MILL, John (1608-1644), of Newton Bury, Hants.

Mill’s father had stood unsuccessfully for Lymington in 1621. At subsequent elections he found an opening for himself at Southampton, but he seems to have continued to try to establish a claim at Lymington through his eldest son, this Member, who stood in 1625 at the age of only 17, after completing his education at Oxford and the inns of court. Hants RO, 27M74A/DBC1, p. 123. Mill, however, was challenged for the place by five other candidates - the lord of the manor of Lymington, Henry Campion*; the former Member Nicholas Ferrar*; the salt patentee John More II*; the courtier Sir William Uvedale*; and Herbert Dodington*, the son and heir of the local magnate who had bested the elder Mill in 1621. The result was a tie for the junior seat between Mill and More, both of whom attracted ten votes. A second poll failed to produce a clear winner, as the mayor, who favoured Mill, declined to give a casting vote because Mill was under-age. Ibid. p. 137. The double return was referred to the Commons’ privileges committee, but it remained unresolved at the end of the brief session. C219/39/176; Procs. 1625, p. 598.

Mill does not appear to have stood again. His first marriage brought him lands in Kent, including Faversham, which he later sold to his father. PROB 11/206, f. 64. His wife, who was only 12 years old when they married, died before they had any children. Mill’s father entertained the king during the royal progress through Hampshire in the summer of 1627, and Mill himself received a knighthood in the following year. J.S. Davies, Hist. Southampton, 484. In 1639 father and son refused to contribute towards the cost of the First Bishops’ War, but both came out in full support of Charles when civil war broke out. T. Nalson, Impartial Collection of Affairs of State, i. 205. Mill served as a royalist colonel until his regiment was captured by Sir William Waller† at Christchurch in April 1644. He died, intestate and presumably still in prison, in the months following this defeat. CSP Dom. 1644, p. 102; Godwin, 194-5. Although his second wife was a Catholic recusant, Mill asked his father to ensure that his son and heir, also John, was raised ‘in the Protestant religion’; the latter succeeded as 2nd baronet in 1648, inheriting the sequestered Newton Bury estate. G.E. Aylmer, King’s Servants, 82; VCH Hants, iv. 552-3; PROB 11/206, f. 64. Mill’s widow later married Christopher Roper, Lord Teynham. Berry, Hants Gen. 26.