William Fanshawe (1583 – 4 March 1634) 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. ...

between 1614 and 1625.

Life

Fanshawe was the second son of

Thomas Fanshawe Sir Thomas Fanshawe KB (1580 – 17 December 1631) was an English government official and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1629. Fanshawe was the second son of Thomas Fanshawe and first son by his second wife Jo ...

, of Ware Park, Hertfordshire and his second wife Joan Smyth, the daughter of Thomas "Customer" Smythe, of Ostenhanger.Pink, William Duncombe; Beaven, Alfred B. ''The Parliamentary Representation of Lancashire'' (1889), pp. 251–2
/ref>

Landowner

In 1619, Fanshawe purchased Parsloes Manor and 91 acres attached to it in what is now known as

Parsloes Park Parsloes Park is a 58 hectare public park in Dagenham in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is owned and managed by the borough council. A small area opposite the Wren Road entrance is managed for wildlife and designated as a Local Nat ...

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...

£1150 from Edward Osborne. The manor would remain in the Fanshawe family for the next 300 years.

Career

Fanshawe was Auditor for the

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is the private estate of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British sovereign as Duke of Lancaster. The principal purpose of the estate is to provide a source of independent income to the sovereign. The estate consists of ...

. In 1614 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 Lancaster and entered the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. In 1619, he acquired the manor of Parsloes,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, which was held by his descendants until 1917.Dagenham Local History Information Sheets
/ref> He was elected MP for

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

in 1621 and was re-elected MP for Clitheroe in 1624 and 1625. Fanshawe died at the age of 51. William Fanshawe was the progenitor of the Parsloes Branch of the Fanshawe family. Robert Fanshawe was a descendant of William.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fanshawe, William 1583 births 1634 deaths English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 Fanshawe family