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SNEYD, William II (c.1643-1708), of The Birches, Burslem, Staffs.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1643, 2nd s. of William Sneyd I. m. 3 June 1668, Sarah, da. and h. of Edward Withyhall of the Waterhouse, Leek, Staffs., at least 1s.1
Offices Held
Alderman, Newcastle 1685-7.
Biography
Unlike his elder brother Ralph, who stood for Newcastle as an exclusionist in 1681, Sneyd seems to have been a Tory. In the new charter of February 1685 he was nominated alderman and justice of the peace for Newcastle, four miles from his home, and he defeated a Whig at the general election in April. But he left no trace on the records of James II’s Parliament. As an opponent of the King’s religious policy he was removed from the corporation in 1687. There is no evidence to suggest that he took part in politics after the Revolution, although he did write to the Earl of Shrewsbury in November 1689 on behalf of the corporation and lessees in Newcastle under James II’s charter. He was buried at Keele on 23 May 1708. His grandson was returned for Lichfield as a Tory in 1718, but unseated on petition.2