Mainwaring was the eldest son of
Sir George Mainwaring of
Ightfield,
Shropshire and Ann More, daughter of
William More. He was awarded
BA from
Brasenose College, Oxford on 7 July 1598 and
MA on 15 June 1601. He began a rise to prominence working for
Sir Thomas Egerton, in whose household he was steward from 1602 to 1617.
John Payne Collier published records by Mainwaring relating to a performance of
Othello for
Queen Elizabeth at this period; these were later recognised as forgeries, however. A genuine connection with
William Shakespeare was an attempt led by Mainwaring in 1614 to
enclose lands at
Welcombe near
Stratford-upon-Avon, defeated by local resistance. He was described as of
Cheshire when he was knighted at the
London Charterhouse on 11 May 1603. Mainwaring also and concurrently became a courtier, carver in the household of
Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales from 1604. He was appointed
Clerk of the Pipe at the Exchequer from 1610 to 1616. His financial position was improved when he became heir to
Francis Wolley who died in 1609, despite litigation from family members. The relationship, seemingly tolerated by Anne's husband Dr.
George Turner who died in 1610, led to children but no marriage.
Arthur Wilson claimed that she bought powders from
Simon Forman to try to bring him to wed her. In 1624, Mainwaring was elected
member of parliament for
Huntingdon for the
Happy Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Huntingdon in 1625 and 1626. From 1628 to around 1642 he served as Lieutenant of
Windsor Forest. In 1641 the forest was the scene of disorder and poaching of the
deer, and he recommended firm action around
Egham, which was however thwarted by local sympathies. He had objected at the beginning of the reign of
Charles I to the
East India Company's
gunpowder mills on the edge of Windsor Forest; later, in 1635, he was himself in the gunpowder business with Andrew Pitcairn. ==References==