MAINWARING, John (1656-1702), of Baddiley, Cheshire.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Feb. 1701
Dec. 1701

Family and Education

b. 8 May 1656, 4th but o. surv. s. of Thomas Mainwaring. educ. Brasenose, Oxf. 1671. m. 28 Sept. 1676, Elizabeth, da. of Roger Whitley of Peele Hall, Cheshire, 5s. (2 d.v.p.) 2da suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. 28 June 1689.1

Offices Held

Freeman, Chester 1680, alderman Aug. 1688-d.; commr. for assessment, Chester 1689, Cheshire 1689-90; dep. lt. Cheshire Nov. 1688-d., Flints. by 1701-d.; commr. for superstitious uses, Lancs. 1693; j.p. Cheshire and Flints. by 1701-d.2

Biography

Mainwaring was prominent among the Duke of Monmouth’s supporters during his Cheshire progress in and orders were given to search his house for arms after the Rye House Plot. When Chester received a new charter in 1684, he was specifically debarred from office. In 1685 he stood for the county with Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Bt. They were unsuccessful, and their petition was never reported.3

Mainwaring’s nomination as alderman of Chester in August 1688 suggests that he was regarded as a possible Whig collaborator. But during the Revolution he accompanied Lord Delamer (Henry Booth) on his march to Nottingham, and he was returned to the Convention as knight of the shire. An inactive Member, he was appointed to no more than eight committees, of which the most important were to inquire into the expenses of the war, and to consider the bill for restoring corporations; but it was more probably George Mainwaring who was reckoned a supporter of the disabling clause. He remained a court Whig under William III, but died in a debtors’ prison on 4 Nov. 1702, the last of his family to serve in Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

HMC 10th Rep. IV, 363.

  • 1. Ormerod, Cheshire, i. 484.
  • 2. Chester corp. assembly bk. 2, f. 191v; CSP Dom. 1687-9, p. 256; T27/14/16.
  • 3. Cal. Treas. Bks. vii. 1581; CSP Dom. 1682, pp. 387, 396-7; HMC 10th Rep. IV, 363; HMC 8th Rep. pt. 1 (1881), 361.
  • 4. Add. 38695, f. 86; Chester corp. assembly bk. 4, f. 554.