LINDLEY, Henry (d.1609), of Leathley, Yorks.

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

3rd s. of Laurence Lindley of Leathley by Elizabeth, da. of Richard Redman of Harewood Castle. educ. G. Inn 1585. m. Jeronima, s.p. Kntd. July 1599.1

Offices Held

Servant of Philip Sidney 1580s; of 2nd Earl of Essex 1590s.

Biography

The only outsider to represent Newcastle in Parliament in this period, Lindley was brought in by his master, the 2nd Earl of Essex, whose support had just been enlisted by the Newcastle grand lessees against a ‘base and turbulent’ faction in the corporation. For his part, Essex was at this time building up a group of supporters in the House to protect his interests. As one of Essex’s staff lawyers, Lindley had been handling various negotiations with the Queen, including the renewal of the Earl’s sweet wine monopoly. Not surprisingly, Lindley’s name appears in the monopolies committee in the proceedings of the 1597 Parliament. He also served on the committee of a bill concerning Warwick hospital (18 Nov.) and pawnbrokers (7 Feb. 1598).2

In the summer of 1599 he accompanied Essex to Ireland, being knighted in July. He wrote to a friend:

We have marched over the fairest country that I have ever seen, nor did I ever see so vile a people. I could not have thought any could have been so bad.

During the campaign, Lindley presumably remained close to his master, and it is unlikely that he was the Captain Lindley who fought so disastrously at Wicklow. Whether or not there was truth in the rumour current in the summer of 1600 that Lindley had been dismissed from the Earl’s service, he managed to escape too close an involvement in the attempted rebellion. On the crucial day, 7 Feb. 1601, he was one of those ‘that were the whole time in the [Essex] house and followed not the Earl in the street’, and he escaped with a fine and a brief spell in the Gatehouse. After his release, he was involved for several years in settling the Earl’s debts. His own fortunes were secured by the royal grant, in 1604, of Middleham castle, Yorkshire, and the annuity of £40 which he received for the rest of his life from the heirs of his first master Sir Philip Sidney. Lindley made his will on his deathbed 7 Nov. 1609, leaving everything to his wife. He made six codicils the same day, as he remembered various relatives and servants, each codicil carefully witnessed and timed, e.g. ‘about eleven of the clock’, ‘the same day about one of the clock in the afternoon’. Probate was granted to the widow 22 Dec.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: B.D.

Notes

  • 1. Glover, Vis. Yorks. 547; C142/317/96.
  • 2. HMC Hatfield, vii. 275, 477; viii. 222; D’Ewes, 559, 594; Sidney State Pprs. ed. Collins, i. 111; Devereux pprs. at Longleat, vol. 3, f. 74; CSP Dom. 1595-7, pp. 9, 62, 483; E401/1857.
  • 3. HMC Hatfield, ix. 211-12; xi. 86; xv. 177; CSP Ire. 1599-1600, pp. 83 seq.; Sidney State Pprs. ii. 207; Folger mss 2007-1; APC, xxxi. 160, 194, 228, 262, 328, 484; CSP Dom. 1598-1601, pp. 547-8, 560; VCH Yorks. N. Riding, i. 252; HMC De L’Isle and Dudley, iv. 175; C142/317/96; York wills, 31, f. 207.