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John Farrington (MP)

English politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 27, 2026
Entity authorityQ6232774 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Farrington (c.1609 – 1680) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1660 and 1680.

Farrington was the son of Thomas Farrington of Chichester and his wife Dorothy Payne, daughter of Henry Payne of Chichester. His father was mayor of Chichester four times. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 30 June 1626, aged 17. In 1633 he was a student of Gray's Inn. He was involved in an attempt to rescue three Royalists in the city in 1647. He succeeded his father in 1654. In 1660, he was elected Member of Parliament for Chichester for the Convention Parliament when he was involved in a double return but was seated on the merits of the election. He was a J.P. for Sussex from July 1660 to 1680 and commissioner for sewers for West Sussex in October 1660. He was commissioner for assessment for Sussex from 1661 to 1664 and for Chichester from 1663 to 1664.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “John Farrington (MP)” is english politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through John, Farrington and English, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1609, 1680, 1660, 1626—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1609. For this dossier, John, Farrington and English is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “english politician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6232774. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1609, 1680, 1660 and 1626.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Farrington (MP)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Farrington (MP) primary sources, John Farrington (MP) archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Farrington (MP)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Farrington (MP)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.