Bennet Sherard of

Whissendine Whissendine is a village and civil parish in Rutland, England, north-west of the county town, Oakham. The population at the 2001 census was 1,189, increasing to 1,253 at the 2011 census. The village's name either means 'valley of Hwicce' or ...

JP DL (''baptised'' 24 August 1649 – ''buried'' 30 September 1701) was an English politician who served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Rutland.

Early life

Sherard was baptised on 24 August 1649. He was the second, but eldest surviving son of Hon. Philip Sherard (1623–1695), and the former Margaret ( née Denton) Eure, the widow of a son of Lord Eure and daughter of Sir Thomas Denton of

Hillesden Hillesden is a village and civil parish in north-west Buckinghamshire, England, about south of Buckingham. The village name is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and means 'Hild's hill'. In the Domesday Book of 1086 the village was recorded as ''Ilesdo ...

. His father was a younger son of

William Sherard, 1st Baron Sherard William Sherard, 1st Baron Sherard of Leitrim (1 August 1588 – 16 April 1640) was an English official who was created Baron Sherard in the peerage of Ireland by King Charles I in 1627. Early life Sherard was born on 1 August 1588 in Stapleford, ...

. His uncle was

Bennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard Bennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard DL (''baptised'' 30 November 1621 – 15 January 1700) was a British politician and Irish peer. An influential landowner in Leicestershire and Rutland, he was returned to Parliament by the former county from 16 ...

, who sat as MP for Leicestershire and served as

Lord Lieutenant of Rutland The ancient position of Lord-Lieutenant of Rutland was abolished on 31 March 1974. Between 1 April 1974 and its reestablishment on 8 April 1997 Rutland came under the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. Since 1690, all lord-lieutenants have also b ...

. His nephew was

Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough (9 October 1677 – 16 October 1732) (created Viscount Sherard in 1718, and Earl of Harborough in 1719) was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Early life Born on 9 October 1677, he was the second, bu ...

. He was educated at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, graduating in 1666.

Career

Sherard was Commissioner for Assessment for Rutland from 1679 to 1680 and from 1689 to 1690,

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

and

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

in 1690. He served as Justice of the Peace for Rutland from 1689 until his death, Deputy Lieutenant of Rutland from 1690 until his death. He served as Captain of Militia Horse by 1697 until his death in 1701. He succeeded to his father's estates in 1695. In 1699, he settled the manor of Hellewell on his eldest son Philip. After his death in 1701, he left him the rest of his estates. Sherard succeeded to his father's seat (which he had long held except during James II's Parliament). Although an inactive Member of the Convention, he was appointed to nine committees and was added, along with his uncle, to the Committee of Inquiry into the delay in raising the

siege of Derry The siege of Derry in 1689 was the first major event in the Williamite War in Ireland. The siege was preceded by a first attempt against the town by Jacobite forces on 7 December 1688 that was foiled when 13 apprentices shut the gates ...

. After the recess he was among those appointed to consider the bill for restoring corporations.

Personal life

By 1679, Sherard was married to Dorothy (née Fairfax) Stapylton (1655–1744), the widow of Robert Stapylton of

Wighill Wighill is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is near the River Wharfe and east of Wetherby, West Yorkshire. The village has one public house, the White Swan Inn, which reopened in 2009 after a ...

(a son of

Philip Stapleton Sir Philip Stapleton of Wighill and of Warter-on-the-Wolds, Yorkshire (1603 – 18 August 1647) was an English Member of Parliament, a supporter of the Parliamentary cause during the English Civil War. His surname is also sometimes spelt Stapylto ...

) and daughter of

Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (30 December 1631 – 13 April 1688) of Denton, Yorkshire was a Scottish peer and politician. He was the grandson of Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He was born the son of Henry Fair ...

and Frances Barwick (daughter of Sir Robert Barwick). Together, they were the parents of four sons and six daughters, including: *

Philip Sherard, 2nd Earl of Harborough Philip Sherard, 2nd Earl of Harborough ( – 20 July 1750), of Whissendine, Rutland, was a British landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1710 and later succeeded to the peerage as Earl of Harborough. Early ...

(–1750), who married Anne Pedley, daughter of Nicholas Pedley (son and heir of Sir

Nicholas Pedley Sir Nicholas Pedley (17 September 1615 – 6 July 1685) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1656 and 1679. Pedley was the son of the Reverend Nicholas Pedley of Huntingdonshire and his wife Susan Brath ...

Serjeant-at-Law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are wri ...

). * Margaret Sherard, who married

The Most Rev. The Most Reverend is a style applied to certain religious figures, primarily within the historic denominations of Christianity, but occasionally in some more modern traditions also. It is a variant of the more common style "The Reverend". Anglic ...

John Gilbert,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

. Sherard died in 1701 and was buried at St Andrew's Church, Whissendine on 30 September 1701. His son Philip sat for Rutland as a Whig from 1708 to 1710, and succeeded as the

Earl of Harborough The Earldom of Harborough was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1719 for Bennet Sherard, who had previously been made Baron Harborough (1714) and Viscount Sherard, with the viscountcy ending with the death of its original hol ...

in 1732. Lady Dorothy and their son Philip are also buried at St Andrew's.

References

External links

SHERARD, Bennet (1649-1701), of Whissendine, Rutland
at the

History of Parliament Online 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 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherard, Bennet 1649 births 1701 deaths Bennet English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1695–1698 Deputy Lieutenants of Rutland