WANDESFORD, John (1593-1665), of Kirklington, Yorks. and Gray’s Inn, Mdx.

Wandesford’s family had been resident in Kirklington, and prominent within the Yorkshire gentry, since the twelfth century. John Wandesford was a younger son whose advancement owed much to the generosity of his elder brother, Sir Christopher Wandesford†, who served as master of the rolls in Ireland until his death in December 1640.16Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. i. 344. After the death of their father, Christopher had overseen John’s education, which was apparently undertaken at Well School near Kirklington, and then at Cambridge, although unlike their brother Michael, his name does not appear in the admissions register.17Comber, Wandesforde, 7, 23. Furthermore, finding that John ‘had an inclination and talent for the study of the law’, Christopher Wandesford apparently financed his brother’s education at Gray’s Inn, where he was admitted in 1613, and called to the bar in 1617, at the request of the lord keeper, Sir Francis Bacon†. Such support may even have continued ‘until he was able by his practice to maintain himself’.18Comber, Wandesforde, 28, 62; G. Inn Admiss. 132; PBG Inn, i. 226.

Wandesford’s kinship ties also provided the foundation for other aspects of his career. His return to Parliament for Richmond in Yorkshire in 1624 reflected the electoral interest of both his brother and his great-uncle, Sir Talbot Bowes†. Christopher’s associate Sir Thomas Wentworth† probably secured John’s nomination as consul to Aleppo in 1630.19HP Commons 1604-1629. Initially, Wandesford was chosen merely for the task of delivering letters to the grand seigneur, on 9 January, for which he was paid £200, but on 3 March he was chosen as consul by the council of the Levant Company.20SP105/148, ff. 214, 216r-v, 217v, 219v. Wandesford arrived in Aleppo in January 1631 and remained there for a little over eight years.21SP110/54, f. 101. More than once during this period he signalled his intention to return to England, although this may have been a ploy for securing additional financial remuneration from his employers, who regarded him as ‘an able gentleman and every way well deserving of the company’, and who pleaded with him to remain.22SP105/149, ff. 65v, 83v, 85, 100v, 106, 131v; SP105/111, ff. 7-9, 19-20, 21v-22, 26v, 27, 28, 28v-29v. By October 1638, however, Wandesford’s determination to leave Aleppo forced them to elect a successor, although Wandesford did not depart for England until May 1639, narrowly escaping death in a storm on his journey.23SP105/149, f. 165v; SP105/111, f. 41; SP110/54, f. 119; Comber, Wandesforde, 62-3.

Wandesford had apparently amassed ‘great wealth’ during his time in Aleppo.24Comber, Wandesforde, 62-3. His motivation to return home may have been related to the growing tension within the British Isles, about which his friend John Pym* had informed him in the summer of 1638. Pym depicted ‘a time which threatens great change and trouble’, and expressed doubts over the prospects for ‘public peace’, and concern that ‘distemper and confusion’ would ‘overwhelm us’.25CSP Dom. 1637-8, p. 571. Nevertheless, if Wandesford was concerned about the political instability which Pym addressed, there is little evidence that he shared his friend’s reformist agenda. Elected to the Short Parliament as burgess for the Cinque Port of Hythe, he seems likely to have been returned as a court candidate, on the recommendation of the lord warden, Theophilus Howard†, 2nd earl of Suffolk.

Wandesford’s parliamentary and diplomatic experience, as well as his commercial interests, ensured him a degree of prominence within the assembly, and he was named to the committee of privileges, and to committees on the subsidy, trade, and particular commercial interest groups.26CJ ii. 4a, 8a, 17a, 17b. It also led him to make a number of minor speeches on such matters.27Aston’s Diary, 27, 85, 99. Nevertheless, he was far from being a leading figure in the Commons, and his political inclinations clearly favoured the preservation of traditional parliamentary methods and procedures.28Aston’s Diary, 62, 71, 78. Although his attitude to Ship Money is difficult to fathom from his minor contribution to the relevant debates, a desire to defuse tension may have underlain his attempt to prevent discussion of Scotland (4 May).29Aston’s Diary, 107, 132.

In the elections for the Long Parliament, Wandesford was apparently nominated for the Yorkshire seat of Richmond without his knowledge, perhaps by his brother and Thomas Wentworth, now 1st earl of Strafford, but he seems to have withdrawn in favour of his brother-in-law, Major Norton*, although the place eventually went to another kinsman, Sir Thomas Danbie*.30H. B. M’Call, Fam. of Wandesforde (1904), 315-16. Wandesford sought to retain his place at Hythe, and had continued to serve its interests during the summer, by lobbying Secretary Sir Francis Windebanke* (through his secretary, Robert Reade*) on the citizens’ behalf.31CSP Dom. 1640-1, p. 119. Possibly Windebanke was the ‘Sir W.’ to whom Wandesford wrote in the hope of securing favour with the lord chamberlain (Philip Herbert*, 4th earl of Pembroke), but such efforts failed, and the death of the earl of Suffolk, and Wandesford’s lack of familiarity with the new lord warden, James Stuart, 4th duke of Lennox, hampered his chances; in late October he wrote ‘truly I think I fail’.32M’Call, Fam. of Wandesforde, 316.

During the civil wars Wandesford proved to be a loyal and active servant of the royalist cause, and was at Oxford from at least November 1642 (when he was among the first cohort of crown servants to be rewarded with degrees) until at least June 1646.33Al. Ox. Named as one of the ordnance commissioners, with Sir George Strode he oversaw the production and provision of powder and arms for the king’s forces, after conducting the artillery train at Edgehill.34CCAM 996; Comber, Wandesforde, 63; Royalist Ordnance Pprs. ed. Roy, 17-19, 25, 29-32, 151, 174, 183, 207, 266. In addition to receiving large payments from the royal coffers for their work, in May 1645 the two men were granted the manor and park of Marylebone, in lieu of the money they had advanced.35CSP Dom. 1641-3, p. 493; 1644-5, p. 612; 1660-1, p. 388; 1661-2, pp. 614-15; Docquets of Letters Patent, ed. Black, 150, 405. After the fall of Oxford, Wandesford evidently followed the court into exile with Francis Cottington†, 1st Baron Cottington, and Sir Edward Hyde*, for whom he appears to have acted as a courier to the prince of Wales in 1648.36CCSP i. 436-7 Later in the year he corresponded with Hyde from Amsterdam, providing not merely news but also evidence of his continuing involvement in matters relating to ordnance.37CCSP i. 445-6. By the summer of 1651 Wandesford appears to have settled in Paris, from where he corresponded with James Butler, 1st marquess of Ormond, and where he remained intimately connected with the court.38HMC Ormonde n.s. i. 176-7, 183-4; CCSP ii. 155. By 1653, however, he seems to have become closely associated with the Catholic grandee Sir Marmaduke Langdale, one of Hyde’s most powerful enemies, and was mentioned in the summer of 1653 as having been involved in a plot to undermine Hyde within the court.39Nicholas Pprs. ii. 2; CCSP ii. 231

Thereafter, however, Wandesford’s movements and activity become less visible until after the Restoration, when he and his old partner, Strode, attempted to secure their claim to Marylebone Park. They outlined their services in forming and conducting the royal artillery train, and in providing arms, ammunition and powder, and sought confirmation of their grant of the monopoly on the provision of powder, which had been granted to someone else. Wandesford also claimed that he had been exiled for 15 years, and that his estate had been heavily plundered.40CSP Dom. 1660-1, pp. 294, 388; 1661-2, pp. 614-15. Although the outcome of these petitions is not clear, Wandesford evidently retained possession of Marylebone.41CTB i. 106, 718-19. He also secured a seat in the Cavalier Parliament, as MP for Richmond. Defeated there in the general election, he was awarded the seat in January 1662, when his opponent was disqualified. It has often been assumed that the seat was taken by his nephew, and namesake, but the latter lived until December 1666 and was buried at Hoddesdon, while the MP for Richmond died 9 February 1665, when his successor was elected. Wandesford, therefore, was the ‘Parliament-man’ who died, unmarried, at the house of Sir Robert Knyvett and who was buried at St Andrew, Holborn, on 21 January 1665.42M’Call, Fam. of Wandesforde, 88-9; Autobiography of Mrs Alice Thornton (Surtees Soc. lxii), 159-62; St Andrew Holborn par. reg.; HP Commons 1660-1690.