John Coucher (born 1561) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. ...

variously between 1604 and 1648. Coucher was the son of John Coucher of Worcester. He was a citizen and weaver and was appointed first of the first assistants of the Clothier's Company on 23 September 1590. He was bailiff of Worcester in 1593 and 1595.W R Williams ''The Parliamentary History of the County of Worcester''
/ref> In 1604 Coucher was elected

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 of ...

for

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. He was re-elected MP for Worcester in 1614, 1621 and 1624. He was an alderman of Worcester in 1621. In 1628 he was re-elected again for Worcester and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Coucher was fined £10 on 4 March 1631 for not taking a knighthood at the coronation. At the age of 79, Coucher was re-elected MP for Worcester for the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

in April 1640 and again for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

in November 1640. He tried hard to get out of the election but could not. He probably never took his seat in the Long Parliament because of his age, and was constantly excused his attendance. He was still living in 1648.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Coucher, John 1561 births Year of death missing English merchants Business people from Worcester, England 16th-century English businesspeople Members of the Parliament of England for Worcester English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648