William Carnaby

For the composer, see William Carnaby (composer). For William Carnaby (died 1407), see Northumberland (UK Parliament constituency).

William Carnaby (c. 1595–1645) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War.

Carnaby was the son of William Carnaby of Farnham and Langley Northumberland and his wife Mabel Carnaby, daughter of Cuthbert Carnaby of Halton Tower. He was aged 22 at the visitation of 1615.[1] He was knighted at Welbeck Abbey in August 1619.[2] He came into possession of his mother's property at Halton,[3] and also acquired the estates of Hadston from Robert Brandling.

In 1624 Carnaby was elected member of parliament for Morpeth. He was elected MP for Northumberland in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[4] He was a close friend of the Cavendish family and managed the estates of the Earl of Northumberland from 1634 to 1638. He was High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1635.[3]

In April 1640, Carnaby was elected member of parliament for Marlborough in the Short Parliament. He was elected MP for Morpeth again for the Long Parliament in November 1640.[4] He raised forces for the King and was accordingly disabled from attending parliament on 26 August 1642. He was Treasurer of the Army and fought in the Northumberland Regiment, commanded by the Marquess of Newcastle at the Battle of Marston Moor.[3] Following defeat in the battle he accompanied the Marquess, the marquess's sons Charles Viscount Mansfield and Henry Lord Cavendish, the marquess's brother Sir Charles Cavendish, Dr. Bramhall Bishop of Londonderry, Lord Falconbridge, Lord Widdrington, the Earl of Elthyne and Lord Cornworth and was conducted by a troop of horse and dragoons from York to Scarborough. They set sail for Hamburg where they arrived on 8 July 1644.[5]

Carnaby married Jane Bindlosse daughter of Sir Robert Bindlosse.[6]

  1. ^ Visitation of Northumberland in 1615
  2. ^ Noel Malcolm, Jacqueline A. Stedall John Pell (1611–1685) and his correspondence with Sir Charles Cavendish
  3. ^ a b c John Wallis The Natural History And Antiquities Of Northhumberland Volume 2
  4. ^ a b Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
  5. ^ Historical Collections: Proceedings in the North, 1644, Historical Collections of Private Passages of State: Volume 5: 1642–45 (1721), pp. 603–653. Date accessed: 5 February 2011
  6. ^ John Burke, John Bernard Burke A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies