Bennet Sherard (MP) explained

Bennet Sherard
Honorific Suffix:JP DL
Office:Member of Parliament for Rutland
Term Start:1687
Term End:1698
Predecessor:Baptist Noel
Alongside:Sir Thomas Mackworth, Lord Burghley
Successor:Richard Halford
Birth Date:24 August 1649
Death Date:1701
Parents:Philip Sherard
Margaret Denton Eure
Children:10, including Philip Sherard, 2nd Earl of Harborough
Relatives:Robert Sherard, 4th Earl of Harborough (grandson)

Bennet Sherard of Whissendine JP DL (baptised 24 August 1649 – buried 30 September 1701) was an English politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Rutland.

Early life

Sherard was baptised on 24 August 1649. He was the second, but eldest surviving son of Hon. Philip Sherard (1623–1695), and the former Margaret (née Denton) Eure, the widow of a son of Lord Eure and daughter of Sir Thomas Denton of Hillesden.[1]

His father was a younger son of William Sherard, 1st Baron Sherard. His uncle was Bennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard, who sat as MP for Leicestershire and served as Lord Lieutenant of Rutland. His nephew was Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough.[2]

He was educated at The Queen's College, Oxford, graduating in 1666.

Career

Sherard was Commissioner for Assessment for Rutland from 1679 to 1680 and from 1689 to 1690, West Riding of Yorkshire and York in 1690. He served as Justice of the Peace for Rutland from 1689 until his death, Deputy Lieutenant of Rutland from 1690 until his death. He served as Captain of Militia Horse by 1697 until his death in 1701.

He succeeded to his father's estates in 1695. In 1699, he settled the manor of Hellewell on his eldest son Philip. After his death in 1701, he left him the rest of his estates.[3]

Sherard succeeded to his father's seat (which he had long held except during James II's Parliament).[3] Although an inactive Member of the Convention, he was appointed to nine committees and was added, along with his uncle, to the Committee of Inquiry into the delay in raising the siege of Derry.[4] After the recess he was among those appointed to consider the bill for restoring corporations.[3]

Personal life

By 1679, Sherard was married to Dorothy (née Fairfax) Stapylton (1655–1744), the widow of Robert Stapylton of Wighill (a son of Philip Stapleton) and daughter of Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and Frances Barwick (daughter of Sir Robert Barwick).[5] Together, they were the parents of four sons and six daughters, including:[3]

Sherard died in 1701 and was buried at St Andrew's Church, Whissendine on 30 September 1701. His son Philip sat for Rutland as a Whig from 1708 to 1710, and succeeded as the Earl of Harborough in 1732.[3] Lady Dorothy and their son Philip are also buried at St Andrew's.[8]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Rutland Record: Journal of the Rutland Record Society . 1988 . The Society . 16 July 2020 . en.
  2. Book: Doyle . James Edmund . The Official Baronage of England: Gainsborough-Oxford . 1886 . Longmans, Green . 110 . 16 July 2020 . en.
  3. Web site: SHERARD, Bennet (1649-1701), of Whissendine, Rutland. . www.historyofparliamentonline.org . . 16 July 2020.
  4. Book: The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1660-1690 (3 v.) . 1964 . H.M. Stationery Office . 978-0-436-19274-6 . 391 . 16 July 2020 . en.
  5. Book: Burke . John . The Royal Families of England, Scotland and Wales, with Their Descendants, Sovereigns and Subjects . 1851 . E. Churton . 58 . 16 July 2020 . en.
  6. Web site: Harborough, Earl of (GB, 1719 - 1859) . www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk . Heraldic Media Limited . 16 July 2020.
  7. 10692. Gilbert, John.
  8. Web site: Parishes: Whissendine Pages 157-165 A History of the County of Rutland: Volume 2. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1935. . British History Online . 20 July 2020.