Sir William Fleetwood was an English courtier 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...

  in 1640 and again from 1661 to 1674.

Fleetwood was the son of Sir Miles Fleetwood

Miles Fleetwood

Sir Miles Fleetwood of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire was receiver of the court of wards and politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1614 and 1641.Fleetwood was the son of Sir William Fleetwood Sir Miles Fleetwood of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire ( died 8 March 1641) was receiver...

 of Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, and of Anne, daughter of Nicholas Luke of Woodend, Bedfordshire and was baptised at Cardington, Bedfordshire on 20 July 1603. He was admitted at Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

 on 3 December 1618. He was comptroller of Woodstock Park, Oxfordshire and cupbearer to King James I and King Charles I. He was knighted on 20 July 1624. In 1633 he was incorporated at Oxford as M.A. of Cambridge.

In April 1640, Fleetwood 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 Woodstock

Woodstock (UK Parliament constituency)

Woodstock, sometimes called New Woodstock, was a parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Woodstock in the county of Oxfordshire and the surrounding countryside and villages, and elected two Members of Parliament from its re-enfranchisement in 1553 until 1832...

 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 1661 Fleetwood was re-elected MP for Woodstock for the Cavalier Parliament

Cavalier Parliament

The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter century reign of Charles II of England...

 and sat until his death in 1674.

Fleetwood died at the age of 71.

Fleetwood was brother of Sir George Fleetwood

George Fleetwood (Swedish general)

-Life:He was second son of Sir Miles Fleetwood of Cranford and Aldwinkle, Northamptonshire, receiver of the court of wards, and brother of Charles Fleetwood, the parliamentary general. George was baptised at Cople, Bedfordshire, 30 June 1605...

, a baron of Sweden and of Charles Fleetwood

Charles Fleetwood

Charles Fleetwood was an English Parliamentary soldier and politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland from 1652–55, where he enforced the Cromwellian Settlement. At the Restoration he was included in the Act of Indemnity as among the twenty liable to penalties other than capital, and was finally...

, the parliamentary general.