William Jephson was an English 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...

  from 1640 to 1648. He was served in the Parliamentary army and was Cromwell's envoy to Sweden.

Jephson was the son of Sir John Jephson and his wife Elizabeth Norreys. daughter of Sir Thomas Norreys, Lord President of Munster. She brought the Irish estates at Mallow and elsewhere to the Jephson family.

In April 1640, Jephson 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 Stockbridge

Stockbridge (UK Parliament constituency)

Stockbridge was a parliamentary borough in Hampshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1563 until 1832, when the borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act...

 in 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....

. He was re-elected in November 1640 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...

. Jephson was a member of Hampshire Committee in 1644 and also Lieutenant Governor of Portsmouth in 1644 Jephson was not recorded as sitting in parliament after Pride's Purge

Pride's Purge

Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

 in 1648. He sold the Froyle estate in 1653. Jephson became a major general and was the representative in parliament for Cork 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....

 in 1654 and in 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...

 in 1656. In 1657 Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 sent him as envoy to Sweden while Sweden was at war with Denmark.

Jephson married Alicia Denham, daughter of Sir John Denham. His son William was later MP for East Grinstead and Wycombe.