John Pym

John Pym (* 1584 in Cannington, Somerset, † December 8, 1643 ) was a lawyer and spokesman of the parliamentary party in the House of the time of Charles I.

Pym was educated at Oxford and was first elected in 1614 in the British House of Commons. As Puritans he opposed the policies of Charles I and his adviser, the Anglican Bishop William Laud.

When Charles I tried to introduce in the Church of Scotland Anglican customs, rose the Scots. Charles I needed money for the campaign, which was to approve the House. At the instigation of Pym, the House of Commons adopted but before that, in November 1641, the Great Remonstrance, a notice of appeal against the government of King Charles, in a scrutiny of the Parliament was called on the government for the first time. Also, Pym urged that the king at least every three years, the Parliament had convened and could raise only with the consent of taxes.

The King was released on January 4, 1642 in person with an armed guard in the House of Commons to arrest Pym, who was but already fled. The procedure of the king became the trigger of the English Civil War in the spring of 1642. Pym, who died the following year, took part in the conflict no longer a decisive role.