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Charles Worsley (24 June 1622 – 12 June 1656) was an English soldier and politician. He was an ardent supporter of Oliver Cromwell and was an officer in the
Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
army during the English Civil War and the
Commonwealth of England The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...
. He sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and governed a district during the Rule of the Major-Generals.


Biography

Worsley was the son of Ralph Worsley, of The Platt,
Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, Fall ...
and his wife Isabel Massy, daughter of Edward Massy of Manchester.''Townships: Rusholme'', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 303–309. Date accessed: 12 January 2011
/ref> He was a parliamentary captain in Lancashire in 1644. By 1650 he was lieutenant colonel of a regiment raised in Lancashire for Cromwell. In 1651 he was employed in the reduction of the Isle of Man. Worsley commanded the detachment used in the expulsion of the Long Parliament in 1653 and took charge of the " bauble" when Cromwell ordered it to be removed. In 1654, Worsley was elected the first Member of Parliament for Manchester in the First Protectorate Parliament. During the Rule of the Major-Generals, Worsley governed a district consisting of
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...
, Lancashire and Staffordshire. He confiscated the property of
Royalists 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 governme ...
, put Roman Catholics in jail, suppressed horse-racing, and promoted the public good according to his own ideals. He died suddenly in 1656 at the age of 33 and was buried in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.


The Worsley family of Platt Hall

A branch of the Worsley family settled at Platt Hall, Lancashire, now in
Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wi ...
in the City of Manchester. The hall was bought by Ralph Worsley (1625) from the Platt family. Ralph Worsley's father, Charles, was the great-grandson of Sir Geoffrey Worsley of Boothes and a kinsman of the Worsleys of Worsley Hall (from whom derived the Worsleys of Appuldurcombe and of Hovingham). The family of Charles Worsley remained at Platt Hall until 1906, when it was sold to the Manchester Corporation, the city then encroaching on its estate. Elizabeth Tindal-Carill-Worsley, who sold the estate, was the granddaughter of
Francis Sacheverel Darwin Sir Francis Sacheverel Darwin (17 June 1786 – 6 November 1859) was a physician and traveller who was knighted by King George IV. Francis Galton and Charles Darwin were his nephews. Biography Early life Francis Sacheverel was a son of Erasm ...
, son of
Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...
. She married Nicolas Tindal of Aylesbury, a great grand-nephew of Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, Lord Chief Justice of England from 1829 – 1843. Their grandson, Group Captain Nicolas Tindal-Carill-Worsley (known as Tindal), was a bomber pilot in the Second World War and a major instigator of the " Great Escape". His son, Charles Tindal, is the current representative of the family.


Notes


References

* * ;Attribution * (see also main entry lxiii 32) *


Further reading

* * 1622 births 1656 deaths English generals Roundheads Burials at Westminster Abbey Charles Worsley English MPs 1654–1655 Members of the Parliament of England for Manchester {{England-mil-bio-stub