Sir Edmond Bell Of

Castle Acre Castle Acre is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated on the River Nar some north of the town of Swaffham. It is east of the town of King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and ...

and Beaupre Hall, Norfolk. (bap 7 April 1562 – bur 22 December 1607). He was an MP of

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the English county, county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the int ...

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

c. 1599, Knighted 1603.

Early life

He was baptised 7 April 1562, the first son and heir of

Sir Robert Bell Sir Robert Bell Serjeant-at-law, SL (died 1577) of Beaupré Hall, Norfolk, was a Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons (1572–1576), who served during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, Queen Eliza ...

and Dorothie daughter of Edmonde Beaupre, Of Outwell/Upwell, Norfolk, and Catherine Bedingfield. He was probably educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. The first mention of Edmonde Bell, dates from 1567, where he is found recorded in his Grandfather's will, who bequeaths certain property to him, "books of law and Greek." It is likely that by age fifteen, Edmonde had been partially prepared and fashioned for a career in his family's profession, when he suffered the loss of his father from the terminal effects of what was then called " Jail Fever". Two years later, his mother married Sir John Peyton, a man whose military career was highly esteemed. Peyton, appears to have developed a closer relationship with Edmond's younger brother Robert,... who was groomed as a soldier and later become a captain of a company in the low countries. Around this time, Edmonde may have been busily engaged abroad in pursuit of his academic career at the university level.

Career

By 1583, it is known that he received his patrimony, which included extensive properties throughout Norfolk, and the manor of Castle Acre, where Edmonde dwelled and duly made his family seat. Perhaps this event is timed with his first marriage to Anne Osborne. By 1586, he became MP for

, where he was active in mercantile affairs, "investing heavily in privatering", specifically, the building of ships (gunboats) that incorporated advances in

Naval Architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and o ...

. These investments did not prove lucrative, however, and perhaps were forfeited, in part as a consequence of the Spanish invasion of 1588, where Bells' Naval assets may have been sacrificed in service to the Crown. Following this period he is found tenaciously engaged as one of the commissioners entrusted with draining the fens, which eventually proved a success. He was knighted by King James I, on Friday 13 May 1603 together with ten others including,

William Dethick Sir William Dethick (c. 1542–1612) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Sir Gilbert Dethick and followed his father as Garter Principal King of Arms. Though he was adjudged a qualified armori ...

, Garter King of Arms.

Marriages

Edmonde Bell married: 1. Anne daughter of Peter Osborne, (1521–1592), keeper of the

privy purse The Privy Purse is the British Sovereign's private income, mostly from the Duchy of Lancaster. This amounted to £20.1 million in net income for the year to 31 March 2018. Overview The Duchy is a landed estate of approximately 46,000 acres (200 ...

King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour ...

and Anne (d. 1615), daughter of Dr John Blythe, regis professor of physics at Cambridge, and niece of Sir John Cheke. 2. Muriel daughter of Sir Thomas Knyvett, of Ashwellthorpe, 4th

Baron Berners Baron Berners is a barony created by writ in the Peerage of England. From creation to first abeyance (1455–1693) The barony was created in 1455 for Sir John Bourchier, youngest son of William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu, and younger brothe ...

and Muriel Parry daughter of Sir Thomas Parry and Anne Reade. Muriel's sister was Lady

Katherine Paston Katherine Paston, Lady Paston (1578 – 10 March 1629) was an English gentlewoman, estate manager and letter writer. Origins She was born as Katherine Knyvett, baptised in Ashwellthorp on 22 June 1578, a daughter of Thomas Knyvett, 4th Baron Bern ...

Descendants

Through the marriage of Anne daughter of Peter Osborne: * 1.

b. 25 February 1587 m. Mary Chester * 2. Phillip Bell b. 19 June 1590 * 3. Henry Bell b. 9 June 1591 d. 1615 * 4. Peter Bell b. Abt. 1594 * 5. Lady Francis Bell b. Abt 1594 d. 11 April 1627 m.

Sir Heneage Finch Sir Heneage Finch (15 December 1580 – 5 December 1631) was an English nobleman, lawyer, Member of Parliament, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1607 and 1626. He was Speaker of the English House of Commo ...

Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...

; (Ancestors of the

House of Windsor The House of Windsor is the reigning royal house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. In 1901, a line of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (itself a cadet branch of the House of Wettin) succeeded the House of Hanover to t ...

) * 6. Synolphus Bell b. 29 August 1596 d. 1636 m. Martha * 7. Humphrey Bell b. 5 October 1597 d. Abt. 1654 * 8. Susan Bell b. 15 October 1598 m. Henry Coldwell * 9. Jane Bell b. 1 October 1599 m. John Ramsay * 10. Katherine Bell b. 9 October 1601 (2nd wife of) m. 1. Charles Trippe d. 12 JAN. 1623 2. James Hobart b. 23 June 1603 d. 16 July 1643, VIII son of Sir Henry Hobart

Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas was the head of the Court of Common Pleas, also known as the Common Bench or Common Place, which was the second-highest common law court in the English legal system until 1875, when it, along with the other ...

Through the marriage to Elizabeth Inkpen * 11 Richard Bell born 1605 Through the marriage of Muriel daughter of Thomas Knyvett: *12. Edmund Bell (b. 1606/7)

Sources

#Hasler, P. W., HoP: ''House of Commons 1558-1603'', Edmond Bell entry, HMSO 1981, p. 421 #O'Donoghue, M.P.D., Report, Arms and ‘pe de gree's' of Bell ir Robert Bell 15 August 2005 Coll Arm Ms, The Visitations of Norfolk, 1563, 1589, 1613, Bell. Beaupre., Harl 1552 #Bell, R. R.L., Tudor Bell's Sound Out, Rolls- pb, 7 September 2006, 2nd revision 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Edmond 1562 births 1607 deaths People from King's Lynn and West Norfolk (district) English MPs 1586–1587 17th-century English people People from Outwell