BAXTER, John (d.c.1611).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1601
1604

Family and Education

?s. of Henry Baxter of Cannock, Staffs. educ. ?G. Inn 1565; ?New Inn; ?M. Temple 1568, called 1585.

Offices Held

Gaoler, Derbys. 1588; steward, Derby 1599; clerk of the peace, Derbys. by 1606.

Biography

The assumption has been made that the 1601 Derby MP was the Mr. Baxter who in 1599 became steward of Derby after serving as county gaoler for a number of years. He may have been the John Baxter who entered Gray’s Inn in 1565, or the one who went to the Middle Temple in 1568 as late of New Inn and as son of Henry Baxter, gentleman, of Cannock, in Staffordshire. The second is more likely, in view of Baxter’s connexions with John Manners of Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, who described him in his will, made in February 1609, as one of his ‘very loving friends’ and bequeathed him a gold ring. However, he predeceased Manners, for in May 1611 William, Lord Cavendish, later 1st Duke of Newcastle, wrote to Sir John Manners recommending a candidate to fill the clerkship of the peace in Derbyshire left vacant by Baxter’s death. There is earlier evidence that the Manners family enjoyed some influence in the town of Derby.

J. C. Cox, Derbys. Annals, ii. 4; R. Simpson, Coll. Hist. Derbys. 87; Quarter Sessions Rolls (Staffs. Rec. Soc.) v. 1603-6, p. 320; HMC Rutland, i. 266, 355, 431; PCC 82 Wood.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.E.M.

Notes