Sir Francis Wortley, 1st Baronet (1591–1652) was an English poet and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

between 1624 and 1626. 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 gove ...

cause 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 ...

Life

Wortley was the son of Sir Richard Wortley, of

Wortley Hall Wortley Hall is a former stately home in the small village of Wortley, located south of Barnsley, Yorkshire. It has been owned by individuals and organisations associated with British trade unions and the wider labour movement since 1951. It o ...

, Yorkshire and his wife Elizabeth Boughton daughter of Edward Boughton, of Cawston, Warwickshire (afterwards Countess of Devonshire). He succeeded his father in the family estates on 25 July 1603.George Edward Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage'' 1900
/ref> He matriculated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

on 17 February 1609, aged 17.'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Woodall-Wyvill', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 (1891), pp. 1674-1697. Date accessed: 22 May 2012
/ref> He was knighted at Theobald's on 15 January 1611 and was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on 29 June 1611. He was admitted to

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

on 1 August 1624. In 1624, he was elected Member of Parliament for

East Retford East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sunrise, Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact ...

in the

Happy Parliament The 4th Parliament of King James I was the fourth and last Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England, summoned on 30 December 1623, sitting from 19 February 1624 to 29 May 1624, and thereafter kept out of session with repeated pro ...

. He was re-elected MP for East Retford in 1625 and 1626. Wortley was a devoted supporter of the Royalist cause during the Civil Wars. At the outbreak of war on 22 August 1642, Wortley was one of four chief baronets chosen to raise the king's standard at Nottingham, effectively beginning the raising of the king's army. He raised a troop of horse and fortified his house at Wortley. He supported Charles II in the

Siege of Hull (1642) The first siege of Hull marked a major escalation in the conflict between King Charles I and Parliament during the build-up to the First English Civil War. Charles sought to secure the large arsenal held in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Y ...

. He was captured in 1644 at Wotton House, near Wakefield and imprisoned in the

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from 1644 to 1648. His estates were sequestrated and he was fined £500 on 24 April 1647. While in prison he published ''Characters and Elegies'' in 1646, and some other works. He was a friend of

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

, and contributed to ''Jonsonus Virbius'', in 1638.Ben Jonson, William Gifford (1816). ''The works of Ben Jonson...: with notes critical and explanatory, and a biographical memoir'', Volume 9, G. and W. Nicol
p. 409
/ref> Wortley died in 1653 and directed that he be buried with his father at Windsor.

Family

Wortley married firstly, Grace Brouncker, daughter of Sir William Brouncker of Melskaham, Wiltshire. He married secondly, after 1623 (her first husband died in 1624), Hester Eyre, widow of Christopher Eyre Alderman of London, and daughter of George Smithes, Alderman and Sheriff of London. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Francis.

References

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Life

Family

References

Further reading