HUBBERD, Edward (d.1602), of Birchanger and Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

1st s. of Richard Hubberd of Birchanger. m. (1) bef. 1567, Jane, da. and h. of John Southall of Stansted Mountfitchet, at least 1s.; (2) Eleanor, da. of John Fortescue I, 3s. 3da.1

Offices Held

Receiver-gen. to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, by 1580; six clerk in Chancery 1580-d.; j.p. Essex by 1583, q. by 1586, Herts. by 1596, q. by 1601.

Biography

Hubberd made a fortunate first marriage, served under the Earl of Oxford, and acquired a lucrative Chancery post. His work as six clerk and attorney did not require any formal legal education, but he may have served on some sort of apprenticeship in Chancery. In 1584, on the death of his father-in-law, he acquired the Stansted Mountfitchet estate, which included a number of manors and other lands which the Earl of Oxford had alienated to Southall in 1582. Hubberd’s connexions with the de Veres were further strengthened by his sister’s marriage into the family.

Hubberd’s superior in Chancery was the master of the rolls, Sir Gilbert Gerard, who was vice-chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and presumably responsible for Hubberd’s return at the duchy of Lancaster borough of Monmouth. By 1597 Gerard was dead, but Hubberd, whose friends included John Brograve, attorney of the duchy, can have had little difficulty in securing a seat at Lancaster. Hubberd was an active committeeman in both his Parliaments. In 1593 he sat on committees dealing with Bishop Bonner (9 Mar.), felonies (16 Mar.) and the relief of maimed soldiers (24 Mar.). His committees in his second Parliament are difficult to separate from those of Henry Hobart, but they included those on wool (8, 9 Dec.), the suppression of unsized bread (13 Jan. 1598) and maltsters (‘disorderly brewing of strong beer’), to which he was appointed 9 Nov. 1597, 12 Jan. 1598 and which he reported to the House 21 Jan. This last was a problem he later had to tackle in his own county. In 1601 Hubberd was one of the lawyers required to contribute towards the Irish wars. He made his will on 16 Mar. that year and it was proved 14 May 1602. The preamble described his soul as his ‘most precious jewel’, made in the ‘likeness of Almighty God’. He asked to be buried at Stansted Mountfitchet. The will is that of a wealthy man. Provision was made for servants, an almshouse and the poor of several parishes. These bequests involved the creation of several charitable uses, and he begged the lord keeper to enforce their performance, if need be, by decree in Chancery. His widow received jewellery, and the children legacies. As a co-executor he appointed his son and heir Francis, who succeeded his father as six clerk, sold the office and became a poet.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: W.J.J.

Notes

  • 1. Vis Essex (Harl. Soc. xiv), 584.
  • 2. CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 685; T. Hardy, Catalogue of Lords Chancellors, 107, 109; Essex Rev. xxxix. 124-5; Morant, Essex, ii. 211, 578; D’Ewes, 496, 502, 503, 509, 554, 570, 578, 579, 586; Townshend, Hist. Colls. 103; APC, xxii. 247, 390; xxx. 29, 665-6; xxxi. 244; PCC 33 Montague.