John Whiteway was an English wool 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...

  at various times between 1654 and 1660.

Whiteway was the only surviving son of William Whiteway of Dorchester and his wife Mary Mounsell, daughter of John Mounsell, merchant of Weymouth, Dorset.His father was a woollen merchant and had been MP for Dorchester. He was a captain of militia at Dorchester in 1643 and a commissioner for assessment for Dorset from 1643 to 1652. In 1645 he became mayor of Dorchester 1645. In 1646 he inherited two farms near Dorchester on the death of a nephew and became a J.P.

Justice of the Peace

A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for Dorset from 1647 to July 1660. In 1648 he was again commissioner for militia and in 1653 a commissioner for prisoners and for piracy. He was a commissioner for scandalous ministers in 1654.
In 1654, Whiteway 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 Dorchester

Dorchester (UK Parliament constituency)

Dorchester was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Dorchester in Dorset. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1295 to 1868, when its representation was reduced one member....

 in the First Protectorate Parliament

First Protectorate Parliament

The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the House....

. He was re-elected MP for Dorchester in 1656 for the Second Protectorate Parliament

Second Protectorate Parliament

The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...

. He was commissioner for assessment for Dorset in 1657and became mayor of Dorchester again in 1658. In 1659 he was commissioner for militia again and from January 1660 he was commissioner for assessment for Dorset until 1661. In March 1660 he was commissioner for militia again and in April 1660 was re-elected MP for Dorchester in the Convention Parliament.

Whiteway's will was proved in February 1679 by a creditor.

Whiteway married firstly Mary White daughter of Stephen White of Stanton St John, Oxfordshire on 28 Feb. 1639. They had four sons and two daughters but Mary died in 1658. He married secondly Martha, widow of Francis Sedgwicke and of Timothy Alsop, brewer of Hackney, Middlesex and daughter of Ralph Triplett, brewer of Thames Street, London.on 9 July 1667.