John Newdigate (1600 – 29 November 1642) 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. ...

from 1628 to 1629.

Life

Newdigate was the second child and eldest son of Sir John Newdigate of

Arbury Hall Arbury Hall () is a Grade I listed country house in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, and the ancestral home of the Newdigate family, later the Newdigate-Newdegate and Fitzroy-Newdegate families. History The hall is built on the site of the ...

Chilvers Coton Chilvers Coton is an area of the town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England, around one mile south of the town centre. Chilvers Coton was historically a village and civil parish in its own right and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as � ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

and his wife Anne Fitton, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Fitton, 1st Baronet of

Gawsworth Gawsworth is a Civil parishes in England, civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,705. It is one of the eigh ...

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 t ...

. He was the brother of

Sir Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet Sir Richard Newdigate, 1st Baronet (17 September 1602 – 14 October 1678). was an English judge, landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660. Family Richard Newdigate was a younger son of Sir John Newdigate (5 March 1571 ...

.William Duncombe Pink, Alfred B. Beaven ''The parliamentary representation of Lancashire, (county and borough), 1258-1885, with biographical and genealogical notices of the members, &c.'' (1889)
/ref> and succeeded his father in 1610, inheriting Arley Hall, which his financially embarrassed grandfather had accepted in exchange for the family seat at Harefield, Middlesex. He matriculated at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

on 6 November 1618, aged 18. He was a student of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

and of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1620. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Warwickshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of the English county of Warwickshire. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most ...

for 1625–26 and was a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for the county from 1630 to 1636. In 1628, he 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

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Nabbes-Nykke', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 1050-1083. Date accessed: 3 June 2012
/ref> John Newdigate married Susanna, the daughter of

Arnold Lulls Arnold Lulls (floruit 1580–1625) was a Flemish goldsmith and jeweller in London. He served the court and made several pieces intended as diplomatic gifts. Career He was born in Antwerp, and settled in London before 1585, and became a denizen of E ...

a London goldsmith in 1621. The courtier Sir John Tonstal was a witness to the marriage settlement. Tonstal may have made an introduction between the apparently wealthy goldsmith and a gentry family in some financial difficulty. There were difficulties with the payment of the dowry to Newdigate, and a court case, suggesting that Lulls at this time was in financial difficulty himself. The couple lived at

Ashtead Ashtead is a large village in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, approximately south of central London. Primarily a commuter settlement, Ashtead is on the single-carriageway A24 between Epsom and Leatherhead. The village is on t ...

, and after 1633 rented a house at Croydon. They were both friends of

Gilbert Sheldon Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death. Early life Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of Ellastone, on 19 ...

, who later became

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

.Vivienne Larminie, ''Wealth, Kinship, and Culture: The 17th-Century Newdigates of Arbury'' (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1995), pp. 164-5, 168. Newdigate died at the age of about 42 and was buried at Harefield. Newdigate had no surviving children and left the mortgaged Arbury estate to his brother Richard, who subsequently prospered to the degree that he was able to buy back the family's Harefield seat.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Newdigate, John 1600 births 1642 deaths English MPs 1628–1629 Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Inner Temple High Sheriffs of Warwickshire Sheriffs of Warwickshire Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Liverpool