Charles Worsley

Major General Charles Worsley

Charles Worsley (1622–1656) was an English soldier and politician. He was an ardent supporter of Oliver Cromwell and was an officer in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. He sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and governed a district during the Rule of the Major-Generals.^[1]

Worsley was the son of Ralph Worsley, of The Platt, Rusholme and his wife Isabel Massy, daughter of Edward Massy of Manchester.^[2] He was a parliamentary captain in Lancashire in 1644. By 1650 he was lieutenant colonel of regiment raised in Lancashire for Cromwell. In 1651 he was employed in reduction of Isle of Man. He commanded the detachment used in the expulsion of the Long Parliament^[3] in 1653 and took charge of the "bauble" when Cromwell ordered it to be removed.^[2]

In 1654, Worsley was elected the first Member of Parliament for Manchester in the First Protectorate Parliament.^[4][3] During the Rule of the Major-Generals, Worsley governed a district consisting of Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire.^[1][3] He confiscated the property of Royalists, put Roman Catholics in jail, suppressed horse-racing, and promoted the public good according to his own ideals. He died suddenly in 1656 at the age of 35 and was buried in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Plant "Charles Worsley"
2. ^ ^{a b c} Townships: Rusholme, A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 303-309. Date accessed: 12 January 2011
3. ^ ^{a b c} Lee, Sidney (1903), Dictionary of National Biography Index and Epitome, p. 1437 (see also main entry lxiii 32)
4. ^ Browne Willis Notitia parliamentaria, or, An history of the counties, cities, and boroughs in England and Wales: ... The whole extracted from mss. and printed evidences 1750 p 263

References

• David Plant. Charles Worsley, Major-General, 1622-56 British Civil Wars & Commonwealth website, Retrieved 8 July 2009

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed (1903). "Worsley, Charles". Dictionary of National Biography Index and Epitome. Cambridge University Press. p. 1437. 

Parliament of England
Preceded by Newly enfranchised	Member of Parliament for Manchester 1654	Succeeded by Richard Radcliffe

Persondata
Name	Worlsey, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1622
Place of birth
Date of death	1656
Place of death