Sir John Clotworthy
d. 1665
Ulster planter; anti-Strafford prosecutor; later Viscount Massereene.
Biography
An Anglo-Irish Presbyterian planter in Ulster (the Antrim estates), Clotworthy was MP for Maldon and the parliamentary manager of the Strafford impeachment from the Irish side — his testimony on Strafford's Irish army was decisive. He served on the parliamentary committee for the propagation of the gospel in Ireland and as a senior lay assessor at the Assembly. Briefly imprisoned by the army in 1647 with the 'Eleven Members.' He survived the Interregnum, helped negotiate the Restoration, and was created Viscount Massereene in 1660. Died in 1665.
Lay Assessor — House of Commons
Parliament seated lay assessors alongside the divines to represent its interest and keep it informed of the Assembly's progress. The ordinance of 1643 named thirty members of the House of Commons as assessors; they could take part in debate but were not among the voting divines, and their attendance was often occasional as the war and parliamentary business pressed on them.