John Darcy, Lord Conyers
John Darcy, Lord Conyers (1659 – 6 January 1689) was an English soldier and one of the two members of the House of Commons of England representing Richmond, Yorkshire, between 1681 and 1689, although not continuously.
The eldest son of Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holderness, and Lady Frances Howard, a daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire, Darcy was known as Lord Conyers as a courtesy title during the later life of his grandfather Conyers Darcy, 1st Earl of Holderness, who died on 14 June 1689 aged ninety.
When he was fifteen, Conyers abducted and married Bridget Sutton, the only daughter of Robert Sutton, 1st Baron Lexinton. She was aged only ten. They later had five sons and two daughters.[1]
Conyers was first elected at the 1681 English general election to the brief Oxford Parliament of 1681. King Chatles II then ruled without parliament until 1685, when Conyers was elected again to what became known as the Loyal Parliament, the only one summoned by James II. That sat until 1687, and in its second session Conyers joined the opposition to the king.[1]
Between 1681 and 1685, Conyers held a major's commission in the Life Guards. In July 1685 he became lieutenant-colonel of the Earl of Shrewsbury's Horse.[1]
In 1688, Conyers brought about a reconciliation between Lord Danby and the Earl of Devonshire, laying the foundations of that year's rising against the king in the north of England. Unsuspected as a rebel, he was ordered to arrest his fellow conspirator Lord Lumley, one of the men who had signed the invitation to William of Orange to instigate the Glorious Revolution. He claimed he could not find him.[1]
Conyers died of quinsy on 6 January 1689, but four days later at the general election of 1689 he was returned again for Richmond. At a subsequent by-election, in February, he was succeeded by his brother Philip Darcy, who had just lost his seat at Newark.[2]