John Frescheville, 1st Baron Frescheville (4 December 1607 – 31 March 1682) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

soldier, landowner 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. T ...

at various times between 1628 and 1665 when he was created a peer and then sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

Biography

Frescheville was the son of Sir Peter Frescheville of Staveley, Derbyshire and his first wife Joyce Fleetwood, daughter of Thomas Fleetwood of The Vache, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire. History of Parliament Online - Frescheville, John
/ref> He matriculated at

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

on 23 June 1621, aged 14 and was a student of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1624. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Flooke-Fyrmin', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 510-541. Date accessed: 20 June 2012
/ref> In 1628, Frescheville 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 o ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He became Deputy Lieutenant of Derbyshire in 1630, holding the post until 1642. In 1634 he succeeded his father. He became a cornet of the bodyguard and a gentleman of the

Privy Chamber A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England. The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...

in 1639. In 1642 he was a

commissioner of array A commission of array was a commission given by English sovereigns to officers or gentry in a given territory to muster and array the inhabitants and to see them in a condition for war, or to put soldiers of a country in a condition for military ...

and became a captain of horse in the

Royalist 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 governm ...

army. He was a colonel from 1643 to 1644 and became governor of Welbeck in 1645. Although a Royalist, he had useful contacts among the Parliamentarians and was required to pay a modest fine of £287 10s.4d conditional upon endowing a local chapel. Just before the Restoration, Frescheville became involved in Royalist activities and crossed over to the Netherlands to obtain a fresh warrant for a peerage. He became Deputy Lieutenant again and a J.P. in July 1660, retaining the appointments to his death. From October 1660 to 1661 he was a captain the volunteer horse and in 1661 became captain of a troop in the Royal Horse Guards until 1679. In 1661 he was elected MP for Derbyshire again for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He was commissioner for assessment from 1661 to 1665,

commissioner for loyal and indigent officers The Commissioners for loyal and indigent officers were a body formed by a 1662 Act of the Parliament of England (14 Car. 2 c. 8) to provide relief to impoverished Royalist officers who had served in the English Civil War. After the English Resto ...

in 1662 and commissioner for corporations from 1662 to 1663. In 1665 he was commissioner for oyer and terminer on the Northern circuit. He was created Baron Frescheville of Staveley in the Peerage of England on 16 March 1665. He was governor of

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 ...

from 1670 until his death. Frescheville died at the age of about 75 and was buried at Staveley.

Family

Frescheville married firstly Bruce Nicholls, daughter of Francis Nicholls, barrister, of the

and Ampthill, Bedfordshire. She died without issue on 10 April 1629. He married secondly in April 1630, Sarah Harington, daughter of Sir John Harington of

Elmesthorpe Elmesthorpe (''sometimes spelt Elmersthorpe, Elmsthorpe or Aylmersthorpe'') is a village and civil parish in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. It is situated to the south-east of Earl Shilton, near to Hinckley on the A47 road. In ...

, Leicestershire and had three daughters: *Christian (13 December 1633 – 22 May 1653), married

Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton (c. 1630 – 27 February 1699), was an English nobleman, the son of John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester, and his first wife, Jane Savage. Career Paulet succeeded his father as the sixth Marquess of ...

*Elzabeth (1 January 1634 – 22 February 1690), married

Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holderness Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holderness (1622 – 13 December 1692) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1679 and later became a peer. Life Darcy was the eldest son of Conyers Darcy, 8th Lord Darcy of Knayth and 5 ...

*Frances, married Colonel Thomas Colepepper Sarah died on 25 June 1665. He married thirdly in December 1666, Anna Charlotte de Vic, daughter of Sir Henry de Vic, 1st Baronet, Chancellor of the Order of the Garter at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

. She served as a

Lady of the Bedchamber Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. They are ranked between the Mis ...

at the court of Queen Anne. She died without issue on 12 November 1717.

Monument

FrechevilleWindow ChurchOfStJohnTheBaptist Staveley Yorks

In the Frescheville Chapel within the Church of St John the Baptist, Staveley, survives a fine heraldic stained glass window, made in 1676 by Henry Gyles of York, in memory of the 1st Baron. In the centre is a shield of 11 quarters with inescutcheon of pretence of Harington (''Sable, a fret azure''), for Sarah Harington, his 2nd wife. In the two supporting lights of the window are four further shields: 1: Frecheville impaling Nicholls (''Azure, a fess between three lion's heads and necks erased or'') (his first marriage) top left; 2: Frecheville alone, bottom left; 3: Frecheville with an inescutcheon of Harington (his second marriage) bottom right; 4: Frecheville impaling De Vick (''Or, three caltraps sable, on a chief azure a lion's head and neck erased or'') (his third marriage) top right. Below the window is the tomb or monument of the 1st Baron inscribed:Collectanea Topographica
:''HERE LIES THE MORTAL PART OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE John, LORD FRECHEVILLE, BARON of stavELEY, GoverNouR OF YorkE, &c. DEscENDED FROM THE ANTIENT AND Noble FAMILIES of THE FRECHEVILLES, BARONs of crich, AND of THE MUSARDS, BARONS OF STAveLEY, who DEPARTED THIS LIFE MARCH 31st ANNO D'N1 1682, AGED 76 YEARs. ANNE-charlotte, Lady FREcheville, IN MEMORY of her DEAREST LORD AND HUSBAND, CAUSED THIS MONUMENT TO BE ERECTED''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frescheville, John 1607 births 1682 deaths Barons in the Peerage of England Peers of England created by Charles II English landowners Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Deputy Lieutenants of Derbyshire English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1661–1679 17th-century soldiers Members of the Parliament of England for Derbyshire Royal Horse Guards officers