Family and Education

bap. 25 Mar. 1623, 1st s. of John Nanfan of Birtsmorton by Mary, da. of Edward Fleet alias Waldegrave of Worcester. educ. Balliol, Oxf. 1640, I. Temple 1647. m. 15 Nov. 1660, Catherine (d. 8 Dec. 1702), da. and coh. of Sir George Hastings of Smithfield, London, 1da. suc. fa. 1677.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Worcs. 1664-80, 1689, j.p. 1678-d., dep. lt. 1690-bef. 1701.2

Biography

Nanfan was descended from an illegitimate son of Sir Richard Nanfan (d.1507), to whom the family estate of Birtsmorton was bequeathed. His father, though nominated to the commission of array, did not act, but Nanfan compounded in 1651 for his delinquency in the first Civil War, and paid a fine of £80 on his small estate. His father held local office throughout the Interregnum; he represented the county in the second Protectorate Parliament, the first of the family to sit, and was narrowly defeated at Worcester in 1661; but apart from a visit to France in 1658, nothing further is known of Nanfan himself until the exclusion crisis. He was returned unopposed for the county in 1681 on the nomination of Thomas Foley II; but he can hardly have been a rabid exclusionist since he remained on the commission of the peace, and was elected for Worcester with court support in 1685. He left no trace on the records of either Parliament. In 1688 the King’s electoral agents recommended him for re-election as a court candidate of ‘good character and interest’. When his son-in-law Lord Coloony (Richard Coote) joined the Prince of Orange, Nanfan disclaimed responsibility, alleging that his daughter’s marriage had been made without his consent. He is not known to have stood after the Revolution and died on 4 June 1704. He was buried at Birtsmorton, the last of his family to sit in Parliament.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: Edward Rowlands / Geoffrey Jaggar

Notes

• 1. Trans. Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. x. 220; St. Dionis Backchurch (Harl. Soc. Reg. iii), 36.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1690-1, p. 165.
• 3. Trans. Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. x. 218-20; VCH Worcs. iv. 31; Townshend’s Diary (Worcs. Rec. Soc.), i. 33, 70; ii. 70, 78, 85; HMC 5th Rep. 299-300; Cal. Comm. Comp. 2785; CSP Dom. 1657-8, p. 553; 1685, p. 23; Bagford Ballads ed. Ebsworth, ii. 1000; Prot. Intell. 28 Feb. 1681; HMC Hastings, ii. 184.