Francis Thornhagh

Colonel Francis Thornhagh or Thornhaugh (1617–1648) was a hero of the Parliamentarian cause in the English Civil War, an MP of East Retford and High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, who was killed at the Battle of Preston in 1648. Personal life Francis Thornhagh (1617-1648) was the eldest son of Francis Thornhagh (1593-1643) and his wife Jane, daughter of Sir John Jackson of Hickleton, Yorkshire. He was born at Fenton, Nottinghamshire and educated at the Free School in Lincoln and Magdalene College, Cambridge from where he matriculated in 1635 at the age of 17. In late 1640 or early 1641 he married Elizabeth, second daughter and coheiress of John St. Andrew of Gotham, Nottinghamshire. Francis and Elizabeth lived on St. Mary's Hill, Nottingham and at his wife's property Rushcliffe Hall, Gotham, as his mother continued to reside at the family estate at Fenton until her death in 1661. They had a son John and two daughters. After Thornhagh's death his widow married William Skeffington. Civilian career Thornhagh was admitted as a member of the Inner Temple in November 1636 and was made a Justice of the Peace in 1642. Like his father, he was appointed High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire for 1643–4. He was then elected as MP for East Retford, taking his seat when the town was freed from the Royalists in 1646.