Sir John Shurley (1568 – 25 April 1631) 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 1625. Shurley was the son of Thomas Shurley of

Isfield Isfield is a small village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex in England, located north-east of Lewes.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publish ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, by his first wife Anne Pelham, daughter of

Sir Nicholas Pelham Sir Nicholas Pelham (1650 – 8 November 1739) was a British politician. The third son of Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet (but the first by Thomas' third wife Margaret), Pelham was educated at Christ Church, Oxford. Pelham was knighted on 20 ...

Laughton, East Sussex Laughton is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The village is located five miles (8 km) east of Lewes, at a junction on the minor road to Hailsham (B2124). It appears in the Domesday Book, and there ...

and Anne Sackville; and great-grandson of

John Shurley Sir John Shurley (died 3 August 1527) was an English noble who held the financial office of Cofferer to the King during the reign of Henry VIII. He was married twice. Firstly to Parnell (or Petronella) Grandford, daughter of John Graunford, ...

(died 1527) who held the office of

Cofferer The Cofferer of the Household was formerly an office in the English and British Royal Household. Next in rank to the Comptroller, the holder paid the wages of some of the servants above and below stairs, was a member of the Board of Green Cloth, ...

to King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. Sir

George Shurley Sir George Shurley (1569–1647) was an English-born judge who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Uniquely among the holders of that office, he ranked as junior in precedence the to Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas.Ball, F ...

Lord Chief Justice of Ireland The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge i ...

, was his younger brother. Through his mother, he had a useful family connection to

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

: his grandmother was a first cousin of

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

. He matriculated on entry to

Hart 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 22 June 1582, aged 14. He was a student of the

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 an ...

in 1591. He succeeded his father in 1579 and was knighted on 11 May 1603. In 1593 he was elected MP for

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

, in 1597 for

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Horsham District, Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the ...

and in 1604 for

Bramber Bramber is a former manor, village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It has a ruined mediaeval castle which was the ''caput'' of a large feudal barony. Bramber is located on the northern edge of the South Downs ...

. He was appointed

High Sheriff of Surrey The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066. At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635). 1066–1228 (High Sheriffs of Surrey only) 1229– ...

and

for 1616–17. In 1625, 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

.'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Scadden-Sheyne', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 1322-1350. Date accessed: 8 May 2012
/ref> Shurley died at Lewes at the age of about 62. He had married firstly his cousin Jane Shurley, daughter of Sir Thomas Shurley, and secondly Dorothy Goring, daughter of George Goring of

Danny House Danny is a Grade I listed Elizabethan red brick mansion near Hurstpierpoint in West Sussex, England. It lies at the northern foot of Wolstonbury Hill and may be regarded as one of the finest stately houses in Sussex, with 56 bedrooms and 28 a ...

, Sussex and Mary Everard, and widow of the wealthy ironmaster Sir Henry Bowyer. Her husband praised Dorothy as being "the kindest of stepmothers" to his children by Jane. He was survived by five daughters from his first marriage but had no surviving son, and Isfield passed to his brother George's son Robert, and later by marriage into the Radcliffe family. Sir John's best-known daughter was Jane (died 1666), who married as her third husband the leading statesman

Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles PC (31 October 1598 – 17 February 1680) was an English statesman, best remembered as one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest by Charles I in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War. When fighti ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shurley, John 1568 births 1631 deaths Alumni of Hart Hall, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple English MPs 1625 High Sheriffs of Surrey High Sheriffs of Sussex People from Isfield