Sir Edward Lewknor or Lewkenor (1542 – 19 September 1605) was a prominent member of the puritan gentry in East Anglia in the later Elizabethan period, and an important voice on religious matters in the English Parliament.J.W. Bridgen, 'Lewkenor, Sir Edward (1542–1605), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004).J.H., 'Lewknor, Edward (1542–1605), of Kingston Buci, Suss. Denham Hall, Suff.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558–1603 (from Boydell & Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online. A. Thrush, 'Lewknor, Sir Edward I (1542–1605), of Denham Hall, nr. Bury St. Edmunds, Suff.', in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629 (Cambridge University Press, 2010), History of Parliament online.P. Collinson, '17. Magistracy and Ministry – A Suffolk Miniature', in Godly People: Essays on English Protestantism and Puritanism, History Series 23 (Hambledon Press, London 1983), pp. 445-66 (Google preview).
Origins and young life Edward was the eldest son of the courtier Edward Lewknor of Kingston Buci, Sussex, and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Robert Wroth and Jane Hawte,Jane was daughter of Sir Thomas Hawte, son and heir of William Hawte of Bishopsbourne. and sister of Sir Thomas Wroth.J.J. Howard (ed.), The Visitation of Suffolke, made by William Hervey, Clarenceux King of Arms, 1561, Vol. II (Samuel Tymms, Lowestoft/Whittaker & Co., London 1871), pp. 261–70, at p. 269.. His father grew up in the wardship of Robert Wroth (an associate of Thomas Cromwell and Richard Rich), who left directions in his will (1536) for the marriage of his ward to his daughter Dorothy.Will of Robert Wroth of Durrants, Enfield (P.C.C. 1536). The elder Lewknor's career as a courtier benefited from the high favour in which King Edward VI held his brother-in-law Thomas Wroth, one of the Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, whose wife Mary was a daughter of Richard Rich. However, with King Edward's death and the accession of Queen Mary I in 1553, Wroth (a strong favourer of the Protestant reform) went with Sir John Cheke and Sir Anthony Cooke into exile abroad.
The elder Lewknor, who was reputedly Groom Porter to both monarchs,This statement, otherwise unconfirmed, was made by Henry Machyn, recording Lewknor's arraignment and burial: J.G. Nichols (ed.), The Diary of Henry Machyn, Camden Society Old Series XLII (London 1848), pp. 108, 114. Machyn calls him "Lecknolle". kept his position at court, but became implicated in the "Dudley conspiracy" (of Henry Dudley and Henry Peckham) to depose Queen Mary and install her sister Elizabeth when he used his situation to procure a copy of King Henry VIII's will on their behalf.J. Bruce (ed.), Letters and Papers of the Verney Family down to the end of the year 1639, Camden Society LVI (London 1853), pp. 58–76. J.A. Froude, History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 12 Vols, (Longmans, London 1870), Vol. VI, pp. 1–15. (HathiTrust) In 1556 he was found guilty of treason, attainted, and imprisoned in the Tower of London under deferral of execution awaiting a possible pardon. At this time the Queen sought urgently to force Sir Thomas Wroth to return to England, but without success, and after three months in the Tower attended by his wife and one of his daughters Lewknor expired there in September 1556.R.J.W. Swales, 'Lewknor, Edward (1516/17-56), of Kingston Buci, Suss.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.) The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (Boydell & Brewer, 1982) History of Parliament online. Calendar of Patent Rolls Philip and Mary, III: 1555–1557 (HMSO 1938), pp. 539–40. His son Edward at the age of 14 therefore faced a complete reversal of his childhood status and expectations when his father was buried at the Tower.Diary of Henry Machyn, p. 114.
Many lands, including the manor and advowson of Hamsey, East Sussex,R. Chapman, 'The Parochial History of Hamsey', Sussex Archaeological Collections XVII (George P. Bacon, Lewes 1865), pp. 70–103, at pp. 79–81, and see pp. 97, 100. Giles St. Barbe was Rector of Hamsey c.1541–1555, CCED, but his successor Thomas Helior, appointed by Lewknor on St. Barbe's resignation in 1555, was soon replaced by a royal appointment. were restored to his mother in February 1556/57 by Mary's Letters Patent.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Philip and Mary III: 1555–1557, pp. 451–52 (HathiTrust). T.N.A. Discovery Catalogue SAS-D/105 (East Sussex Record Office). In the first year of Elizabeth an act was passed, on the petition of Lewknor's four sons (Edward, Thomas, Stephen and William) and six daughters (Jane, Maria, Elizabeth, Anne, Dorothie and Lucrece)Howard, The Visitation of Suffolke II, p. 269. to restore them to their blood, lineage and degree.S. D'Ewes, revised P. Bowes, Journals of all the Parliaments During the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (John Starkey, London 1682), p. 25, 20 & 21 March 1558/9. This restored all their ancestral hereditaments excepting those held in use, possession or reversion by their father at the time of his treason and attainder, or any which either Mary or Elizabeth should have found cause to withhold. They were therefore entitled to make their pedigrees as Lewknor's heirs as if he had never been attainted, and to make conveyances thereof, except of lordships, honours and other benefits to which their Majesties were entitled on account of the attainder.C. Clark and W. Finnelly, Reports of Cases Heard and Decided in the House of Lords on Appeals and Writs of Error, and Claims of Peerage: During the Sessions 1831[-1846], Vol. 6, 1838 & 1839 (V & R Stevens and G.S. Norton, London 1842), pp. 844–45.
His fortunes so far restored, Edward was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, matriculating a pensioner at Easter 1559 and graduating B.A. in 1561, and was a fellow of the college from 1561 to 1563.'Lewkenor, Edward', in J. & J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses I.iii (Cambridge University Press, 1924), p. 82. He entered the Middle Temple in 1562 to study law. His son recorded in his father's printed epitaph that he next found some service in the royal household of Queen Elizabeth.S.H.A. Hervey, Denham Parish Registers, 1539–1850, with notes and notices, (Paul and Mathew, Bury St Edmunds 1904), at pp. 204 & p. 220. His next brother Thomas Lewknor (presumably the same who matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge in Lent term 1557–58 and graduated B.A. in 1562–63Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses I.iii, p. 82.) was presented Rector of Hamsey by the Diocesan 'by lapsed authority' in 1563, remaining until 1568.Chapman, 'Parochial History of Hamsey', p. 80.
Marriage and relocation to Suffolk
Around 1570 Edward married Susan, daughter of Sir Thomas Heigham of Higham Hall, Suffolk and his wife Martha,Hervey, Denham Parish Registers, pp. 192–97. daughter of Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke Hall. While his mother Dorothy Lewknor remained of Kingston Buci, in consequence of his marriage Edward moved to Suffolk, settling at Denham near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, near to Rushbrooke and Higham, and established his family there, where the male line continued in three generations. This placed him firmly within the kinship of the central East Anglian gentry, and, so far as his immediate Jermyn and Heigham relations were concerned, with a group embodying the radical puritan interest in Suffolk. Lewknor assumed this role naturally and energetically: the twin social pillars of the magistracy and ministry working together under the authority of this particular family group (which had a strong parliamentary presence) form the subject of an oft-quoted case-study by Professor Collinson.P. Collinson, '17. Magistracy and Ministry – A Suffolk Miniature', in Godly People: Essays on English Protestantism and Puritanism, History Series 23 (Hambledon Press, London 1983), pp. 445-66 (Google preview).
Susan Heigham's father Sir Thomas Heigham was the grandson and senior heir of John Heigham (died c. 1522), whose younger brother Clement Heigham of Lavenham (died 1500Memorial (lost) described in Richard Reyce's Breviary of Suffolk (Harleian MSS), recited in J.J. Howard (ed), the Visitation of the County of Suffolke, 2 vols (Whittaker & Co., London/Samuel Tymms, Lowestoft 1868), II, p. 228; see also Heigham pedigree, at pp. 214-18 (Internet Archive).) was father of Sir Clement Heigham of Barrow, Suffolk (died 1571) Speaker of the House of Commons in 1554, an open Catholic, and a notable persecutor of Protestants.M.K. Dale, 'Heigham, Clement (by 1495–1571), of Barrow, Suff.', in S.T. Bindoff (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509–1558 (from Boydell & Brewer, 1982), History of Parliament online. Speaker Higham's son Sir John Heigham (died 1626), however, with whom Lewknor had more to do, was a central patron of the puritan movement in East Anglia.J.H., 'Heigham, John (d.1626), of Barrow, Suff.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558–1603 (from Boydell & Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online. J.P. Ferris, 'Heigham (Higham), Sir John (c.1540-1626), of Barrow and Bury St. Edmunds, Suff.', in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629 (from Cambridge University Press, 2010), History of Parliament online. The Jermyns were similarly bi-partisan. Martha Jermyn's father Sir Thomas died in 1552, and her brother Sir Ambrose Jermyn (died 1577) was reportedly a fervent Roman Catholic and strong persecutor of Protestants in East Anglia during the reign of Queen Mary,P. Collinson, From Cranmer to Sancroft: Essays on English Religion in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (A&C Black, 16 Jul 2007), p.33. but by another account took immediate steps to curb the excesses of commissioners as soon as Elizabeth came to the throne.S.H.A. Hervey, 'Sir Ambrose Jermyn', in Rushbrook Parish Registers 1567–1850 (George Booth, Woodbridge 1903), pp. 198-207, at p. 200. (Internet Archive). His son, Sir Robert Jermyn (died 1614), however, was an uncompromising puritan and patron, and the associate of John Heigham.N.M. Fuidge, 'Jermyn, Sir Robert (d.1614), of Rushbrooke, Suff.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558–1603 (from Boydell and Brewer, 1981), History of Parliament online.J. Craig, 'Jermyn, Sir Robert (1538/9-1614)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004).