MAINWARING, George (1642-95), of Chester.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

bap. 10 Dec. 1642, 3rd surv. s. of Randle Mainwaring (d.1652), Mercer, of London by Elizabeth, da. of Humphrey Hawes, Clothworker, of London. m. 25 Apr. 1672, Elizabeth, da. of Edward Bradshaw of Chester, 9s. (1 d.v.p.) 3da.1

Offices Held

Common councilman, Chester 1671-6, sheriff 1672-3, alderman 1676-84, Aug. 1688-d., commr. for assessment 1679-80, 1689-90, lt. of militia ft. by 1681, mayor 1681-2.2

Biography

Mainwaring was the first cousin of Edward Mainwaring I. His father, ‘a beggarly train-band captain’ and one of the leading City radicals at the outset of the Civil War, rose to command the regiment; but he never achieved much prosperity, and in 1650 he was voted £200 p.a. by the Rump ‘in consideration of his faithful services’. Mainwaring himself settled in Chester as a merchant and married the daughter of a wealthy and armigerous alderman. He was probably an Independent in religion. As mayor, he was accused of obstructing proceedings against dissenters and of fomenting the riots during the Duke of Monmouth’s visit. In consequence he was specifically excluded from the corporation under the new charter of 1684. Like Roger Whitley, with whom he was associated, he became a Whig collaborator. He was nominated alderman in the 1688 charter, and appointed to manage the Cheshire elections in the court interest. On the landing of William of Orange, he subscribed to the oaths and the declaration against the Presbyterian Covenant, and was returned with Whitley to the Convention after a poll. An inactive Member, he was appointed to only seven committees, including those to prepare charges against James II’s treasury solicitors and the bill for restoring corporations, and it was probably he, rather than (Sir) John Mainwaring, who was a supporter of the disabling clause. He was defeated with Whitley at the general election, and did not stand again. He died on 14 Aug. 1695, and was buried at Holy Trinity, Chester. His son inherited Bromborough from the Bradshaws; but as country gentlemen this branch shared the general parliamentary eclipse of the Cheshire Mainwarings in the 18th century, and it was not until 1841 that a descendant, Townshend Mainwaring, entered the House as Member for Denbigh.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Gillian Hampson

Notes

  • 1. Ormerod, Cheshire, ii. 429; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xvii) 79; PCC 79, 110 Scrope; CSP Dom. 1655-6, p. 195.
  • 2. Chester corp. assembly bk. 2, ff. 171v, 183, 195-6; CSP Dom. 1687-9, p. 256.
  • 3. V. Pearl, London and the Outbreak of the Puritan Revolution, 323; CSP Dom. 1655-6, p. 250; 1682, pp. 92, 406; HMC 8th Rep. pt. 1 (1881) 361; R. Morrice, Entering Bk. 2, p. 295; Chester corp. mayors’ letters 4, no. 524.