Arthur Mainwaring Arthur Mainwaring Sir Arthur Mainwaring (c. 1580 – 1648) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1624 to 1626. 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
Captain Mainwaring struggled to rise above his working class background. He claims to be the son of a successful tailor in Eastbourne, but Lance Corporal Jones reveals that Mainwaring's father was actually a poor draper who sold badly-made workmen's trousers and Barry Mainwaring confirms this. "If I had a title I'd be on the board of directors at the bank!" he shouts at Sergeant Wilson when the latter gains a title in the episode "The Honourable Man". Despite his arrogance being encouraged by his status as the bank manager (having started as a clerk and working his way up to assistant chief