Sir John Ratcliffe or Radcliffe (22 February 1582 – 5 November 1627
History of Parliament article, which gives Radcliffe as standard spelling of his surname.) was an England, English soldier 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 ...

between 1614 and 1626. He was killed in action in France during the

Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré The siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, or siege of St. Martin's (French: ''siège de Saint-Martin-de-Ré''), was an attempt by English forces under George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, to capture the French fortress-city of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, ...

. Ratcliffe was the third son of Sir John Ratcliffe of Ordsall,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

who was an MP. In 1599, he was heir to his elder brother Alexander who died in action in Ireland, where John, aged sixteen, was also serving, and where another older brother had already been murdered, leaving him the family estates.W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
/ref> He was knighted 24 September 1599 on the sands by Sir Robert Gardiner's house in Dublin. He was admitted at

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 W ...

on 18 March 1606. From 1606 to 1610 he travelled in France and the Low Countries, and from that period until 1615 he also served as a captain with the Dutch army. During truces he went home to do legal business and he invested in the Virginia Company. Mary Radclyffe by William Larkin

In November 1614, Ratcliffe 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

Tewkesbury Tewkesbury ( ) is a medieval market town and civil parish in the north of Gloucestershire, England. The town has significant history in the Wars of the Roses and grew since the building of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stands at the confluence of the Ri ...

. He was elected MP for

in 1621 and again in 1624 and 1625. In 1626 he was elected MP for

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13 ...

. Ratcliffe resumed military service within the English army, being a captain of

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million yea ...

by 1624, and a lieutenant-colonel in 1625. On 8 September 1627, Ratcliffe was appointed a colonel in an invasion force under the command of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham which attacked the Isle of Rhe in order to relieve the

Siege of La Rochelle The siege of La Rochelle (, or sometimes ) was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–28. The siege marked the height of the struggle between the Catholics and the Pr ...

. He was killed during the

and the Duke was later forced to withdraw in defeat.

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With encyclopedic collections of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums between ...

has a portrait thought to depict his daughter Mary Ratcliffe, who married Sir John Stanhope, son of

Sir John Stanhope Sir John Stanhope (1559 – 1611) was an English knight and landowner, and father of Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield. Career John Stanhope was the son of Sir Thomas Stanhope (d. 1596) of Shelford Manor, Nottinghamshire, and Margare ...

of Elvaston.'Portrait of a Lady, formerly Mary Radclyffe', Denver Art Museum
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratcliffe, John 1627 deaths Place of birth missing Members of Gray's Inn People from Tewkesbury Members of the Parliament of England for Tavistock English soldiers English military personnel killed in action English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 17th-century soldiers 1582 births Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Lancashire Military personnel from Tavistock