EDWARDS, Thomas (1555-1634), of Rushbury and Shrewsbury, Salop.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1593
1597

Family and Education

b. 1555, 2nd s. of Hugh Edwards of Rushbury by Alicia, da. of Thomas Kyle of Dorset. educ. Shrewsbury; L. Inn from Furnival’s Inn 1587; Doctors’ Commons 1595. m. Anne, da. and coh. of Humphrey Baskerville, alderman of London, wid. of Stephen Duckett of Calstone, Wilts., 3s. 3da.

Offices Held

Master in Chancery extraordinary 1597; sealer of writs in Chancery 1616; sheriff, Salop 1621-2, j.p. by 1623.

Biography

Edwards was a lawyer with no known Wiltshire connexions before his marriage to the widow of the lord of the manor of Calne. In later years, and in his will, he is referred to as of the ‘college’, Shrewsbury. Although he is not mentioned by name in either the 1593 or the 1597 parliamentary records, he may have attended a committee on cloth to which the burgesses for Calne were appointed on 15 Mar. 1593. He died in 1684. By his will, made 10 June of that year and proved 27 Apr. 1655, he provided his eldest son Humphrey—the regicide—with an annuity of £100 and bequeathed to his second son Thomas, the sole executor, his goods, jewels, household stuff, plate and ready money. His godson William Duckett received £5, as did Mr. Peter Studley, preacher, and an annuity of 40s. was bequeathed to the curate of the parish church of St. Chad, Shrewsbury. Edwards cautioned his heir to avoid ‘the curses due to the infringers and defeaters of charitable gifts’.

Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxviii), 174; H. Owen and J. B. Blakeway, Shrewsbury, i. 430; ii. 259; PCC 40 Sadler; petty bag office 37; CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 393; D’Ewes, 501; Trans. Salop Arch. Soc. (ser. 4), i. 234.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: W.J.J.

Notes