Sir Alexander Radcliffe (1608 – April 1654) 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. T ...

from 1628 to 1629. He supported the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

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 ...

. Radcliffe was the son of Sir John Radcliffe of Ordsall Lancashire. He inherited estates at Tockholes, but lost them in 1641 during the Civil War. He was appointed Knight of the Order of the Bath in 1625, when he was seventeen years old. In 1628, 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 o ...

for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided for eleven years to rule without parliament.William Duncombe Pink, Alfred B. Beaven ''The parliamentary representation of Lancashire, (county and borough), 1258-1885, with biographical and genealogical notices of the members, &c.'' (1889)
/ref> Radcliffe supported the King in the Civil War and in 1642 he executed a

Commissioner of Array A commission of array was a commission given by English sovereigns to officers or gentry in a given territory to muster and array the inhabitants and to see them in a condition for war, or to put soldiers of a country in a condition for military ...

. He was later committed to the

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by Parliament for assisting the Earl of Derby in the Siege of Manchester. Radcliffe died at the age of 46.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, Alexander 1608 births 1654 deaths English MPs 1628–1629 Knights of the Bath Cavaliers Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Lancashire