Sir John Wray
1586–1655
Lincolnshire baronet; long-standing patron of Puritan ministers.
Biography
Of Magdalene Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn, Wray was a Lincolnshire baronet (created 1611) and long-serving knight of the shire (MP for Lincolnshire). A devoted Puritan patron, he sheltered nonconforming ministers on his Glentworth estates through the Laudian persecutions and supported the parliamentary cause early. A senior lay assessor at the Assembly through its main sessions and a moderate Presbyterian vote, he died in 1655.
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.