Jeremy Bentley of Elland Hall was the son of George Bentley.
On 20th May 1646, he married Dorothy, daughter of Abraham Dyson, at Almondbury.
Children:
In 1651, he was a member of the Commission for Pious Uses.
On 12th July 1654, he was elected to Oliver Cromwell's parliament, the first MP for Halifax. At that time, franchise was only available to 59 men who qualified by having property worth more than £200. These included: Samuel Armitedge, William Aspinall, John Bairstow, Timothy Bentley, Samuel Bentley, Thomas Binns of Halifax, Robert Birkhead of Shelf, Richard Blackett of Shaw Hill, George Boyle, John Brearcliffe, Henry Crowther of King Cross, John Dixon, James Dobson, John Drake of Northowram, John Eastwood, Thomas Eastwood, John Exley of Halifax, William Farrar, Martin ffeilden, John Firth, Joseph Fourness, Samuel Gaukroger, William Gillott, John Greenwood, Daniel Greenwood [Snr], Arthur Hanson, Michael Heselden of Ovenden, Abraham Holmes, Joshua Horton, Thomas Houlden of Cross Hills, Jeremy Ingham, John Kershaw, John Lawe, Richard Law of Woodhouse, John Lister, Abraham Lum, John Lum of Westercroft, Joseph Maud, Hugh Pilling, John Pilling, ffrancis Preistley, Thomas Preistley, Robert Ramsden, Thomas Rigge, James Robinson of Bowood, John Ryall, Edward Slater of Shelf, John Smith of Skircoat, Lawrence Spencer of Warley, Josias Stansfeild, John Taylor, Robert Tillotson of Sowerby, Jeremy Waddington, John Waterhouse of Elland, James Whittaker, John Whittell, John Wilkinson of Brackenbed, Joseph Wilson, and Abraham Wood of Halifax.
On 14th August 1654, he and a group of friends made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a Corporation for Halifax. This would have made the parish a borough.
He was returned as MP again in 1656. At the Restoration, Halifax was deprived of the honour of returning a Member of Parliament. The next MP was returned after the Reform Bill in 1832
He was buried at Elland Parish Church.
Of his death, Heywood writes
Yesterday being 17th January 1664/5, Mr Jeremiah Bentley of Elland, being in good health, ate his breakfast, put on his boots to go to a dinner at Halifax about ten o'clock, lost speech, and died the same day. He was a middle aged man, very witty, thriving in the world, and 'tis said he hath left an estate worth well towards £20,000. He lay about the space of four hours drawing away, that they could scarce tell whether he was alive or no. He had bought a wood that cost him £10,000, he had built very stately malt houses at Halifax, had taken a lease of four mills and the two Halls and intended to pull them down and build them up new, with shops under and dwelling houses above, and to make great alterations in the Corn Market, but in that day did all his thoughts perish
©
Malcolm Bull 2017 /
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Revised 17:25 on 9th October 2017 / zz_23 / 8
