Sir John Reresby, 2nd Baronet

Sir John Reresby, 2nd Baronet (14 April 1634 – 12 May 1689) was a 17th-century English politician and diarist.

Reresby was born at Thrybergh, Yorkshire in 1634, the eldest son of Sir John Reresby. His mother, Frances, was daughter of Edmund Yarburgh of Snaith Hall, Yorkshire. Reresby, in his Memoir and Travels, says that in 1652 he was admitted of Trinity College in Cambridge, but, as the college refused to allow him the rank and privilege of a nobleman, he did not go into residence, and no entry of his admission exists. In 1646 he had succeeded to the Baronetage upon the death of his father Sir John Reresby, 1st Baronet

After the English Civil War, in 1654 Reresby went abroad, where he became a great friend of Henrietta Maria, the widow of Charles I, whom he visited in France. The account he wrote of his travels during this period was published in his Memoirs, published forty years after his death; they are invaluable to historians as sidelights on the dramatic times through which he lived. After his return to England, Reresby married Frances, elder daughter of William Browne of York, barrister-at-law, on 9 March 1665. They had five sons and four daughters.

Soon after the Restoration, Reresby returned to England with a letter of recommendation from the queen-mother, and was presented to the king at Whitehall. He served the office of Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1667. At a by-election in November 1673 he was returned to parliament for Aldborough in Yorkshire, together with Robert Benson. He took his seat in the House of Commons on 14 April 1675, his 41st birthday. Legal differences with the family of the Duke of Norfolk may have lain behind a false accusation made against Reresby: that he had caused his black servant to be gelded "and that the operation had killed him" on 20 October 1676. According to Reresby he had not been gelded and the cause of death was an "imposthume" (abscess) in the head (p. 149). In 1678, he spoke in favour of giving an aid to the king, and the following month obtained a commission for raising an independent company of foot, and was appointed governor of Bridlington. In December following Reresby opposed Danby's impeachment.

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