- John Danvers
:"Disambiguation: Another John Danvers was a
Vice-Chancellor ofOxford University (1459–1460).Sir John Danvers (1588 – 1655) was an English politician.
Danvers was the third son of Sir John Danvers of
Dauntsey inWiltshire and younger brother of The Earl of Danby. In his youth, he travelled throughFrance andItaly , developing sophisticated tastes ingardening andarchitecture , which he indulged at his house in Chelsea and his estate at Lavington in Wiltshire.He was knighted by James I in 1609, and sat as a
Member of Parliament forOxford University from 1625 to 1639 and for Malmesbury from 1645 to 1653. During theEnglish Civil War he was a colonel in the Parliamentarian army. He was one of the signatories of thedeath warrant of Charles I, and became a member of the Council of State in 1649, but lost his position in 1650 after a quarrel withHenry Marten in which he argued that the Council should be granted greater powers to act independently of Parliament. Danvers is said to have helped several Royalists ruined during the wars.He died in 1655.
Danvers Street is named after him.References
*"Concise Dictionary of National Biography" (1930)
*This article incorporates text under aCreative Commons License by David Plant, the British Civil Wars and Commonwealth website http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/danvers.htm
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