PEYTON, Edward (by 1501-48), of London and Calais.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1529

Family and Education

b. by 1501, 3rd s. of Sir Robert Peyton of Isleham, Cambs. by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Robert Clere of Ormesby, Norf.; bro. of John and Robert I. unm.1

Offices Held

Gent. usher, the chamber by 1522; bailiff, manor of Desning, keeper, Comby and Southwold parks, Suff. 1522; receiver, duchy of Lancaster, Cambs., Norf. and Suff. Jan. 1526-7; customer of the Lantern gate, Calais 1530-Apr. 1541.2

Biography

The Peyton family owned extensive lands in Essex, Kent and Suffolk but had its principal seat in Cambridgeshire. Of the two contemporary Edward Peytons one was a younger brother and the other the third son of Sir Robert Peyton, who died in 1518. It is likely that the Member was the son, for the brother was an elderly man who had made no mark, while his younger namesake was a courtier who had a brother, another Robert, in the Parliament of 1529. Granted the reversion of the office of customer at one of the gates of Calais on 16 Jan. 1522, he succeeded to it in 1530 but need not have let it interfere with his attendance at court, as such an office could be farmed and Peyton is known to have dealt with his in this way. The farmer he chose, Thomas Broke, was not a success, for in January 1540 he was reported to Sir William Fitzwilliam I, Earl of Southampton, for defrauding the crown of 20d. in every £1 of customs revenue received; later he was also accused of heresy, by Peyton among others if his own statement is to be trusted. As Peyton was probably in attendance at court he could have attended Parliament at small expense, and the impoverished borough of Maldon must have been glad to be served by one in favour with the King and unlikely to expect wages. Peyton was given the freedom of Maldon on 18 Oct. 1529, as his fellow-Member Thomas Tey had been two weeks earlier. Despite the King’s general request for the re-election of the Members of the previous Parliament, Peyton and Tey were not returned for Maldon in 1536, possibly because they were thought to be partisans of Anne Boleyn.3

Little else has come to light about Peyton’s life. He remained in the King’s favour after his spell in Parliament, for in 1540 he was granted an annuity of 20 marks out of the revenues of a Suffolk manor. He made his will and died at Knowlton, Kent, in 1548, between 27 Apr. and 15 May. Most of his property he left to Anne Cawnton, whom he made his executrix, and he bequeathed an annuity to his nephew Edmund Peyton, who had succeeded him in the customership at Calais in April 1541.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: D. F. Coros

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Cambs. (Harl. Soc. xli), 4; C142/33/1, 12, 109.
  • 2. LP Hen. VIII, iii, iv, xiii; Somerville, Duchy, i. 597; P. T. J. Morgan, ‘The govt. of Calais, 1485-1558’ (Oxf. Univ. Ph.D. thesis, 1966), 302.
  • 3. LP Hen. VIII, xiv, xv; Morant, Essex, ii. 159, 180; Colchester Oath Bk. ed. Benham, 142; Essex RO, D/B3/1,2, f. 78.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, xv, xvi; PCC 6 Populwell; C142/121/104.