LAWTON, John (1656-1736), of Lawton, Cheshire.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Family and Education

bap. 7 May 1656, 1st s. of William Lawton of Lawton by Hester, da. of Sir Edward Longueville, 1st Bt., of Wolverton, Bucks. m. (1) by 1679, Anne (d. 1 July 1717), da. of George Montagu of Horton, Northants., 7s. (6 d.v.p.) 8da.; (2) his cos. Mary, da. of Edward Longueville of Iver, Bucks., wid. of Sir Edward Longueville, 3rd Bt., of Wolverton, 1s. suc. fa. 1693.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Staffs. 1689-90, Cheshire 1690; mayor, Newcastle 1692-3; j.p. Cheshire 1695-d., Staffs. by 1701-d.; capt. of militia horse, Cheshire by 1697; steward, Newcastle manor 1698-1702, 1707-10, 1716-17; dep. lt. Cheshire and Staffs. by 1701-?d.2

Biography

Lawton’s ancestors took their name from a Cheshire manor, part of which had been in their hands since at least the reign of Henry III. A younger son sat for Callington in 1584 and for Chester 20 years later, but they were not a regular parliamentary family. Lawton’s father during the Civil War took shelter with the King’s forces in Shropshire, but evidence was given that he was ‘no designer, nor malicious’ in the royalist cause. Burdened with many children and debts of £4,523, he was allowed to compound for £680.3

Lawton and his father attended the Duke of Monmouth on his Cheshire progress in 1682. With the support of Sir John Bowyer he was returned in 1689 for Newcastle-under-Lyme, six miles from his home. An inactive Member of the Convention, he was named to only five committees, including two for attainting Jacobites. He did not vote for the disabling clause in the bill to restore corporations, but acted consistently as a court Whig in later Parliaments. He died on 10 June 1736, when his son was sitting for Newcastle as a government supporter, and inherited an estate of £1,800 a year.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: A. M. Mimardière

Notes

  • 1. Ormerod, Cheshire, iii. 17.
  • 2. Eg. 1626, f. 8; Somerville, Duchy of Lancaster Office Holders, 168.
  • 3. Ormerod, iii. 11; Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 786; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1024.
  • 4. Vis. Northants. (Harl. Soc. lxxxvii), 142; CSP Dom. 1682, p. 383; Staffs. Parl. Hist. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), ii. 169.