Sir Arthur Mainwaring (c. 1580 – 1648) 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 ...

from 1624 to 1626.

Life

Mainwaring was the eldest son of Sir George Mainwaring of

Ightfield Ightfield is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 census was 529. Within the civil parish boundaries is another small village - Calverhall. Ightfield is situated in a rural area, w ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and Ann More, daughter of William More. Mainwaring, Arthur (1580–1648), History of Parliament
/ref> He was awarded BA from

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...

on 7 July 1598 and MA on 15 June 1601. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Mab-Marygold', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 956-982. Date accessed: 5 May 2012
/ref> He began a rise to prominence working for

Sir Thomas Egerton Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley, (c. 1540 – 15 March 1617), known as Lord Ellesmere or Lord Egert from 1603 to 1616, was an English nobleman, judge and statesman from the Egerton family who served as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor ...

, in whose household he was steward from 1602 to 1617.

John Payne Collier John Payne Collier (11 January 178917 September 1883) was an English writer and scholar. He was well known for publishing many books on Shakespeare. However, his reputation has declined as a result of the Perkins Folio forgery. Reporter and soli ...

published records by Mainwaring relating to a performance of ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

'' for

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II (1926–2022; ), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms * Queen B ...

at this period; these were later recognised as forgeries, however. A genuine connection with

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

was an attempt led by Mainwaring in 1614 to enclose lands at

Welcombe Welcombe is a village and civil parish on the coast of north Devon, England, just north of the border with Cornwall. It is part of the district of Torridge. The population taken at the 2011 census was 187. It is accessible via the A39 and has a ...

near

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

, defeated by local resistance. He was described as of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

when he was knighted at the

London Charterhouse The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Clerkenwell, London, dating to the 14th century. It occupies land to the north of Charterhouse Square, and lies within the London Borough of Islington. It was originally built (and ...

on 11 May 1603. Mainwaring also and concurrently became a courtier, carver in the household of

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King James VI and I and Anne of Denmark, Queen Anne. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; and Fr ...

from 1604. He was appointed

Clerk of the Pipe The Clerk of the Pipe was a post in the Pipe Office of the English Exchequer and its successors. The incumbent was responsible for the pipe rolls on which the government income and expenditure was recorded as credits and debits. The ''Dialogus de ...

at the Exchequer from 1610 to 1616. His financial position was improved when he became heir to Francis Wolley who died in 1609, despite litigation from family members. He became notorious as the lover of Anne Turner, hanged in 1615 for her part in the murder case of Sir Thomas Overbury. The relationship, seemingly tolerated by Anne's husband Dr. George Turner who died in 1610, led to children but no marriage. Arthur Wilson claimed that she bought powders from

Simon Forman Simon Forman (31 December 1552 – 5 or 12 September 1611) was an Elizabethan astrologer, occultist and herbalist active in London during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I and James I of England. His reputation, however, was severely tarnishe ...

to try to bring him to wed her. In 1624, Mainwaring was elected member of parliament for

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

for the

Happy Parliament The 4th Parliament of King James I was the fourth and last Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England, summoned on 30 December 1623, sitting from 19 February 1624 to 29 May 1624, and thereafter kept out of session with repeated pro ...

. He was re-elected MP for Huntingdon in 1625 and 1626. From 1628 to around 1642 he served as Lieutenant of

Windsor Forest Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...

. In 1641 the forest was the scene of disorder and poaching of the

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

, and he recommended firm action around

Egham Egham ( ) is a town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna Carta was ...

, which was however thwarted by local sympathies. He had objected at the beginning of the reign of

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

mills on the edge of Windsor Forest; later, in 1635, he was himself in the gunpowder business with Andrew Pitcairn.Hodgetts and Tullock, pp. 276–7
archive.org.
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mainwaring, Arthur 1648 deaths English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 Politicians from Shropshire Year of birth uncertain