Christopher Lewknor

Christopher Lewknor was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1628 and 1641. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War.

Lewknor was the son of Richard Lewknor of West Dean, Chief Justice of Chester, and his wife Eleanor Broome, daughter of Christopher Broome of Halton, Oxfordshire.[1]

In 1628 Lewknor was elected Member of Parliament for Midhurst and held the seat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[2][3]

In 1636 Lewknor was appointed to a commission for better preservation of timber in view of the growth of the Sussex iron trade.[4] By 1640 he was recorder of Chichester. In April 1640, he was elected MP for Chichester in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Chichester in November 1640 for the Long Parliament and sat until he was disabled as a Royalist.

In August 1642 Lewknor supported the mayor of Chichester, Robert Exton when he issued the Royal Commission of Array, calling upon all able-bodied men to take arms for the king; in response to the city's "Valiant Resolution to stand for the privileges of Parliament, the Protestant religion, the laws of the land, and the liberty of the people".[5] Lewknor was styled "the man appointed by his Majesty to take in money and plate on his behalfe" and on 28 August 1642, he took part in a parley between the besiegers of Portsmouth and the beleaguered garrison.[6] In January 1643 he was a prisoner at Windsor Castle.[7] In 1651, parliament ordered his lands to be sold.[1]

Lewknor married Mary Smith, widow of Mr Smith and daughter of John May of Rawmere, Sussex. His son Richard Lewknor was MP for Midhurst and Sussex.

References

Parliament of England
Preceded by
Richard Lewknor
Sir Henry Spiller
Member of Parliament for Midhurst
1628-1629
With: Edward Savage
Succeeded by
Parliament suspended until 1640
Preceded by
Parliament suspended since 1629
Member of Parliament for Chichester
1640 -
With: Edward Dowse
Sir William Morley
Succeeded by
Sir John Temple
Henry Peck
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