John Coucher was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 variously between 1604 and 1648.

Coucher was the son of John Coucher of Worcester. He was a citizen and weaver and was appointed first of the first assistants of the Clothier's Company on 23 September 1590. He was bailiff of Worcester in 1593 and 1595.

In 1604 Coucher was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Worcester

Worcester (UK Parliament constituency)

Worcester is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1885 it has elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election; from 1295 to 1885 it elected two MPs....

. He was re-elected MP for Worcester in 1614, 1621 and 1624. He was an alderman of Worcester in 1621. In 1628 he was re-elected again for Worcester and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. Coucher was fined £10 on 4 March 1631 for not taking a knighthood at the coronation.

At the age of 79, Coucher was re-elected MP for Worcester for the Short Parliament

Short Parliament

The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640 during the reign of King Charles I of England, so called because it lasted only three weeks....

 in April 1640 and again for the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

in November 1640. He tried hard to get out of the election but could not. He probably never took his seat in the Long Parliament because of his age, and was constantly excused his attendance. He was still living in 1648.