John Crofts 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 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. ...

in 1653 and in 1656. He fought in the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

army in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Crofts was of

Nether Swell Lower Swell is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Swell, Gloucestershire, Swell, in the Cotswold District, Cotswold district, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is located at the River Dikler, one mile from Stow-on ...

, near

Stow-on-the-Wold Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman origin. The town was found ...

, Gloucestershire. His origins are obscure, but he may have been the brother of James Crofts, Sheriff of Bristol. He was an active captain in the Parliamentary army during the Civil War.W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
/ref> In 1653, Crofts 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

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in the

Barebones Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the ins ...

. He was re-elected MP for Gloucestershire in 1656 for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in t ...

. He was captain of the militia in Gloucestershire in 1659. In 1662 he was removed from the Common Council of Tewkesbury. Crofts married Anne Waterworth, a widow and daughter of Sir William Leigh of Longborow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crofts, John Year of birth missing Year of death missing Roundheads English MPs 1653 (Barebones) English MPs 1656–1658 Politicians from Gloucestershire