DYMOKE, Sir Edward (by 1508-67), of Scrivelsby, Lincs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1554

Family and Education

b. by 1508, 1st s. of Sir Robert Dymoke of Scrivelsby by Anne, da. and h. of John Sparrow of London. educ. ?I. Temple. m. by 1 Apr. 1529, Anne, da. of Sir George Tailboys, de jure 9th Lord Kyme, 5s. inc. Charles 7da. suc. fa. 13 Apr. 1544. Kntd. Mar./Sept. 1546.1

Offices Held

Hereditary champion of England.

Sheriff, Lincs. 1535-6, 1547-8, 1555-6, j.p. Lincs. (Lindsey) 1538-d., (Holland and Kesteven) 1554, 1561-d.; commr. musters, Lincs. (Lindsey) 1539, 1546, benevolence 1544/45, chantries, Lincs. 1548, relief, Lincs. (Lindsey) 1550, goods of churches and fraternities 1553, to impose Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy, Lincs. 1559; other commissions 1537-65; treasurer, Boulogne 1546-7; jt. (with Sir Robert Tyrwhitt II and Sir William Willoughby , Baron Willoughby of Parham) ld. lt. Lincs. May 1559.2

Biography

The first Dymoke of Scrivelsby, Sir John, established his right to act as champion of England at the coronation of Richard II on the ground that the office was attached to the manor of Scrivelsby. Sir Edward Dymoke carried out his hereditary duty at the coronations of Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. He sued out a pardon in October 1553 as Sir Edward Dymoke of Scrivelsby alias the King’s champion.3

Dymoke’s status had earlier been put to a more than symbolic test. It was during his first shrievalty of Lincolnshire that there took place the rising of 1536. The rebels came to Scrivelsby on 3 Oct. and forced the sheriff to assume the leadership of their host; moreover, until the banner of the Five Wounds was prepared one belonging to the Dymoke family was used. It was while Dymoke was nominally at the head of the insurgents that the chancellor of Lincoln was murdered at Horncastle, but a week later he and three of his kinsmen joined the royal forces under the Duke of Suffolk at Stamford. Many of those examined after the rising claimed that the gentry, and in particular the sheriff, might have (as one of them put it) ‘stayed the rebels with a white rod’, but whatever was thought of his conduct he suffered no punishment or disgrace.4

Dymoke’s brief tenure of the treasurership of Boulogne lasted from the autumn of 1546 until the following spring. His appointment was mentioned by Sir Philip Draycott in a letter of 4 Sept. 1546, on 30 Sept. his precursor (Sir) Hugh Paulet spoke of expecting him by 1 Nov., and the Privy Council began sending him instructions in October; his successor, Sir Richard Cotton, was appointed on 17 Mar. 1547. It is not clear why Dymoke was appointed to the office, the only one of its kind which he was to hold, or why he relinquished it so speedily. If he went to Boulogne he must have returned before the coronation on 20 Feb. Both the lustre of this occasion and his recent knighthood may help to account for his election in the following autumn as senior knight of the shire in the first Parliament of the reign. He was, in any case, well qualified by birth, fortune and experience, while his marriage linked him with the governing group in the county which was headed by Edward Fiennes, 9th Lord Clinton, who married his sister-in-law, and included his fellow-knight Sir William Skipwith.5

Dymoke was to be re-elected to two Marian Parliaments when he sat with another kinsman-by-marriage, Sir Robert Tyrwhitt II, but there is no indication of the part which he played in the House or of his attitude towards the religious changes in which he became involved there. He was to remain in favour and employment under Elizabeth, and his appointment to a commission to impose the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity shows that he must have conformed to this further settlement. In 1564, however, he was described as ‘indifferent’ and his eldest son, Robert, as a ‘hinderer’: Robert became an open recusant and died in prison for his religion in 1580.6

Dymoke made his will on 8 June 1566. Provided he accepted certain conditions, Robert was to be executor; if he refused them, his place was to be taken by his mother. (Sir) Edward Saunders, a man of Catholic sympathies, was overseer. Lord Clinton and Baron Willoughby of Parham received bequests: Willoughby’s mother, Elizabeth Tailboys, was Dymoke’s sister-in-law and the two men had shared in a lease of Tailboys land in 1555. Clinton wrote to Sir William Cecil on 30 Sept. 1567, a fortnight after his kinsman’s death, to announce the event, which he described as a great loss to the country and to his friends. He gave details of the will and asked Cecil to be good to Robert, who had married Clinton’s daughter Bridget, when he came to sue for his livery, and trusted that Robert would soon reform himself in those things which both his father and father-in-law disliked. He also commended Robert’s son, another Edward, to Cecil. Robert had licence to enter on his father’s lands on 5 July Dymoke’s widow married Robert Carr of Sleaford, Lincolnshire.7

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from age at fa.’s death, Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. lv), 1202-12; PCC 30 Stonard; S. Lodge, Scrivelsby, 58-77; Cal. I.T. Recs. i. 237; LP Hen. VIII, iv, xx; DNB. LP Hen. VIII, ix, xii-xiv, xvi, xx, xxi; Lincoln Rec. Soc. liv. pp. lix, 12, 16; VCH Lincs. ii. 54; CPR, 1547-8, pp. 78, 86; 1548-9, p. 136; 1550-3, pp. 141, 395; 1553, pp. 316, 355, 414; 1553-4, pp. 21, 29, 36; 1554-5, p. 109; 1560-3, p. 439; 1563-6, pp. 40, 42; APC, vii. 284; CSP Dom. 1547-80, pp. 108, 264.
  • 2. LP Hen. VIII, ix, xii-xiv, xvi, xx, xxi; Lincoln Rec. Soc. liv. pp. lix, 12, 16; VCH Lincs. ii. 54; CPR, 1547-8, pp. 78, 86; 1548-9, p. 136; 1550-3, pp. 141, 395; 1553, pp. 316, 355, 414; 1553-4, pp. 21, 29, 36; 1554-5, p. 109; 1560-3, p. 439; 1563-6, pp. 40, 42; APC, vii. 284; CSP Dom. 1547-80, pp. 108, 264.
  • 3. Allen, Lincs. ii. 83 seq.; Lit. Rems. Edw. VI, 213; APC, ii. 65; CPR, 1553-4, p. 439.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, xi, xii; M. H. and R. Dodds, Pilgrimage of Grace, i. 101-2, 124; CPR, 1553, p. 387.
  • 5. LP Hen. VIII, xxi; APC, i. 546; ii. 438.
  • 6. Cam. Misc. ix(3), 26-27; Cath. Rec. Soc. xxii. 53; R. Challoner, Missionary Priests (1924 ed.), 18-19.
  • 7. PCC 30 Stonard; C142/149/93; CPR, 1554-5, p. 268; 1555-7, pp. 552-3; 1566-9, pp. 133, 149; HMC Hatfield, i. 346-7.