Family and Education

b. 1568, 1st s. of Thomas Shurley of Isfield by his 1st w. Ann, da. of (Sir) Nicholas Pelham^† of Halland in Laughton. educ. Hart Hall, Oxf. 1582; m. Temple 1591. m. (1) Jane, da. of Thomas Shirley I of Wiston, 2s. 7da.; (2) Dorothy, da. of George Goring I of Ovingdean, wid. of Henry Bowyer, s.p. suc. fa. 1579. Kntd. 1603.1

Offices Held

J.p. Suss. from c. 1597, dep. lt. from 1624; sheriff, Surr. and Suss. 1616-17.2

Biography

Shurley inherited the Sussex manors of Crawley, Ifield, Worth in Little Horsted and Isfield itself, the family seat since the late fifteenth century. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather had been cofferers to Henry VIII, and through his mother he was related to the Pelhams of Laughton, and so indirectly to Thomas Sackville. John Shurley I, the lawyer, of Lewes, was his uncle, and George Shurley, the future lord chief justice of the King’s bench in Ireland, his brother, but he was not connected with the Shirleys of Wiston until his first marriage. In 1593 Shurley was returned for East Grinstead near both Crawley and Ifield manors. In 1597 he may have come in for Steyning through the Wiston Shirleys who lived nearby. Thomas Shirley III was his fellow-Member. On the other hand, some time later certainly, and perhaps at the time of the election, Shurley himself held the leasehold of Steyning parsonage and the advowson there. He is not known to have taken any active part in either of his first two Parliaments.3

The greater part of Shurley’s active public life falls outside Elizabeth’s reign. In his will, dated 25 Apr. 1631, the day of his death, he asked to be buried ‘without pomp and glory’ among his ancestors in the chancel of Isfield church. He had already, in December 1625 and April 1631, settled the major part of his lands. His ‘dearly beloved wife’ was appointed sole executrix. There is a monumental inscription in Isfield church.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.E.M.

Notes

• 1. W. Berry, Co. Genealogies, Suss. (Comber’s copy at Chichester), 204; Suss. Rec. Soc. xiv. 206; F. E. Ball, Judges in Ireland, i. 328; Suss. Arch. Colls. xviii. 130-1.
• 2. Suss. Arch. Colls. xviii. 130-1; xl. 2, 5, 7, 32; CSP Dom. 1623-5, p. 300.
• 3. Suss. Rec. Soc. xiv. 206; Berry, loc. cit; J. Comber, Suss. Genealogies, Lewes Centre, 252; Suss. Arch. Colls. xvii. 124 seq.; PCC 62 St. John.
• 4. Comber, Suss. Genealogies, 253; Suss. Rec. Soc. xix. 239, 245; xx. 400; VCH Suss. vii. 145; PCC 62 St. John; C142/471/70; Suss. Arch. Colls. xviii. 130-1; lxx. 159.