![Lewis Dyve Frontispiece to the Bedfordshire Historical Record](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Lewis_Dyve_Frontispiece_to_the_Bedfordshire_Historical_Record.jpg)
Sir Lewis Dyve (1599–1669) was an English
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
and a
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...
adherent during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
. His surname is sometimes also spelt Dive or Dives.
Life
Dyve was born on 3 November 1599.
[Sir Lewis Dyve]
, Bedford Community, retrieved 7 April 2015 He was the son of Sir John Dyve and Beatrix Walcot, who married secondly
John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol
John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol (February 1580 – 21 January 1653),David L. Smith, 'Digby, John, first earl of Bristol (1580–1653)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008. was an E ...
.
Dyve, who had an estate at
Bromham in
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
, was knighted in 1620 and was one of the attendants of
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...
during his time at
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
. He was elected MP for
Bridport
Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and withi ...
in the Parliaments of 1625 and 1626, and for
Weymouth in that of 1628. Some sources record him as having been once more chosen to represent Bridport in December 1640, but in fact, he seems to have been the defeated candidate petitioning the House of Commons against the result of the election; as his was the first disputed election to be heard in the
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...
, the committee which subsequently heard other election petitions was referred to as ''The Committee on Sir Lewis Dive'' for several years.
Dyve was concerned in the printing and publishing of his half-brother
Lord Digby
Baron Digby is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Ireland and once in the Peerage of Great Britain, for members of the same family.
Robert Digby, Governor of King's County, was created Baron Digby, of Geashill in t ...
's speech on the attainder of the
Earl of Strafford
Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history.
The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I. He had already succe ...
, for which the House of Commons resolved on 13 July 1641 that the books should be burned and ordered that Dyve should be arrested. On the outbreak of the Civil War he was concerned with a plan to admit the Royal forces to
Hull, for which the Parliamentary governor,
Sir John Hotham, ordered his arrest. Escaping the troops sent to seize him, he fled to
Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
, but returned to England later the same year and was wounded at the
Battle of Powick Bridge
The Battle of Powick Bridge was a skirmish fought on 23 September 1642 just south of Worcester, England, during the First English Civil War. It was the first engagement between elements of the principal field armies of the Royalists and Parli ...
near
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
. In 1643, the House of Commons voted for his impeachment for High Treason for raising money for the King and for referring to Parliament as "The Pretended Parliament";
Roger Hill, the Bridport MP whom he had tried to unseat in 1640, brought in the motion.
He served with
Prince Rupert
Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cavalr ...
at the
relief of Newark
The Relief of Newark (21 March 1644) was a Royalist victory during the First English Civil War. It was a personal victory for Prince Rupert and it resulted in the Royalists holding Newark-on-Trent until very near the end of the war.
Back ...
in 1644, and was then appointed sergeant-major-general in Dorset. In 1645 he succeeded in storming
Weymouth, but could not take neighbouring
Melcombe Regis
Melcombe Regis is an area of Weymouth in Dorset, England.
Situated on the north shore of Weymouth Harbour and originally part of the waste of Radipole, it seems only to have developed as a significant settlement and seaport in the 13th centu ...
, and when the Parliamentary garrison in Melcombe succeeded in seizing the baggage train that
Goring had sent to Dyve they were able to recapture Weymouth.
Dyve was captured at the
siege of Sherborne
Sherborne Castle is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne in Dorset, England, within the parish of Castleton. It stands in a park which formed a small part of the Digby estate.
Old castle
Sherborne Old Castle () is the ruin ...
, and imprisoned in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
from 1645 to 1647. Being moved to the
King's Bench, he escaped, but was recaptured at
Preston. Imprisoned in
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...
he escaped once more, according to his own account on the very day he was to have been executed;
John Evelyn
John Evelyn (31 October 162027 February 1706) was an English writer, landowner, gardener, courtier and minor government official, who is now best known as a diarist. He was a founding Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Evelyn's diary, or memo ...
records in his ''
Diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
'' on 6 September 1651 that Dyve dined with him and related the story of his "leaping down out of a
jakes two stories high into the
Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...
at high water, in the coldest of winter, and at night; so as by swimming he got to a boat that attended for him, though he was guarded by six musketeers." Dyve then made his way to
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
where he once more served with the Royal forces; in 1650 he published an account of events in that country during the previous two years. He lost much of his fortune through his loyalty to the Crown, but also in part due to heavy gambling: in 1668, the year before he died,
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
called him disapprovingly "a great gamester".
He married in 1624 Howarda, daughter of Sir
John Strangways of
Melbury House
Melbury House is an English country house in the parish of Melbury Sampford near Evershot, Dorset, This Grade I listed mansion is the home of the Honorable Mrs Charlotte Townshend, a major landowner in east Dorset, through her mother, Theresa ...
, Melbury Sampford,
Dorset, and his first wife Grace Trenchard, and widow of Edward Rogers, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. His youngest son migrated to the English colony of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. His descendants included the artist
Giles Hussey
Giles Hussey (1710–1788) was a painter from Dorset, England. His portraits are well regarded, but his theories on art never received the attention he craved. He believed that each note of music represented a colour. He created the first portra ...
and the courtier
Charlotte Clayton Sundon.
References
Bibliography
House of Commons Journals at British History Online*
T. H. B. Oldfield, ''The Representative History of Great Britain and Ireland'' (London: Baldwin, Cradock & Joy, 1816)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyve, Lewis
1599 births
1669 deaths
Military personnel from Bedfordshire
English MPs 1625
English MPs 1626
English MPs 1628–1629
Prisoners in the Tower of London
People from the Borough of Bedford
Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War