John Whitson was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons

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...

 at various times between 1605 and 1626.

Whitson was a merchant and alderman of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. He was Sheriff in 1589. In 1605, he 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 Bristol

Bristol (UK Parliament constituency)

Bristol was a two member constituency, used to elect members to the House of Commons in the Parliaments of England , Great Britain and the United Kingdom . The constituency existed until Bristol was divided into single member constituencies in 1885.-Boundaries:The historic port city of Bristol, is...

in a by-election to replace Sir George Snigge who was raised to the Bench. He was re-elected MP for Bristol in 1614. He was Mayor of Bristol in 1616. In 1621 he was re-elected MP for Bristol. He was elected MP for Bristol again in 1625 and 1626. In 1627 he gave a charity of £500 to be divided between five young men being ' meer merchants ', and an unspecified number of handicraft tradesmen and freemen of Bristol.

Whitson was hurt by a fall from his horse, which was the supposed cause of his death at the age of 71. He was buried at St Nicholas' Church on 9 March 1629 and as he was Captain of the trained bands of the city, they attended his body to the church and the musketeers fired three volleys over his grave. His monument in St Nicholas described his as "a worthy pattern to all who came after him.

Whitson married three times.