Sir William Fleetwood (156313 December 1630) 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 1584 and 1628. Missenden Abbey - geograph

Fleetwood was the eldest son of

William Fleetwood William Fleetwood (1 January 16564 August 1723) was an English preacher, Bishop of St Asaph and Bishop of Ely, remembered by economists and statisticians for constructing a price index in his ''Chronicon Preciosum'' of 1707. Life Fleetwood w ...

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mary ...

, Buckinghamshire and his wife Marian Barley, daughter of John Barley of Kingsey, Buckinghamshire. He was admitted at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1584 and was readmitted in 1592 after some dispute. In 1584, Fleetwood 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 Preston where his father was the recorder. In 1586 he was elected MP for

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Counc ...

. History of Parliament Online - William Fleetwood
/ref> Fleetwood succeeded his father in 1594 to considerable estates, including the

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

of Great Missenden. He became J.P. for Berkshire and Buckinghamshire by 1597. He was surveyor of lands in north parts, Duchy of Lancaster in 1603 and was knighted in the same year. In 1604 he was elected MP for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

. He was elected MP for Buckinghamshire again in 1621 and was

High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire The High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Anglo-Saxons, Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. High Sheriff, Sheriff is the olde ...

for 1622–23. He was re-elected MP for Buckinghamshire in 1624 and again in 1628, and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Fleetwood died at the age of 66 at Great Missenden and buried at Great Missenden parish church. Fleetwood married Anne Barton, daughter of Ralph Barton of

Smithills Hall Smithills Hall is a Grade I listed manor house, and a scheduled monument in Smithills, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the slopes of the West Pennine Moors above Bolton at a height of 500 feet, three miles north west of the ...

, near Bolton, Lancashire, and had seven sons and seven daughters. His wife died in 1621.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleetwood, William 1563 births 1630 deaths Members of the Middle Temple Politicians from Preston, Lancashire High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire Place of birth missing English MPs 1584–1585 English MPs 1586–1587 English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1628–1629