Sir John Backhouse, KB (1584 – 9 October 1649) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

from 1625 to 1629. He supported the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. Backhouse was the son of Samuel Backhouse of Swallowfield Park in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Borlase of

Little Marlow Little Marlow is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. History The Church of England parish church of Saint John the Baptist lies at the heart of the village, not far from the river and next to th ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. 'Parishes: Swallowfield', A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 3 (1923), pp. 267-274. Date accessed: 9 July 2011
/ref> In the early 17th century, he helped found the New River Company to bring a new water supply to the City of London. In 1625, he was elected Member of Parliament for

Great Marlow Great Marlow is a civil parishes in England, civil parish within Wycombe district in the England, English county of Buckinghamshire, lying north of the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the ...

and was re-elected MP for Great Marlow in 1626. He was appointed Knight of the Order of the Bath at the coronation of King Charles I in 1626, the year in which he inherited Swallowfield Park. In 1628 he was re-elected MP for Great Marlow and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Backhouse supported the King in the Civil War and as a result he was imprisoned and his estates were sequestrated. He died on 9 October 1649 and a monument was erected to his memory by his widow in Swallowfield Church. Backhouse married Flower (Flora), daughter of Thomas Henshawe and sister of Benjamin Henshawe of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

on 11 July 1615. They had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Backhouse, John 1584 births 1649 deaths English MPs 1625 17th-century English landowners People from Swallowfield Knights of the Bath Cavaliers London water infrastructure Thames Water English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629