Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648.
Background
Wray was the eldest surviving son of Sir William Wray, 1st Baronet, of Glentworth, by his first wife, Lucy Montagu, eldest daughter of Sir Edward Montagu of Boughton. He succeeded to the baronetcy on the death of his father on 13 August 1617.
Career
He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War. He spent the last three years of his minority in foreign traveling He was knighted at Whitehall on 7 June 1612.
In 1625 he was elected Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire.
In 1627, Wray was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire, and on 15 February 1627 was placed on the commission for raising the forced loan in the county. He declined to act under the commission, to contribute to the loan, or to give security for his appearance before the council, and suffered in consequence a term of imprisonment in the Gatehouse Prison.
In 1628 he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In March 1636 Wray defaulted in payment of shipmoney.
He was re-elected Member of Parliament for Lincolnshire for the Long Parliament in November 1640.
He was a man of weight in the "eastern association" and in the propositions submitted to the king in July 1646 was nominated one of the conservators of the peace with Scotland. On their rejection he retired from political life and was excluded from parliament after Pride"s Purge in 1648. Wray was one of the early patrons of Edward Rainbowe.
Wray was not a republican.
He approved the executions of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford and William Laud, but not of the king. Frances Wray (born December 1611), married on 13 January 1631 (Nova Scotia) Captain
John Hotham
William Wray (October 1613 – November 1613)
Elizabeth Wray (August 1615 – February/March 1617 Nova Scotia)
Anne Wray (April 1617 – June/July 1621)
Sir John Wray, 3rd Baronet (1619–1664)
Sir Christopher Wray, 4th Baronet (1621–1664)
Theophilus Wray (June/July 1624 – 21 November 1664)
William Wray (b July 1626)
Theodosia Wray (born January 1631 Nova Scotia), married Sir Richard Barker in 1660
Sir Bethell Wray, 5th Baronet (1633–1672)
Grisilla Wray, married on 19 December 1654 Anthony Thorold (died 1670) and had issue
His heir, Sir John Wray, 3rd Baronet, captain in the parliamentary army, and member for Lincolnshire in the parliament of 1654-1655, died in 1664, having married, first, Elizabeth, widow of Sir Simonds Doctorate"Ewes. And, secondly, in 1661, Sarah, daughter of Sir John Evelyn of West Dean, Wiltshire.
On her death without surviving issue the Glentworth estates passed by entail to her next heir male, Sir Cecil Wray, 11th Baronet.
Membership
Short Parliament; Useless Parliament. Addled Parliament]
In 1614, he was elected Member of Parliament for Grimsby.