John Crofts was an English 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 ...

in 1653 and in 1656. He fought in the

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

army 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 ...

. Crofts was of Nether Swell, near Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire. His origins are obscure, but he may have been the brother of James Crofts, Sheriff of Bristol. He was an active captain in the Parliamentary army during the Civil War.W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
/ref> In 1653, Crofts was elected Member of Parliament for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

in the Barebones Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Gloucestershire in 1656 for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first sess ...

. He was captain of the militia in Gloucestershire in 1659. In 1662 he was removed from the Common Council of Tewkesbury. Crofts married Anne Waterworth, a widow and daughter of Sir William Leigh of Longborow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crofts, John Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Roundheads English MPs 1653 (Barebones) English MPs 1656–1658 Politicians from Gloucestershire