OLDFIELD (OWFIELD), William (1623-64), of Elsham, Lincs.

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

Constituency

Dates

c. Oct. 1645
1661 - Oct. 1664

Family and Education

b. 1 July 1623, 1st s. of Sir Samuel Owfield, Fishmonger, of Covent Garden, Westminster and Upper Gatton, Surr. by Katherine, da. and h. of William Smith, Mercer, of Thames Street, London. educ. Emmanuel, Camb. 1639. m. (1) 13 Nov. 1655, Mary, da. of Maurice Thomson, merchant, of Mile End Green, Mdx., 2s.; (2) lic. 13 May 1662, Anne, da. of William Hawkins of Mortlake, Surr., s.p. suc. fa. 1643.2

Offices Held

Commr. for defence, Lincs. 1645, assessment, Lincs. 1645-50, Aug. 1660-d., Surr. 1647-9, 1661-d.; j.p. Lincs. (Lindsey) 1647-?48, Mar. 1660-d., Surr. Mar. 1660-d.; commr. for sequestration, Surr. 1648, militia, Surr. and Lincs. 1648, Mar. 1660, sewers, Lincs. 1658-9, 1660.

Biography

Oldfield’s grandfather was a wealthy London merchant whose estate amounted to over £22,000 in 1611. Oldfield’s father acquired Upper Gatton in 1624, and represented the borough in four Parliaments. A member of the popular party, he offered £1,000 as security for the 1640 loan and was knighted in the following year. Oldfield succeeded his father as a recruiter to the Long Parliament, but was secluded at Pride’s Purge.3

Oldfield was a Presbyterian, being marked as a friend by Lord Wharton in 1660. At the general election he was involved in a double return at Gatton, where he received the same number of votes as Thomas Turgis and Roger James. The election was declared void by the House on 5 May and there is no evidence that Oldfield stood at the by-election on 19 June. He was returned to the Cavalier Parliament with Turgis, but was appointed to only nine committees, including those for the confirmation of decrees made over the Ancholme level and for the estate bill of (Sir) John Monson. His last committee was the elections committee for the third session of the Cavalier Parliament. A nuncupative codicil was added to his will on 8 Oct. 1664, and he died before the proving of his mother’s will on 10 Nov. His sons were still alive in 1675, but by 1679 the Gatton interest had passed to his first wife’s brother, Sir John Thompson.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / J. S. Crossette

Notes

  • 1. Did not sit after Pride’s Purge, 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1660.
  • 2. Manning and Bray, Surr. ii. 235; PCC 104 Audley; Reg. of St. Dionis Backchurch (Harl. Soc. iii) 31; W. B. Bannerman, Gatton Par. Regs. 6; PCC 136 Bruce; Guildhall RO 10091/25.
  • 3. Keeler, Long Parl. 291; D. Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 98.
  • 4. Shaw, Eng. Church, ii. 434; PCC 117, 136 Bruce, 57 Bence.