Thomas Wentworth (Recorder of Oxford)

Thomas Wentworth (c. 1568 – 1628) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1604 and 1628. He was a vocal if imprudent defender of the rights of the House of Commons.

Wentworth was the third son of Peter Wentworth of Lillingstone Lovell in Oxfordshire, a prominent Puritan leader in Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth I. He was educated at University College, Oxford and became a member of Lincoln's Inn where he was called to the bar in 1594.^[1]

In 1604, Wentworth was elected Member of Parliament MP for Oxford. In Parliament he was an ardent and sometimes violent opponent of the Crown and of the abuse of royal prerogatives. He opposed the projected union of England and Scotland when it was discussed in 1607. He was appointed Recorder of Oxford in 1607 and held the post until 1623. He fell out with Oxford University, both for his activities in Parliament and his conduct as Recorder of Oxford, in particular his support for the City's desire to establish a police force to patrol the streets at night. This led to his being discommonsed (suspended from membership of the University) by the Vice-Chancellor in 1611 as a "malicious and implacable fomentor of troubles", although the authorities relented in 1614. He was appointed Lent Reader of his Inn in 1612.^[1]

In 1614 Wentworth was re-elected MP for Oxford and he spoke in Parliament against the imposition of illegal taxes, in which he argued that the Spanish loss of the Netherlands and the recent assassination of Henry IV of France were the "just reward" for such impositions; for this inflammatory speech he was imprisoned after the dissolution of Parliament, chiefly to appease the French ambassador.^[1]

Wentworth was re-elected MP for Oxford in 1621 and in that parliament he opposed the proposed marriage of the Prince of Wales to a Spanish princess, and when the King angrily wrote to the Speaker that the Commons should not interfere with such matters of state, he boldly stated that he "never yet read of anything that was not fit for the consideration of a parliament". In 1624 he was re-elected MP for Oxford and in that parliament he was a strong advocate of declaring war on Spain. He was re-elected MP for Oxford in 1625, 1626 and 1628 and sat until his death in the same year.^[1]

Wentworth died at Henley-on-Thames in 1628.^[1]

Wentworth married Dorothy Keble, daughter of Thomas Keble of Newbottle in Northamptonshire, and they had seven sons and two daughters.^[1]

References

1.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Wentworth, Thomas (1568?-1628)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.