Edward Lewknor (died 1605)
Sir Edward Lewknor or Lewkenor (1542 – 19 September 1605) was an English Member of Parliament.
He was the eldest son of the courtier Edward Lewknor of Kingston Buci, Sussex who died in the Tower of London awaiting execution for conspiracy. He was educated at St Johns College, Cambridge, graduating in 1561 and was a fellow of the college from 1561 to 1563. He entered the Middle Temple in 1562 to study law.
He settled in Suffolk at Denham Hall, which he had obtained by marriage. As a strong Puritan he was sponsored in a successful Parliamentary career by Puritan sympathisers such as the Earl of Leicester, with whose help in 1571 he was elected MP for Tamworth. In 1572 he was elected MP for New Shoreham, near where his family lived. He was then elected four times for Maldon in 1584, 1586, 1589 and 1593. After a term as MP for Newport, Cornwall in 1598 he returned for one final term as MP for Maldon in 1604, after having been knighted in 1603. He died of smallpox in 1605 during his term of office.
He was buried with his wife in St Mary's church, Denham, St Edmundsbury under an elaborate canopied table monument featuring marble carvings of Sir Edward, his wife and their eight children. He had married Susan, the daughter of Thomas Heigham of Higham Hall, Suffolk. He was succeeded by his son Edward Lewknor, MP and High Sheriff of Suffolk.
References
- "LEWKNOR, Edward (1542-1605), of Kingston Buci, Suss. Denham Hall, Suff.". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 17 April 2014.