Bennet Sherard

Bennet Sherard, 2nd Baron Sherard DL (baptised 30 November 1621 – 15 January 1700) was an English politician and Irish peer. An influential landowner in Leicestershire and Rutland, he was returned to Parliament by the former county from 1679 through 1695, although his Parliamentary activity was minimal. He entered Parliament as a supporter of the Exclusion Bill, and was one of the Whigs purged from county offices in 1688 over James' policy of religious tolerance. He supported James' overthrow in the Glorious Revolution, and was appointed Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of Rutland, offices he held until his death in 1700.

Early life and family Baptised on 30 November 1621, Sherard was the eldest son of William Sherard, 1st Baron Sherard, and his wife Abigail Cave. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford in 1639, succeeded his father in his (Irish) barony in 1640, and took a Grand Tour in Italy from 1641 to 1644, where he was enrolled at the University of Padua in 1642. While he never took the oaths, he did occupy local office during the Interregnum, serving as a commissioner for assessment in Rutland and as justice of the peace for Leicestershire in 1656. Appointed a commissioner for militia in Leicestershire in March 1660, he continued in local office after the restoration, being appointed to the Rutland bench in July and a commissioner of assessment for both counties in August, serving on the latter until 1680.

Political career Sherard continued to hold a variety of local offices after the Restoration. He was a commissioner of oyer and terminer for the Midland circuit in 1662, and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1667. He received additional appointments in Lincolnshire in 1670, as deputy lieutenant and justice of the piece for the Parts of Lindsey, although he had resigned both of these posts by 1680. He became a deputy lieutenant of Rutland in 1671, and served as a commissioner for recusants in Leicestershire in 1675.

He showed his greatest Parliamentary activity in 1680, serving on committees considering bills pertaining to trade and election abuses. No activity for him is known during the Oxford Parliament in 1681, and in 1685 was involved with a naturalization bill and economic proposals. In general, he played little role in Parliament, but obviously enjoyed the respect of his fellow gentry in Leicestershire. He was noted as an influential member of the opposition to James II in 1687. Noel's uncle Charles Bertie, reflecting on the prospects of a duel, sourly dismissed Sherard as "an old passionate coxcomb who is lame, crazy and aged",

Hon. Christopher Sherard (1666–1681/2), who died of a fever while at Oxford. Bennet Sherard, 1st Earl of Harborough (1677–1732), who married Mary Calverley, the daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Calverley of Eryholme. Hon. Elizabeth Sherard (1679–1746/7), who married first Edward Ingram, 2nd Viscount of Irvine and second John Noel. Hon. Lucy Sherard (–1751), who married John Manners, 2nd Duke of Rutland.

Sherard shared his mother's taste for art, and was a patron of various minor composers and painters.

He died on 15 January 1700 and was buried at Stapleford, Leicestershire. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, Bennet Sherard, later created Earl of Harborough.