Person:John Holcroft (3)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holcroft_%2816th-century_MP%29
was a soldier, politician, and landowner of the Tudor period. He was returned twice as a member of the English parliament for Lancashire. He was the eldest son of John Holcroft of Holcroft. . Holcroft's mother was Margaret Massey, daughter of Hamnett or Hamlet Massey of Rixton. By 1519, John Holcroft was married to Anne Standish, daughter of Ralph Standish of Standish and Alice, daughter of Sir James Harrington of Wolfage.
John Holcroft was certainly pricked as High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1537-38. This appointment, important but not always welcome, suggests he was now notable at a county level, and possibly possessed of his own fortune.
Probably foreseeing his impending death, Holcroft made his will on 2 December 1559.[1] Most of his goods had already been divided up between his wife and children. The documentation relating to this was entrusted to Gilbert Gerard. He left an annuity of 40 shillings a year to Gerard, the sum of £5 to Sir William Gerard and a gown to Sir Thomas Stanley. Lest his family should quarrel, he promised The Earl of Derby £6 13s.4d. to act as mediator.

Holcroft died some time in 1560. He was buried at Newchurch, Culcheth, the local parish church where he had bought the tithes in 1539.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Holcroft_%2816th-century_MP%29
With the accession of Edward VI in 1547, Holcroft was summoned to London for the coronation on 20 February and there knighted. The ceremonies were abbreviated because of the king's youth, and so Holcroft was not formally invested with the Order of the Bath, as originally planned. However, he and the others so treated were nevertheless regarded as Knights of the Bath (KB).[1]

It is possible that it was Holcroft who had answered Derby's call to arms in 1536. However, it is certain that it was he who was joint commissioner for the musters with George Blagge for the 1547 phase of The Rough Wooing, the campaigns intended by the English to force a marriage between Edward VI of England and Mary, Queen of Scots. It is likely that Holcroft was actively involved in the campaign, like Blagge, who was knighted for his services. Holcroft's son, also John Holcroft, was knighted by Protector Somerset at Roxburgh during the campaign. A John Holcroft was appointed in 1557 to command 100 men with Richard Assheton of Middleton and others. It is possible this was the younger man.

John Holcroft and Anne Standish had a large number of children: at least 7 sons and 6 daughters.[1] They included the following.

Sir John Holcroft, the heir. He married Dorothy Bold and they left as heir a daughter:

Alice Holcroft, who married Edward Fitton of Gawsworth Old Hall in Cheshire. They had a number of children, including:

Mary Fitton, a notable courtesan.

Anne Fitton, who married the politician John Newdigate.

Richard, the heir.

Edward, who inherited the estates on the death of his brother and became first of the Fitton baronets.

After the death of the 2nd Baronet, also called Edward, in 1643, the Fitton estates became the subject of protracted legal dispute. The Holcroft estates were purchased soon after, apparently from trustees, by another branch of the Holcroft family.[3]

Hamlet Holcroft, a younger son of John Holcroft and Anne Standish, married Isabel Clifton. They had a son:

John Holcroft, who married Anne Heywood and had a son:

Lt. Col. John Holcroft, a prominent politician of the mid-17th century. He represented Liverpool and became a Roundhead commander. He was able to recover the Holcroft estates, probably by buying them from the Fitton trustees. He married Margaret Hunt and they had a daughter:

Maria Holcroft married Thomas Blood, who famously attempted to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671.

Anne Holcroft, daughter of John and Anne, married the Winmarleigh heir and ward William Radcliffe, who died in 1561.