Sir Mark Steward (1524–1604), of

Heckfield Heckfield is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies between Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Hook, Hart, Hook. It is the location of Highfield Park, Heckfield, Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain died in 1940, and it is adjacent to Strat ...

in Hampshire and of

Stuntney Stuntney is a village in East Cambridgeshire, located between Ely and Soham. It is just off the main road going from Newmarket to Ely, the A142. History Early history The earliest record of the village itself dates back to at least 1067, where ...

in Cambridgeshire, served as a

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 ...

for Stockbridge in Hampshire (1597) and for St Ives in Cornwall (1588–9).STEWARD, Mark (1524–1604), of Heckfield, Hants; later of Stuntney, Cambs. Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558–1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 19

/ref> He was knighted in 1603.

Origins

He was the 3rd son of Simeon Steward of

Lakenheath Lakenheath is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It has a population of 4,691 according to the 2011 Census, and is situated close to the county boundaries of both Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, ...

in Suffolk by his wife Joan Besteney, daughter and heiress of Edward Besteney of

Soham Soham ( ) is a town and civil parish in the district of East Cambridgeshire, in Cambridgeshire, England, just off the A142 between Ely and Newmarket. Its population was 10,860 at the 2011 census. History Archaeology The region between Dev ...

in Cambridgeshire. His uncles included Robert Steward (died 1557),

Dean of Ely The position of Dean of Ely Cathedral, in East Anglia, England, in the Diocese of Ely was created in 1541 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The first Dean of Ely had been the last Benedictine prior of Ely. List of deans Early modern ...

, and

Edmund Steward Edmund Steward (died 1559) otherwise Stewart or Stewarde was an English lawyer and clergyman who served as Chancellor and later Dean of Winchester Cathedral until his removal in 1559. Biography Edmund Steward received his Bachelor of Civil Law in ...

(died 1559),

Dean of Winchester The Dean of Winchester is the head of the Chapter of Winchester Cathedral in the city of Winchester, England, in the Diocese of Winchester. Appointment is by the Crown. The first incumbent was the last Prior, William Kingsmill, Catherine Ogle ...

1554–1559 and another who became Pastor of the English congregation at Frankfurt where he was an associate of

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

. The Steward family had been settled in East Anglia from the fifteenth century.

Career

As a younger son with no paternal inheritance, he was obliged to make his own career.

Marriage and issue

He married Anna Huick, a daughter of

Robert Huick Robert Huick, Huicke, or Hewicke (by 1515 – 6 September 1580), of London, Enfield and St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Middlesex, was an English physician. He was also briefly a member of parliament for a few weeks in the years 1547 and 1553. He was ...

, MP, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, by whom he had issue one son and one daughter: *Sir Simon Steward (1575–1632), MP, of Stuntney. *Mary Steward, wife of Sir William Forster (d.1618), Knight of the Bath, and mother of Sir Humphrey Forster, 1st Baronet (1595–1663), of Aldermaston in Berkshire.Per inscription on monument of Sir Mark Steward in Ely Cathedral :File:Inscription Monument SirMarkSteward (d.1603) ElyCathedral.png

Death, burial and succession

He died in March 1604 and was buried in

Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The presen ...

, where survives his elaborate monument with recumbent effigy, his uncle Robert Steward (died 1557) having been the last Prior of

Ely Abbey Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an abbey church. The pres ...

before the Dissolution of the Monasteries and afterwards the first

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of Ely Cathedral. His estate of

in Cambridgeshire was eventually inherited by his cousin Elizabeth Steward and her son,

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') was a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometimes ...

References

{{reflist 1524 births 1604 deaths Members of the Parliament of England for St Ives English MPs 1597–1598 English MPs 1589