Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet

Who was Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet?

Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1642. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War and was killed in action.

Savile was born at Thornhill, the son of Sir George Savile and Anne Wentworth, and the grandson of Sir George Savile, 1st Baronet. He inherited the baronetcy on the death of his brother George in 1626. Included in the family estates were the residences of Thornhill Hall, Rufford Abbey, and a house in York. He was educated at University College, Oxford and entered Gray's Inn in 1628. Wentworth selected him to be Deputy Lieutenant of the West Riding in 1633, and he was appointed to the council in the north in July 1636.

In April 1640, Savile was elected Member of Parliament for Yorkshire in the Short Parliament. In parliament, he spoke against ship money and signed the petition against forced billeting, but he remained loyal to the king. He was defeated in the election of November 1640 and was returned as MP for Old Sarum in a by-election early in 1641. He gave evidence in favour of Strafford and supported him throughout the trial.