Nevil Maskelyne (1611 – 30 August 1679) 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. ...

in 1660. Maskelyne was the son of Edmund Maskelyne of

Purton Purton is a large village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, about northwest of the centre of Swindon. The parish includes the village of Purton Stoke and the hamlets of Bentham, Hayes Knoll, Purton Common, Restrop, The Fox and Widham. Th ...

, Wiltshire, and his wife Catherine Davys, daughter of Richard Davys of Little Mylton, Worcestershire. He was a student of

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 1627. On the death of his father in 1630 he succeeded to an estate at Purton, where branches of the Maskelyne family had owned land since the 15th century. He avoided involvement in the Civil War, and did not hold any office until the eve of the Restoration. He had an interest at

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

, four miles from Purton, as lord of the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and of the borough. In 1660, 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

in the Convention Parliament where he made no speeches and was not named to any committee. He did not stand in 1661. He was awarded the grant of a weekly market and four fairs a year at Cricklade on 18 March 1662, after he reported that he had seized for the king some property of the regicide Sir

John Danvers Sir John Danvers (c. 1585–buried 28 April 1655) was an English courtier and politician who was one of the signatories of the death warrant of Charles I. Life Danvers was the third and youngest son of Sir John Danvers of Dauntsey, Wiltshire, ...

. In 1667 he endowed a parish charity and a Good Friday sermon. Maskelyne died at the age of about 68 and was buried at Purton; a marble wall monument is inside the church. He married firstly on 20 September 1630, Jane Norden, daughter of William Norden of

Rowde Rowde () is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire, on the A342 about northwest of Devizes. The parish includes the hamlet of Tanis. History The village now mainly consists of modern brick-built houses, but a number of 1 ...

, Wiltshire; they had two sons and a daughter. She died in 1633 (buried on 28 July). He married secondly on 7 September 1635, Sybil Jacob, daughter of Thomas Jacob of

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...

, Wiltshire, and they had four daughters. She died in 1652 (buried on 30 December).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maskelyne, Nevil 1611 births 1679 deaths English MPs 1660 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Cricklade Nevil