John Southby (1594–1683) was an English 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. ...

from 1654 to 1656. Southby was the son of Richard Southby of

Carswell Manor Carswell Manor is a Jacobean country house at Carswell in the civil parish of Buckland in the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire). It is just north of the A420 road between Swindon and Oxford Oxford () is a city in Englan ...

in the parish of Buckland in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

(now

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

) and his wife, Jane, the daughter of Edward Keate of Lockinge in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). His father died when he was twelve and he inherited the manor which he is considered responsible for rebuilding in the first half of the 17th century. He 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 Berkshire and was

High Sheriff of Berkshire The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

in 1647. 'Parishes: Buckland', A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4 (1924), pp. 453–460. Date accessed: 9 July 2011
/ref> In 1654, Southby 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

in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Hou ...

. He was re-elected MP for Berkshire 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 ...

Southby married Elizabeth Wiseman daughter and heiress of William Wiseman of Steventon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). Their son

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

was also an MP.W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southby, John 1594 births 1683 deaths 17th-century English landowners High Sheriffs of Berkshire People from Buckland, Oxfordshire Members of the Parliament of England for Berkshire English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658