John Whiteway

Who is John Whiteway?

John Whiteway was an English wool merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1654 and 1660.

Whiteway was the only surviving son of William Whiteway of Dorchester and his wife Mary Mounsell, daughter of John Mounsell, merchant of Weymouth, Dorset. His father was a woollen merchant and had been MP for Dorchester. He was a captain of militia at Dorchester in 1643 and a commissioner for assessment for Dorset from 1643 to 1652. In 1645 he became mayor of Dorchester 1645. In 1646 he inherited two farms near Dorchester on the death of a nephew and became a J.P. for Dorset from 1647 to July 1660. In 1648 he was again commissioner for militia and in 1653 a commissioner for prisoners and for piracy. He was a commissioner for scandalous ministers in 1654.

In 1654, Whiteway was elected Member of Parliament for Dorchester in the First Protectorate Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Dorchester in 1656 for the Second Protectorate Parliament. He was commissioner for assessment for Dorset in 1657and became mayor of Dorchester again in 1658.