James Sheffield, Baron Sheffield was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

  in 1640. He supported the Parliamentary

Roundhead

"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...

 cause in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Sheffield was the son of Edmund Sheffield

Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave

Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave KG was a British peer and Member of Parliament, who served as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire from 1603 to 1619 and Vice-Admiral of Yorkshire from 1604 to 1646...

 and his wife Mariana Irwin. When his father became Earl of Mulgrave

Earl of Mulgrave

The title Earl of Mulgrave has been created twice. The first time as a title in the Peerage of England and the second time as a Peerage of the United Kingdom....

, he received the courtesy title Baron Sheffield.

In April 1640, Sheffield was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for St Mawes

St Mawes (UK Parliament constituency)

St Mawes was a rotten borough in Cornwall. It returned two Members of Parliament ) to the House of Commons of England from 1562 to 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until it was abolished by the Great Reform Act in...

 in the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

. In 1642 he was a captain in the parliamentarian army of the Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex

Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...

, and in 1645 a Colonel in the New Model Army

New Model Army

The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...

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