Sir John Strangways (27 September 1585 – 30 December 1666) of

Melbury House Melbury House is an English country house in the parish of Melbury Sampford near Evershot, Dorset. The Grade I listed mansion is the home of the Honourable Charlotte Townshend, a major landowner in east Dorset, through her mother, Theresa Fox ...

Melbury Sampford Melbury Sampford is a village and civil parish northwest of Dorchester, in the Dorset district, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. In 2001 the parish had a population of 33. The parish touches East Chelborough, Evershot, Melbury Bub ...

, Somerset, and of

Abbotsbury Abbotsbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Dorset. The village is located around west southwest of Dorchester and inland from the English Channel coast. In the 2021 census the civil parish had a population of 451. A ...

in Dorset, 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 ...

variously between 1614 and 1666. 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 ...

side 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 ...

Origins

He was born on 27 September 1585, the 3rd but 2nd surviving son of John Strangways (c.1548-1593) of Melbury Sampford,

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 ...

,Ferris by his wife Dorothy Thynne, a daughter of Sir

John Thynne Sir John Thynne (c. 1515 – 21 May 1580) was the steward to Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c. 1506 – 1552), and a member of parliament. He was the builder of Longleat House, and his descendants became Marquess of Bath, Marquesses of ...

(c.1515-1580) of

Longleat Longleat is a stately home about west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. Longleat is set in of parkl ...

in Wiltshire, steward to

Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Viscount Beauchamp (150022 January 1552) was an English nobleman and politician who served as Lord Protector of England from 1547 to 1549 during the minority of his nephew King E ...

, a Member of Parliament, the builder of

Longleat House Longleat is a stately home about west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. A leading and early example of the Elizabethan prodigy house, it is a Grade I listed building and the seat of the Marquesses of Bath. Longleat is set in of parklan ...

and ancestor of the

Marquesses of Bath A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

Career

He was appointed

for 1612 and in 1614 elected Member of Parliament for

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. He was re-elected MP for Dorset in 1621 and 1624. In 1625 he was elected MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis and was re-elected MP for Weymouth in 1626. He was elected MP for Dorset again in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.History of Parliament Online - Strangways, John
/ref> In April 1640, Strangways was re-elected MP for Weymouth in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

and was re-elected for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

in November 1640. He supported the King's cause with great vigour and was disabled from sitting in parliament in September 1642. In 1645 he was captured at

Sherborne Castle Sherborne Castle (sometimes called Sherborne New Castle) is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited ...

and was committed to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

. He was allowed to compound for his liberty, and offered £7000 which was refused. In 1648 he was released from imprisonment and his son Giles remained as a hostage until his fine was paid.George Alfred Ellis ''The history and antiquities of the borough and town of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis''
/ref> In 1661 Strangways was elected an MP for Weymouth for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. With the exception of the Long Parliament, it was the longest-lasting English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring ...

remaining until his death in 1666.

Marriages and children

He married twice: *Firstly at some time before 1607 to Grace Trenchard (d.1652), a daughter of Sir George Trenchard of Wolveton,

Charminster Charminster is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England, situated on the River Cerne and A352 road north of the county town Dorchester. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 2,940 and also contains the hamlet of Ch ...

, Dorset, by whom he had issue three sons (of whom two predeceased him) and three daughters, including: **

Giles Strangways Giles Strangways (3 June 1615 – 20 July 1675) of Melbury House in Somerset, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons variously between 1640 and 1675. He fought on the Cavaliers, Royalist side ...

(1615-1675) of Melbury, eldest son and heir, MP. A

during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. **Howarda Strangways (daughter), probably named after

Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, (24 August 1561 – 28 May 1626), of Audley End House in the parish of Saffron Walden in Essex, and of Suffolk House near Westminster, a member of the House of Howard, was the second son of Thomas Howard ...

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

, Lord-Lieutenant of Dorset. She married firstly Edward Rogers, a brother of

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British-Italian architect noted for his modernist and constructivist designs in high-tech architecture. He was the founder at Rogers Stirk Harbour + ...

. She married secondly in 1624 Sir

Lewis Dyve Sir Lewis Dyve (3 November 1599 – 1669) was an English Member of Parliament and a Royalist adherent during the English Civil War. His surname is sometimes also spelt Dive or Dives. Life Dyve was born on 3 November 1599.

, MP for Bridport, Dorset, a step-son 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 ...

. *Secondly on 8 June 1653, he married Judith Throckmorton, a daughter of Francis Throckmorton of Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire, widow of Thomas Edwards, 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 ...

and of Wadhurst, Sussex, a member of the

Worshipful Company of Mercers The Mercers' Company, or the Worshipful Company of Mercers, is a livery company of the City of London in the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. Mercer comes from the Latin for merch ...

. Without issue.

Death

Strangways died at the age of 81.

Sources

*Ferris, John. P., biography of "Strangways, Sir John (1585-1666), of Melbury Sampford, Dorset", published in

History of Parliament The History of Parliament is a project to write a complete history of the United Kingdom Parliament and its predecessors, the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of England. The history will principally consist of a prosopography, in ...

: House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 198

*John. P. Ferris & Paul Hunneyball, biography of "Strangways (Strangwish), Sir John (1585-1666), of Melbury Sampford and Abbotsbury, Dorset", published in

: House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 201

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Strangways, John 1585 births 1666 deaths Politicians from Dorset Cavaliers Prisoners in the Tower of London High sheriffs of Dorset English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1661–1679 Members of the Parliament of England for Dorset Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis