WENTWORTH, William (1675-1729), of Woolley, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

17 Jan. - 7 July 1698

Family and Education

bap. 19 Aug. 1675, 1st s. of Sir Michael Wentworth*.  educ. King’s Coll. Camb. 1692.  m. 25 July 1697, Catherine, da. of Charles Turner of Kirkleatham, Yorks. s.psuc. fa. at Woolley 1696.1

Offices Held

Biography

Although Wentworth inherited Woolley from his father, the manor of Aldborough, which gave the family its strong electoral interest in that constituency, was left to his younger brother John. Wentworth does not appear to have had a great desire to enter Parliament, and did not contest the September 1696 Aldborough by-election. However, after this election had been declared void Wentworth stood on his family’s interest at the consequent by-election, and was returned in January 1698. In the short period in which he sat, he does not appear to have been active. He did not stand for Parliament again, though he continued to be active within the county, serving as a deputy-lieutenant for the West Riding in 1700–2, and for York also in 1702. He died at Bath on 3 June 1729, leaving Woolley to his nephew Godfrey Wentworth, who represented York in the reign of George II.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Ivar McGrath

Notes

  • 1. Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Clay, ii. 324.
  • 2. Quinn thesis, 84, 90–92; CSP Dom. 1700–2, pp. 123, 250; 1702–3, p. 394; Clay, 324, 326.