STRANGWAYS, John (1636-76), of Milborne Port, Som. and Melbury Sampford, Dorset.

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

Constituency

Dates

1661 - 6 Apr. 1676

Family and Education

b. 15 Oct. 1636, 1st s. of Giles Strangways, and bro. of Thomas Strangways and Wadham Strangways. educ. Wadham, Oxf. 1655; L. Inn 1658. m. (1) 4 July 1672 (with £5,000), Anne (d. 3 Dec. 1675), da of Arthur Capel, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham, s.p.; (2) 13 Mar. 1676 (with £3,000), Mary, da. of John Penruddock of Compton Chamberlayne, Wilts., wid. of William Jackman of Shroton, Dorset, s.p. suc. fa. 1675.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Dorset 1661-74; freeman, Lyme Regis 1662; commr. for recusants, Dorset 1675; col. of militia ft. and dep. lt. 1675-d.; steward, manors of Fordington and Ryme 1675-d.2

Biography

Strangways’s uncle, Sir Lewis Dyve, sat for Bridport in 1625-6, and his father represented the borough in the Long Parliament. He was returned on the family interest in 1661, and included by Lord Wharton among his friends, to be managed by Sir Richard Onslow. An inactive Member, he was appointed as ‘Mr Strangways’ to 32 committees in the Cavalier Parliament, including that for the conventicles bill in 1664. Sir Thomas Osborne included him among the Members to be engaged for the Court by Buckingham in 1669. He served on the committee to consider the bill for the appropriation of the customs to the use of the navy in the spring session of 1675. He was sent the government whip in the autumn, though Sir Richard Wiseman was doubtful of his support, perhaps because his first marriage had brought him under the influence of his brother-in-law, (Sir) Henry Capel. Strangways died on 6 Apr. 1676, four months after his first wife’s death and less than a month after his second marriage. He seems to have had a penchant for the daughters of martyred Cavaliers, and certainly bestowed an ample jointure on his second bride. The bulk of his estate, valued at £5,000 p.a., was inherited by his next brother Thomas Strangways, with lands valued at £500 p.a. going to Wadham Strangways.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Dorset RO, Melbury Sampford par. reg.; D124 (family); Richmond Par. Reg. (Surrey Par. Reg. Soc. i), 153; Lyme Regis mss B6/11, f. 24; Beaufort mss, Strangways to Lady Worcester, 4 Dec. 1675; Mar. Lic. (Harl. Soc. xxiii), 192.
  • 2. Hutchins, ii. 8; CSP Dom. 1673-5, p. 381; 1675-6, p. 66.
  • 3. HMC 7th Rep. 467; Dorset RO, D124 (family).