Family and Education

b. by 1496, 1st s. of Sir Thomas Wyndham of Felbrigg by his 1st w. Eleanor, da. of Richard Scrope of Upsall, Yorks. m. by Oct. 1521, Susan, da. of Sir Roger Townshend^† of Raynham, Norf., 3s. inc. Francis 3da.; 1da. illegit. suc. fa. 29 Apr. 1522. Kntd. 1543.2

Offices Held

Commr. subsidy, Norf. 1523, tenths of spiritualities 1535, benevolence 1544/5, relief 1550, goods of churches and fraternities 1553, to enforce Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity 1559, eccles. commr. 1569; servant, household of Cardinal Wolsey by 1525; j.p. Norf. 1532-58, q. from 1559; sheriff, Norf. and Suff. 1537-8, 1545-6, 1549-50; dep. lt. Norf. 1559, jt. ld. lt. (with Sir Christopher Heydon, in the absence of the Duke of Norfolk) 1560.3

Biography

The Wyndhams, having acquired Felbrigg shortly before the Wars of the Roses, rose to a position of wealth and influence in Norfolk second only, by the beginning of this period, to the Duke of Norfolk. Wyndham was therefore a natural choice as knight of the shire in 1559, though he had to take second place to the young Sir Robert Dudley. A bill about the export of cloth was committed to him, 7 Mar. 1559. Wyndham did not sit again, and for the last decade of his life confined his interests to his native county. He was one of those whom the bishop of Norwich consulted in 1564 before sending his report to the Privy Council on the religious beliefs of Norfolk justices, but there is no reason to suppose that he held any strong views himself. His attitude to the various religious changes of his long life suggests he had none. He died on 23 July 1569 and was buried at Felbrigg. His inquisition post mortem shows that he owned, in Norfolk alone, a dozen manors worth more than £200 a year as well as extensive estates in Yorkshire. He had invested heavily in monastic lands and his principal contribution to the family’s lands was the purchase of Beeston priory and most of its estates in 1545.4

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: M.R.P.

Notes

• 1. E371/402(1). This calls the Member ‘Sir Edward Wyndham’, but no one of his name is known and an abbreviation of ‘Edmund’ could easily have been misread as ‘Edward’ when this copy was made.
• 2. H. A. Wyndham, A Fam. Hist. 1410-1688: the Wyndhams of Norf. and Som. passim; Vis. Norf. (Harl. Soc. xxxvi), 324.
• 3. LP Hen. VIII, iii(2), p. 1366; v. 78; Wyndham, 107; Add. 5752, ff. 254-5; A. H. Smith thesis, 415; CPR, 1550-3, p. 396; 1553, pp. 356, 416; 1563-6, p. 25; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 329.
• 4. CJ, i. 57; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 58; CPR, 1558-60, pp. 31-2; Norf. Arch. xix. 88; E150/661/13; R. W. K. Cremer, Felbrigg: the Story of a House, 26; Blomefield, Norf. viii. 113-14; LP Hen. VIII, xx(2), p. 216.