Family and Education

b. c.1562, 1st surv. s. of Sir Miles Corbet of Sprowston and bro. of Francis. educ. Pembroke, Camb. 1575. m. 1589, Anne, da. of Edward Barrett of Bellhouse, Essex, 5s. 8da. suc. fa. 1607.1

Offices Held

J.p. Norf. by 1608;2 sheriff 1611-12.

Biography

Corbet was granted lands in Norfolk, including the manors of Bastwicke and Chambery Hall, by his father on his marriage. His wife succeeded to estates in Suffolk through her mother, who was a daughter of Sir Rowland Hall of Shrubhall, Suffolk, and he probably settled down to administer his property. His return to Parliament in 1593 may have been due to the influence of his father’s ‘especial good friend’ (Sir) Edward Coke, who nominated at Dunwich in 1597. In 1596 Corbet was captain of two Norfolk hundreds, and in the same year he received a pardon for the manslaughter of one John Powyn in an ‘affray’.3

On the death of his father he inherited more land in and near Sprowston, and in Norwich. He owed his father about £6,143, of which £6,072 was a debt due to Sir Edward Coke, which his father had paid for him and clearly expected to be repaid. By the time of Corbet’s own death in 1617, he had apparently recovered from the debts, for as well as his estates, most of which went to his eldest son John and his widow, he also left his seven surviving daughters £1,000 each and bequeathed smaller sums to his other children and to the poor of various Norfolk parishes. He asked to be buried in the family chancel at Sprowston, near his father’s tomb, ‘without any funeral pomp or dole’. His widow and his heir John were executors of the will, which was dated 19 Oct. 1617 and proved on 23 Feb. 1618. He appointed various local ‘good friends’ to exact security for the payment of the legacies.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.H.

Notes

• 1. Vis. Norf. (Norf. and Norwich Arch. Soc.), i. 35.
• 2. SP14/33.
• 3. C142/296/129; PCC 95 Huddleston; HMC Hatfield, vi. 223; PRO Index 6800.
• 4. PCC 14 Meade.