Sir John Wolstenholme, 1st Baronet (died 1670) was an English politician who sat in the

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in 1640. He supported the

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side in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

Biography

Wolstenholme was the son of Sir John Wolstenholme (died 1639) and his wife Catherine Fanshaw, daughter of John Fanshawe of Fanshawe Gate Hall. He became a customs farmer with his father and was knighted by King Charles I.

William Betham William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

''The Baronetage of England, or the History of the English Baronets ..., Volume 2''
/ref> In 1620, Wolstenholme bought a house called Clay Hall from Christopher Hatton's widow, Alice Fanshawe. He was a Virginia commissioner before the government and lobbied for a return to the original charter. In April 1640, he was elected Member of Parliament for

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in the

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. He supported the king in the Civil War, selling property and incurring debts to provide finance for the Royalist cause. As a result, he was then fined by

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. He and his father's partners in the customs farming business were required to pay £150,000 which led to the sale of his estates. His son Henry and brother-in-law Sir Thomas Dallison were both killed in the Civil War. After the Restoration, he became a farmer of customs again and was given a patent for collecting taxes on outbound goods in the

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. He was created a baronet, of London, by King Charles II in 1664.

Death

Wolstenholme died in 1670 and was buried on 15 July at

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the List of highest points in London, highest point ...

in St John's Church, which had been built by his father.''Stanmore Magna'', The Environs of London: volume 3: County of Middlesex (1795), pp. 391–403
British-history.ac.uk. Accessed 5 January 2011. Wolstenholme married Ann Dallison of Laughton, Lincolnshire. His son,

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, succeeded to the baronetcy.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolstenholme, John Date of birth unknown Year of birth unknown 1670 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Cavaliers English MPs 1640 (April)