STRATFORD, John (c.1630-1701), of Coventry and Horston Grange, Warws.

The son of a colliery owner who had purchased a landed estate, Stratford had supported Exclusion while sitting for Coventry between 1679 and 1681. In 1687 he was subject to allegations by an Anglican clergyman that he was a Dissenter, and a sympathy for James II’s attempt to repeal the Penal Laws and Test is suggested by his appointment the following year to inquire into recusancy fines levied in the Midlands. He was returned to the Convention for Coventry, and having retained this seat at the 1690 election Stratford was classed by Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) as a Whig and a Court supporter. In December the same year he was listed among those thought likely to support Carmarthen in the event of a parliamentary attack on him, and in April the following year Robert Harley* classed him as a Country supporter, but annotated this judgment as ‘d[oubtful]’. Stratford was an inactive Member, who was only once minuted in the Journal, on 10 Dec. 1691 when he was granted two weeks’ leave of absence. Standing down in 1695, he died shortly before 21 Aug. 1701.3 J. U. Nef, Rise of Brit. Coal Industry, i. 422; VCH Warws. iv. 7; Whitley, Parlty. Rep. Coventry, 117; Midland Hist. iv. 46; PCC 262 Ash.