Charles Worsley

Major General Charles Worsley
Major-General Charles Worsley (1622–1656)
Born	24 June 1622[1]
Died	12 June 1656 (aged 33) St. James's, London[1]
Resting place	Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	Mary Booth (1644–1649) Dorothy Kenyonon (1652–1656)
Parent(s)	Ralph Worsley and Isabel nèe Massey

Charles Worsley (24 June 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 Commonwealth of England. He sat in the House of Commons in 1654 and governed a district during the Rule of the Major-Generals.^[2]

Biography

Worsley was the son of Ralph Worsley, of The Platt, Rusholme and his wife Isabel Massy, daughter of Edward Massy of Manchester.^[3] 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^[4] in 1653 and took charge of the "bauble" when Cromwell ordered it to be removed.^[3]

In 1654, Worsley was elected the first Member of Parliament for Manchester in the First Protectorate Parliament.^[5][4] During the Rule of the Major-Generals, Worsley governed a district consisting of Cheshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire.^[2][4] 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 33 and was buried in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey.^[3]

Notes

1. Firth 1900, p. 32.
2. Plant 2007.
3. Townships: Rusholme, A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 4 (1911), pp. 303-309. Date accessed: 12 January 2011
4. Lee 1903, p. 1437.
5. Willis 1750, p. 1437.

References

• Plant, David (18 December 2007). Charles Worsley, Major-General, 1622-56. British Civil Wars & Commonwealth website. Retrieved 8 July 2009. External link in |publisher= (help)
• 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. p. 263.

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. (see also main entry lxiii 32)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Firth, Charles (1900). "Worsley, Charles". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography 63. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 32–33.

Further reading

• Espinasse, Francis (1874). "VI. The First Member for Manchester". Lancashire Worthies. Simpkin, Marshall, & Co . pp. 96–114.
• Royle, William (1941). "Major General Worsley". History of Rusholme: With a gossipy talk of men and things (PDF). Manchester: Printed at the William Morris Press. pp. 14–17.