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PEYTON, Robert I (by 1498-1550), of Isleham, Cambs.
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. by 1498, 1st s. of Sir Robert Peyton of Isleham by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Robert Clere of Ormesby, Norf.; bro. of Edward and John. m. by Nov. 1520, Frances, da. and h. of Francis Haselden of Guilden Morden, Cambs. and Chesterford, Essex, 6s. inc. Robert II 2da. suc. fa. 17 Mar. 1518. Kntd. aft. 3 Nov. 1529.1
Offices Held
Commr. subsidy, Cambs. 1523, 1524, tenths of spiritualities, Cambridge and Cambs. 1535, musters, Cambs. 1546; other commissions 1530-d.; j.p. Cambs. 1524-d., q. 1547; sheriff, Cambs. and Hunts. 1525-6, 1535-6.2
Biography
Robert Peyton inherited land in four counties from his father and became for a short time a royal ward; the family had built up estates by marriage with heiresses and Peyton’s own marriage brought him and his descendants four entailed Cambridgeshire manors and land in Essex. The names of Peyton Hall manor, Boxford, Suffolk, and of Payton Hall, Alphamstone, Essex, bore witness to the family’s long residence in those places; Isleham had become its principal seat in Richard III’s reign.3
Peyton’s wealth and ancestry assured him from early manhood a place on all Cambridgeshire commissions and may have secured him election to the Parliament of 1523, the names for which are lost. He was knighted during the first session of the Parliament of 1529, but as he was pricked sheriff towards its close he presumably did not sit in its short successor of 1536, although he may have done so again in 1545. He performed other duties appropriate to his station, serving at Anne Boleyn’s coronation in 1533 and attending the christening of Prince Edward in 1536 and Anne of Cleves’s reception in 1540. He was ordered to raise 80 men for service against the northern rebels in 1536 and probably served in 1544 with the vanguard of the army which captured Boulogne, a campaign for which he provided 20 footmen.4
Most of Peyton’s time was probably spent in the management of his estates, which he seems to have concentrated in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk. In February 1550 Peyton obtained a licence for himself and his immediate family to eat meat during Lent; his will, made in the following July, has a preamble mildly Protestant in tone. After small charitable gifts, he left money to his younger children and divided his purchased Cambridgeshire lands and Isleham manor between them in the event of his eldest son Robert’s failing to honour his (unspecified) arrangements as to Wicken manor. He directed his wife, the executrix to pay his debts and bring up their younger sons; Robert was to receive £50 a year for 14 years from the income of Wicken manor, valued in the inquisition post mortem at only £40 a year. Peyton died at Isleham on 1 Aug. 1550, the day after he made his will, and was buried in the church there.5
Ref Volumes: 1509-1558
Author: D. F. Coros
Notes
- 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s i.p.m., C142/33/1. Vis. Cambs. (Harl. Soc. xli), 4; C1/554/25-26.
- 2. LP Hen. VIII, iii-v, viii, xii-xviii, xx, xxi; CPR, 1547-8, pp. 75-76, 81; E371/350 r. 31.
- 3. C142/33/1, 12, 91; Cat. Arundel mss in Coll. of Arms, 60c; C1/554/25-26; St.Ch.2/29/137; Morant, Essex, ii. 267.
- 4. LP Hen. VIII, vi, xi, xii, xiv, xix.
- 5. LP Hen. VIII, xi; PCC 27 Coode; C1/554/25-26; 142/93/9; St.Ch.2/29/137; CPR, 1549-51, p. 189; Mill Stephenson, Mon. Brasses, 63.