into a powerful Puritan family of Hull in Yorkshire. He inherited his family estates in 1628. Despite his background, Alured is said to have led a dissolute life in London until his marriage to Mary Darley in 1631, when he reformed under the influence of the Darleys' chaplain, the godly Puritan divine Thomas Shepard.

Alured became an investor in the Providence Island Company and supported the Puritan magnates Lord Brooke and Lord Saye-and-Sele in their opposition to the Bishops' Wars (1639-40). He was elected MP for Hedon in Yorkshire in both the Short and Long Parliaments.

On the outbreak of civil war in 1642, Alured was commissioned a captain of horse under the Earl of Essex, then commanded a regiment in the army of Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax in Yorkshire. He fought at Adwalton Moor in 1643 and was probably at Marston Moor in 1644. Alured accompanied Sir Thomas Fairfax to London in February 1645 when he went to take up his appointment as commander of the New Model Army.

Appointed to the High Court of Justice, Alured attended the King's trial and was a signatory of the death warrant. He died in 1651.

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