MONTGOMERY, Lewis (d.1568), of Ecton, Northants.

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

s. of Michael Montgomery of Ecton by Elizabeth Lewis. educ. G. Inn 1550, ancient 1557. m. Jane, da. of Sir Ralph Lane of Horton, s.p.

Offices Held

J.p.q. Northants. by 1564.

Biography

Montgomery was a puritan lawyer and land speculator, whose connexions in Northamptonshire included the Lanes of Horton, the Yelvertons, Catesbys and Spencers. He was also known to the 2nd Earl of Bedford who had him returned for Dorchester to the 1563 Parliament. However, his own contacts and standing had been sufficient to gain him one of the Northampton seats (his brother-in-law had the other) and he exercised his option to retain this, a new writ being ordered for Dorchester 25 Jan. The only record found of any activity in the Commons is his membership of the succession committee, 31 Oct. 1566. Montgomery was classified in the 1564 bishops’ reports as an ‘earnest furtherer of religion’. He died, probably in his early 30s, his will, made when he was ‘sick in body’, being proved 13 Nov. 1568. One Mr. Foxe—just possibly the famous martyrologist—was to preach his funeral oration and Foxe, or ‘some other virtuous and learned preacher’, was to preach quarterly in Ecton church for four years. His wife received a life interest in his property, and his youngest brothers (one was only seven) were left annuities while they trained for the law and a residual interest in some property. The rest was to pass to their elder brother William, provided he renounced any claim to his brothers’ portion and left Montgomery’s wife undisturbed in her tenure of part of Ecton manor. His three sisters were to receive £100 between them.

Bridges, Northants. ii. 142; G. Inn Pens. Bk. i. 499; CPR, 1563-6, p. 25; 1566-9, p. 316; Northants. Rec. Soc. xiii. p. lxii; C142/262/129; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 35; CJ, i. 63; D’Ewes, 127; PCC 23 Babington.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: S. M. Thorpe

Notes