BULLINGHAM, Francis (1554-c.1636), of the Cathedral Close, Lincoln.

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

Constituency

Dates

1604

Family and Education

b. 1554, 1st s. of Nicholas Bullingham, bp. of Lincoln, afterwards bp. of Worcester, by his 1st w. Margaret, da. of Hamond Sutton of Washingborough, Lincs. educ. Jesus, Camb. 1568, King’s 1569-72; Barnard’s Inn; G. Inn 1576. m. (1) unknown, 1s. Nicholas (d.1583); (2) 11 Feb. 1591, Mary (d.1607), da. of George Fitzwilliam of Mablethorpe, Lincs. wid. of Richard Hiltoft of Boston and of Anthony Nevile, 2da. suc. fa. 1576.1

Offices Held

Registrar, diocese of Lincoln c.1579, principal registrar, by 1602; sub-collector of clerical subsidies, diocese of Lincoln to 1608; freeman, Lincoln 1600.2

Biography

Bullingham’s father was a native of Worcester, who, upon entering the Church, acquired benefices in Lincolnshire. He was appointed archdeacon of Lincoln in 1549, probably through the influence of Archbishop Cranmer whose chaplain he was, and in Lincoln his eldest son was born early in 1554. Before the end of the year, however, the archdeacon had been deprived of his benefices and had fled with his wife and child to Emden. They remained abroad until the death of Mary Tudor made their return safe, whereupon the former archdeacon was restored to his benefices and became the first bishop of Lincoln of the new dispensation. He died before his son could profit from his powers of patronage, and in the event Francis Bullingham decided not to seek a clerical career: though provided with two rectories in Cambridgeshire in 1579, he resigned them within a few months, did not take orders, and turned instead to ecclesiastical administration. He practised as a notary public in the Lincoln ecclesiastical courts, and by 1580 was one of the diocesan registrars. A resident in the Lincoln cathedral close for many years, he became a freeman in 1600 and successfully stood for the city in the forthcoming Parliament, leaving no mark on the surviving records.3

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: Irene Cassidy

Notes

  • 1. Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. l), 204-5; Lincoln Wills 1500-1600 ed. Maddison, 63; HMC 4th Rep. 77.
  • 2. Lincoln Episcopal Recs. of Bp. Cooper (Lincoln Rec. Soc. ii), 151; State of the Church (Lincoln Rec. Soc. xxiii), 251; CSP Dom. 1603-10, pp. 347, 460.
  • 3. DNB (Bullingham, Nicholas); C. H. Garrett, Marian Exiles, 99; Venn, Al. Cant. i. 252; Lincs. Wills and Admons. (Br. Rec. Soc. lvii), 278; HMC 14th Rep. VIII, 76.