William Pierrepont (c. 160717 July 1678) 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. ...

at various times between 1640 and 1660. He supported the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

cause 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 ...

Life

Pierrepont was the second son of

Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (6 August 158425 July 1643) was an English nobleman who joined the Royalist side in the English Civil War after some delay and became lieutenant-general of the counties of Lincoln, Rutland, Hunt ...

and his wife Gertrude Talbot, daughter of Hon. Henry Talbot of Burton Abbey, Yorkshire. He matriculated from

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

in 1624 and was admitted at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

on 1 April 1627. He was appointed

Sheriff of Shropshire This is a list of sheriffs and high sheriffs of Shropshire The sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the high sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibil ...

for 1638 In April 1640, Pierrepont 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

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

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 elected MP for Great Wenlock in 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 ...

in November 1640. He threw his influence on the side of peace and took part for the parliament in the negotiations with

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1643. Pierrepont was a member of the

committee of both kingdoms The Committee of Both Kingdoms, (known as the Derby House Committee from late 1647), was a committee set up during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the Parliamentarian faction in association with representatives from the Scottish Covenanters, aft ...

, and represented the parliamentary party during the deliberations at Uxbridge in 1645; but from that time, according to Clarendon, he forsook his moderate attitude, and contracted more bitterness and sourness than formerly. This statement, however, is perhaps somewhat exaggerated, as Pierrepont favored the resumption of negotiations with the king in 1647, and in the following year his efforts on behalf of peace at Newport, where again he represented the parliamentarians, brought upon him some slight censure from Cromwell. For his services at Newport he was thanked by Parliament; but he retired from active political life soon afterwards, as he disliked the purging of the

by Colonel Pride and the proceedings against the king. In spite of his moderate views Pierrepont enjoyed the personal friendship of Cromwell. He was elected MP for

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

in 1654 for 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 ...

. Although elected, he would not sit in the parliament of 1656, nor would he take the place offered to him in the Protector's House of Lords. When

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. On his father's death ...

succeeded his father, Pierrepont was an unobtrusive but powerful influence in directing the policy of the government, and after a short period of retirement on Richard's fall he was chosen, early in 1660, a member of the council of state but refused to take his seat when secluded members were readmitted to the Restored Rump. He was elected MP for Nottinghamshire in the Convention Parliament of 1660, and probably was instrumental in saving the lives of some of the parliamentary leaders. At the general election of 1661 he was defeated, and, spending the remainder of his life in retirement, he died in 1678.

Family

Pierrepont married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Harries, Bart., of

Tong Tong may refer to: Chinese *Tang Dynasty, a dynasty in Chinese history when transliterated from Cantonese *Tong (organization), a type of social organization found in Chinese immigrant communities *''tong'', pronunciation of several Chinese char ...

Castle,

, by whom he had five sons and five daughters: *Robert Pierrepont (died 1666), eldest son, was the father of

Robert Pierrepont, 3rd Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull Robert Pierrepont, 3rd Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull (c. 1660 – June 1682) was an English peer. The eldest son of Robert Pierrepont of Thoresby, Nottinghamshire, and his wife Elizabeth Evelyn, and the grandson of William Pierrepont of Thoresby, ...

, William Pierrepont, 4th Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, and

Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, (c. 16655 March 1726) was an English aristocrat, the third son of Robert Pierrepont of Thoresby, Nottinghamshire, and his wife Elizabeth Evelyn (daughter of John Evelyn), and the grandson of ...

; * Gervase Pierrepont (1649–1715), third son, was created

Baron Pierrepont Baron Pierrepont is a title that has been created four times in British history. The first creation came in the Peerage of England on 29 June 1627 when Sir Robert Pierrepont was created Baron Pierrepont, also being created Viscount Newark at th ...

in 1701, a title which became extinct on his death. *Frances Pierrepont (b. 1 September 1630 in Thoresby, Nottinghamshire, d. 23 September 1695 in London), daughter, married

Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, KG, PC (24 June 1630 – 26 July 1691), styled Lord Cavendish until 1676, and Viscount Mansfield from 1676, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1676, and then ...

, in 1652. *Grace Pierrepont, daughter, married

Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare (24 April 1633 – 16 January 1689) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660. He was styled Lord Haughton from 1637 until he succeeded to the title Earl of Clare in 1666. Life Holles was t ...

, on 9 July 1655.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierrepont, William 1600s births 1678 deaths High Sheriffs of Shropshire Lay members of the Westminster Assembly Younger sons of earls

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Roundheads English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1660 Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Members of Lincoln's Inn