John Bargrave, was an English author and collector and a canon of Canterbury Cathedral.
Background
Bargrave was born in Kent in 1610, the son of Captain John Bargrave and Jane Crouch. His father had fought in the war between the English and the Spanish and had returned to Bridge to raise a family. And the daughter of London haberdasher, Giles Crouch, who later built and impressive family home known as Bifrons at nearby Patrixbourne.
Education
Bargrave was first educated at The King"s School, Canterbury and then at Saint Peter"s College at Cambridge. Bargrave became librarian there and then a fellow of the college in 1637. Bargrave"s uncle Isaac was a strong supporter of the monarchy and thus the Cavaliers and at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 he was imprisoned.
He was released the following year but died soon after and John Bargrave was ejected from the fellowship of the college.
Career
The Bargraves had recently come to be considered local gentry and this had resulted in the marriage of Bargrave Snr. Bargrave (Jnr) was a nephew of Isaac Bargrave, Dean of the Canterbury Cathedral. Thereafter, Bargrave devoted his time chiefly to travelling across the European continent.
He was again at Rome in 1650, 1655, and 1659-1660 and observed the mechanisations (though not in any official capacity) of the papal conclave of 1655.
He experienced, first-hand, the power of the Roman Inquisition and was privy to the goings-on of the papal court in Rome. Its cardinals, secular leaders and scandals.
After the Restoration he obtained several preferments in Kent and in 1662 was made a canon of Canterbury. Immediately after this promotion he departed with Archdeacon Selleck on the dangerous errand of ransoming English captives at Algiers, for whose redemption ten thousand pounds had been subscribed by the bishops and clergy.
He acquitted himself successfully of his mission, and spent the rest of his life at home, dying at Canterbury on 11 May 1680.
In 1665 Bargrave married the well-connected widow, Frances Osborne.