John Freke (c. 1591 – 28 November 1641) 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 ...

between 1614 and 1624. Freke was the son of Sir Thomas Freke of

Iwerne Courtney Iwerne Courtney (), also known as Shroton, is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. It lies approximately north-west of Blandford Forum. It is sited by the small River Iwerne between Hambledon Hill to the south-west and the ...

, Dorset and Elizabeth Taylor. He studied at

Hart Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

on 31 October 1605, aged 14. He then studied law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1610. In 1614, he was elected Member of Parliament for Wareham. In 1621 he was elected MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. He was re-elected MP for Weymouth in 1624. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Flooke-Fyrmin', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 510-541. Date accessed: 19 November 2011
/ref> He purchased

Cerne Abbey Cerne Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in 987 in the town now called Cerne Abbas, Dorset, by Æthelmær the Stout. History The abbey was founded in 987 by Æthelmær the Stout. Ælfric of Eynsham, the most prolific writer in Old Engl ...

from the Crown in 1625 and was knighted in 1631. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Dorset The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient high sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. Until 1567 the Sheriff of Somerset was also the Sheriff of Dorset. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Governmen ...

for January to October, 1636. He married twice: firstly Arundell, the daughter of Sir George Trenchard of Wolveton, Charminster, Dorset, with whom he had a son, who predeceased him and a daughter, and secondly Jane, the daughter and coheiress of Sir John Shurley of Isfield,

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and widow of Sir

Walter Covert Sir Walter Covert (c. 1544 – 27 January 1632) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons several times during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Covert was the eldest surviving son of Richard Covert of Slaugha ...

of Slaugham, Sussex with whom he had 2 sons and 2 daughters. His youngest son,

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

was also an MP. His other surviving son George made a very advantageous marriage to Lady Abigail Digby, daughter of

John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol (February 1580 – 21 January 1653),David L. Smith, 'Digby, John, first earl of Bristol (1580–1653)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. was an ...

. His widow remarried the leading statesman Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles. She died in 1666.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freke, John 1590s births 1641 deaths Alumni of Hart Hall, Oxford English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 High sheriffs of Dorset Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Wareham Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis Members of the Middle Temple