Family and Education

b. ?1685, 1st surv. s. of William Fleetwood of Missenden by his 2nd w. Sarah, da. of Thomas Bridgwood, citizen and embroiderer of London, wid. of William Whorwood of St. James’s, Clerkenwell, Mdx. educ. Oriel, Oxf. 23 Mar. 1702, aged 16. m. 19 Jan. 1724, Elizabeth Seare, s.p. suc. fa. 1691.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Bucks, 1709-10.

Biography

John Fleetwood was descended from William Fleetwood, M.P., Queen’s serjeant and recorder of London, who acquired the reversion of the site of Missenden abbey in 1574.1 Succeeding as a child to an estate of £10,000 p.a.,2 he sat for the county as a Tory in the 1713 Parliament. Re-elected in 1715 unopposed on a compromise arranged by his cousin Lord Cheyne,3 the late Tory lord lieutenant, he voted against the Administration in all recorded divisions. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1721 as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.4 Never standing again, he died Aug. 1745.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

• 1. Lipscomb, Bucks. ii. 377; VCH Bucks. ii. 351.
• 2. HMC Portland, iv. 459.
• 3. Verney Letters of 18th Cent. i. 315-20.
• 4. Stuart mss 65/16.