MYLLES (MILLS), John (c.1604-76), of Christ Church, Oxford and Doctors' Commons, London.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1604, 4th s. of Francis Mylles, clerk of the privy seal, of Pear Tree House, Bitterne, Hants by Alice, da. of Richard James of Newport, I.o.W. educ. Westminster; Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 12 Oct. 1621, aged 17, BA 1623, MA 1626, BCL 1631, DCL 1649; advocate, Doctors’ Commons 1650. unm.1

Offices Held

Judge-advocate (parliamentary) 1644-51, Jan.-Dec. 1660.2

Commr. for courts martial, London and Westminster 1646, visitation, Oxf. Univ. 1647; canon of Christ Church, Oxf. 1648-51, Mar.-July, 1660; j.p. Oxon. 1649-51, 1656-July 1660, Westminster 1656-Mar. 1660; commr. for security, Oxon, 1655-6, assessment, Oxf. Univ. Aug. 1660-1; chancellor, Norwich dioc. 1661-d.3

Biography

Mylles’s father abandoned an academic career at Oxford to enter the service of Sir Francis Walsingham, represented Poole and Winchester under Elizabeth and became clerk of the privy seal. His brother James succeeded to the office, and was chiefly responsible for the administrative arrangements for the forced loan in 1627. But the family was puritan in tendency, and Mylles himself, a civil lawyer, became a Presbyterian. Although not in orders, he was made a canon of Christ Church as one of the parliamentary visitors, but he was removed and forbidden to practise for refusing to take the engagement to the Commonwealth. He represented the university in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, and was restored to his military post by George Monck and to his canonry. An avowed supporter of the Restoration, he was re-elected to the Convention. But his time was fully occupied in administering the oath of allegiance to the soldiers of the disbanded army and he was inactive in Parliament, though doubtless a court supporter. He was named only to the elections committee and those for confirming civil marriages, settling the Dunkirk establishment, considering the petition of the financier Martin Noell about the Vaudois relief fund, and drafting the instructions for the disbandment commissioners. On 20 Dec. 1660, he offered a proviso to the post office bill to exempt the university letter carriers from nationalization, which, despite sneers at a scholar’s drafting, was accepted in an altered form.4

Mylles was obliged to conform to the Church of England in order to continue the exercise of his profession, and was made chancellor of Norwich by another Presbyterian convert, Bishop Reynolds, although he was ostracized by the cathedral chapter. He died in March 1676, the last of his family to sit in Parliament.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Leonard Naylor

Notes

  • 1. Al. Ox. 1015; PCC 40 Bence.
  • 2. CJ, iv. 35; CSP Dom. 1673, p. 35.
  • 3. Thurloe, iii. 595; CSP Dom. 1673, p. 34.
  • 4. Ibid. 1627-8, p. 440; 1673, pp. 34-35; Old Parl. Hist. xxiii. 60.
  • 5. Information from Dr Amos Miller; HMC 7th Rep. 468.