Richard Shuttleworth (1587–1669) 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. ...

variously between 1640 and 1659. Gawthorpe new

Shuttleworth was the son of Thomas Shuttleworth and his wife Anne Lever, daughter of Richard Lever. In 1607 he inherited the family estates of Gawthorpe from his uncle, the Rev Lawrence Shuttleworth. John Burke ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain Volume 3''"> John Burke ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain Volume 3''
/ref> He served as

High Sheriff of Lancashire The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales. The High Sheriff of Lanca ...

for 1618 and 1637 and in April 1640 was elected as

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 Preston 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 ...

. He was re-elected in November 1640 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 ...

and sat until 1648 when he was possibly secluded or chose not to sit after

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

. In 1654 Shuttleworth was re-elected for Preston 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 for Preston 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 ...

in 1656 and for the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a powe ...

in 1659. During the interregnum, Shuttleworth was a leading magistrate for Blackburn hundred with John Starkie of Huntroyde and was frequently recorded as officiating at marriages. He supported the Parliamentarian side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, serving as a colonel in the parliamentary army.W A Abram ''Parish of Blackburn:County of Lancaster A History of Blackburn Town and Parish''
/ref> Shuttleworth died at the age of 82. He had married Fleetwood Barton, daughter of Mary and Richard Barton of Barton-in-Amounderness with whom he had eight sons and four daughters,

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 ...

, Nicholas, Ughtred, Barton, John, Edward, William, Thomas, Anne (died in infancy) Margaret, Anne and Ellinor. Four of his sons fought in the Parliamentary army in the Civil War. His son Richard was MP for Clitheroe.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shuttleworth, Richard 1607 births 1689 deaths High Sheriffs of Lancashire Roundheads English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1659