John George (1594–1677) was an English lawyer 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. ...

at various times between 1626 and 1678. George was the eldest surviving son of Robert George of Baunton and his wife Margaret Oldisworth, daughter of Edward Oldisworth of Gloucester. He was baptised on 15 September 1594.History of Parliament Online - George, John
/ref> He was awarded BA from

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 6 July 1614. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Gabel-Gilmore', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 542-568. Date accessed: 27 June 2012
/ref> He entered

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 ...

on 1 July 1615 and was called to the bar on 23 May 1623. He was Lord of the Manor of

Baunton Baunton is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, located about two miles north of Cirencester on the River Churn. There is archaeological evidence of human habitation around the village in Prehistori ...

and a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for Gloucestershire.W R Williams ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester''
/ref> In 1626 George 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

Cirencester Cirencester (, ; see below for more variations) is a market town in Gloucestershire, England, west of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswolds. It is the home of ...

, and was re-elected in 1628 until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640, he was re-elected MP for Cirencester in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

and in November 1640 he was re-elected for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. In August 1642, he formed a garrison for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at Cirencester, but was captured by

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...

in the spring of 1643 and taken to Oxford. The Earl of Forth threatened to execute George if Colonel Fiennes, the parliamentary governor of Bristol, executed his prisoners. Although Fiennes did put his prisoners to death, the Earl of Forth relented and spared George. George thereupon changed his views and supported the king. He was accordingly disabled from sitting in parliament and retired to his estates. He became a bencher of his inn in November 1653 and Treasurer in November 1658. After the Restoration, George was re-elected MP for Cirencester in 1661 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 ...

and sat until his death. George probably died in December 1678 aged 85 and was buried at Baunton on 6 January 1679. George married Elizabeth Tirrell, daughter of John Tirrell of St Ives, Huntingdonshire and had five sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George, John 1594 births 1677 deaths Alumni of Magdalen Hall, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1661–1679 English barristers 17th-century English lawyers Lawyers from the Kingdom of England