Sir Philip Mainwaring (1589 – 2 August 1661) 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. T ...

variously between 1625 and 1661. Mainwaring was the seventh son of Randall Mainwaring, of Peover, Cheshire and Margaret Fitton, daughter of Sir

Edward Fitton (the elder) Sir Edward Fitton the elder (31 March 1527 – 3 July 1579), was Lord President of Connaught and Thomond and the Vice-Treasurer of Ireland. Biography Fitton was the eldest son of Sir Edward Fitton of Gawsworth (d.1548) and Mary Harbottle, daught ...

of Gawsworth Old Hall and Ann Warburton. He was admitted at

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on 14 March 1609, and matriculated at Cambridge from Brasenose College, Oxford on 29 August 1610. He was awarded BA from Oxford in 1613 and entered Lincoln's Inn on 15 February 1614. In 1624 he was awarded MA at Cambridge on the visit of King Charles. Mainwaring was elected

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for

Boroughbridge Boroughbridge () is a town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is north-west of the county town of York. Until a bypass was built the town lay on t ...

in 1625 and 1626. He was elected MP for

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in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Van dyck thomas wentworth earl of strafford with sir philip mainwaring 1639-40

Van dyck thomas wentworth earl of strafford with sir philip mainwaring 1639-40

In 1634 Mainwaring became

Principal Secretary The Principal Secretary is a senior government official in various Commonwealth countries. * Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan * Principal Secretary to the President of Pakistan * Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Ind ...

to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Lord Strafford. Strafford's biographer refers to him as a "court hanger-on" who was disliked by many of Strafford's friends, but who had provided him with useful intelligence in the past, and who justified the Earl's trust by proving a diligent and loyal official, who remained faithful to his employer to the end. He was knighted at

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on 13 July 1634. He was an MP in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fran ...

for

Clonakilty Clonakilty (; ), sometimes shortened to Clon, is a town in County Cork, Ireland. The town is located at the head of the tidal Clonakilty Bay. The rural hinterland is used mainly for dairy farming. The town's population as of 2016 was 4,592. Th ...

from 1634 to 1635 and for Carysfort from 1640 to 1641. Mainwaring was elected MP for

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for the Short Parliament in April 1640. He was imprisoned as a staunch Royalist in 1650. After the

Restoration of Charles II The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to b ...

he applied unsuccessfully for the position of headmaster of Charterhouse School. In December 1660, Mainwaring was appointed to the Irish Privy Council. It was suggested that given his advanced years he should step down from his old office as Principal Secretary, but he held on firmly to his place. He was then elected MP for Newton in the

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in 1661, but died later that year. He never married.

References

* Charles Arnold-Baker, ''The Companion to British History'', London 2001, p. 845 (online at

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) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mainwaring, Philip 1589 births 1661 deaths Members of the Privy Council of Ireland English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 Irish MPs 1634–1635 Irish MPs 1639–1649 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1661–1679 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Wicklow constituencies