Sir William Button, 1st Baronet (1584 – 16 January 1655) was an English landowner 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 ...

at various times between 1614 and 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 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 ...

. Button was the son of William Button, of Alton and of Tockenham Court, Wiltshire, and his wife Jane Lambe, daughter of John Lambe, of East Coulston, Wiltshire. He matriculated at

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

, on 13 February 1601, aged 16. He was knighted at

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

on 15 July 1605. From 1611 to 1612 he was

High Sheriff of Wiltshire This is a list of the sheriffs and (after 1 April 1974) high sheriffs of Wiltshire. Until the 14th century, the shrievalty was held ''ex officio'' by the castellans of Old Sarum Castle. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Go ...

. In 1614, he was elected Member of Parliament for Morpeth. He was possibly admitted to

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on 2 February 1618. He 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 18 March 1622. In 1628 he was elected MP for

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. He supported the king in the

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and was fined £2,880 on 2 January 1647.George E. Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage, Vol. 1'' (1900)
/ref> The family owned properties in Wiltshire at Alton Priors, Lyneham, Tockenham and North Wraxall. Among his properties was Tockenham Court manor (then in Lyneham, now in Tockenham parish); his residence there was looted by Parliamentary troops in 1643 and 1644. Button died in 1655 and was buried at North Wraxall where there is a monumental inscription to his memory. Button married in 1611 or earlier Ruth Dunch, daughter of Walter Dunch of

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in ...

, Wiltshire. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son William.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Button, William 1584 births 1655 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Cavaliers Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford High sheriffs of Wiltshire People from Morpeth, Northumberland English MPs 1614 English MPs 1628–1629 Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Wiltshire