WENTWORTH, Ruisshe (c.1651-86), of Sarre, Kent.

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

Constituency

Dates

12 July 1678
Mar. 1679
Oct. 1679

Family and Education

b. c.1651, 3rd s. of Sir George Wentworth (d. c.1666) of Cleve Court, Kent by Anne, da. and coh. of Sir Francis Ruisshe of Sarre. educ. Hayes Mdx. (Dr Thomas Triplett); Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 27 Mar. 1667, aged 15. m. lic. 20 Mar. 1680, Susanna (d. 23 Sept. 1681), da. of James Adye of Barham, Kent, 1da. suc. bro. 1671.1

Offices Held

Biography

Wentworth’s ancestors were substantial landowners in Yorkshire by the reign of Edward I, but his uncle, the great Earl of Strafford, became the first of the family to enter Parliament when he represented the county in 1614. His father was returned for Pontefract to both the Short and Long Parliaments, but disabled as a Royalist in 1644. The estate in Thanet which he had acquired by marrying an heiress was discharged from sequestration in 1649 on payment of a mere £50 because of his heavy debts, though it was reputed to be worth £1,000 p.a.2

From 1677 Wentworth had been actively assisting his cousin, John Wentworth of Woolley, in his attempts to gain electoral control of the borough of Aldborough by unseating Sir John Reresby. While this campaign was in progress the second seat was vacated by the discharge of (Sir) Solomon Swale. At the by-election Wentworth defeated the court candidate Sir Thomas Mauleverer and was marked ‘doubly worthy’ on Shaftesbury’s list. An inactive Member in the last session of the Cavalier Parliament he was appointed to the committee of elections and privileges, added to that to examine Coleman’s papers, and acted as teller against excusing Sir John Duncombe from defaulting on a call of the House. His cousin was prepared to support his re-election but he preferred to stand for Liverpool, where his return as a kinsman of the Earl of Derby was described as ‘certain’, rather than risk a contest at Aldborough. Classed as ‘worthy’ by Shaftesbury, he duly voted for exclusion. He was not appointed to any committee in 1679. A moderately active Member in the second Exclusion Parliament he was nominated to six committees, including those to bring in a bill for regulating parliamentary elections, to examine the charges against Sir Robert Peyton, to consider the bill for uniting the King’s Protestant subjects and to take the accounts of the commissioners for disbanding the army. He had no committee appointments in the Oxford Parliament and made no recorded speeches during his parliamentary career. He died on 8 June 1686 and was buried at Nutstead, Kent. His only daughter and heir married the sixth Lord Howard of Effingham.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Foster, Yorks. Peds.; PCC 105 Penn.
  • 2. J. Hunter, South Yorks. ii. 89; Hasted, Kent, x. 251, 257; Keeler, Long Parl. 384-5; Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 434-5; PCC 88 Lloyd.
  • 3. HMC Var. ii. 388-95; Reresby, Mems. 148-50.