KYDMAN, Robert (b.1562), of Gissing, Norf.

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

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

bap. 21 Mar. 1562, s. of Thomas Kydman of Gissing. educ.Tibenham and Diss sch.; Caius, Camb. 1577, BA from Trinity Hall 1581, MA 1584.

Offices Held

Sec. to Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury by 1591.

Biography

Kydman was admitted to Caius on 6 Feb. 1577, his father being described in the admission register as mediocris fortunae. After spending some time there, he became secretary to the 7th Earl of Shrewsbury. A report sent to the Privy Council by Robert Bainbridge in 1591 refers to him as ‘a master of arts and student of late in Keye’s College ... a noted papist and ... now one of my lord’s secretaries’. No other evidence has been found of his having been a Catholic, and he was presumably prepared to take the oath of supremacy before being seated for East Retford in the Parliament of 1601. No doubt he owed this to Shrewsbury, who later became high steward of the borough. No later reference to Kydman has been found.

Venn, Biog. Hist. of Gonville and Caius Coll. i. 89; J. C. Cox, Derbys. Annals, i. 272; HMC Hatfield, v. 243; x. 393; xi. 14; Neale, Commons, 203; CP, xi. 259; A. C. Wood, Hist. Notts. 155, 159; J. S. Piercy, Hist. Retford, 20.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes