Sir Nicholas le Strange (1 January 1511 – 19 February 1580) of

Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunstant ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

(MP). The eldest son of Sir Thomas Le Strange, he succeeded his father in 1545 and was knighted in 1547. His mother was Anne, a daughter of

Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden (c. 1460 – 14 May 1523) was a soldier and courtier in England and an early member of the British House of Commons, House of Commons. He was the son of House of Lancaster, Lancastrian loyalists Sir Wil ...

. He had a brother Richard Lestrange, who was also a Norfolk MP. He was appointed a

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 for 1538–1547, 1558/59–1571 and from 1579 for life, and

High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Sheriff (since 1974 called High Sheriff) is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually by the Crown. He was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the c ...

for 1548–49. He was appointed as steward of the manors of the Duchess of Richmond in 1546, and also Chamberlain to the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

. On 15 September 1549 he wrote to William Cecil, the king's attorney, denying any sympathy with

Kett's rebellion Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in Norfolk, England during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealthy landowners ...

. In March 1552, during the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and 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 the first E ...

, le Strange succeeded Sir Walter Buckler as chamberlain to Princess Elizabeth's household at

Hatfield, Hertfordshire Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, and 39,201 at the 2011 Census. The settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, home of the Marquess of ...

. Almost certainly at the Duke of Norfolk's nomination, he was elected MP for the County of Norfolk in the Parliament of 1547, for

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

in 1555 and

Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some north-east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. The River Babingley skirts the north of the village separating C ...

in 1558, 1559, 1563 and 1571. (His brother, Richard L'Estrange, also sat as an MP for boroughs under the Duke of Norfolk's influence in 1559 and 1563.) He was not elected to Parliament again after Norfolk's fall in 1572. In May 1571 he conveyed his estates to his eldest son, Hamon, and moved to

. He married twice: firstly in 1528 Eleanor, daughter of

William Fitzwilliam (Sheriff of London) Sir William Fitzwilliam (c. 1460 – 9 August 1534) was a Merchant Taylor, Sheriff of London, servant of Cardinal Wolsey, and a member of the council of Henry VII. Biography William Fitzwilliam was the second son of John Fitzwilliam, esqu ...

of Milton, Northamptonshire with whom he had three sons and two daughters and secondly in 1546 Katherine, the daughter of John Hyde of Hyde, Dorset and widow of Nicholas Mynn of Great Fransham, Norfolk. He was buried 19 February 1580 at Sedgeford, Norfolk. Sir Hamon le Strange (1583–1654), also an MP, was a descendant of this Nicholas through his son Hamon, who died soon after him, and his grandson Nicholas (buried 1592).'Smethdon Hundred: Hunstanton Lordship', An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 10 (1809), pp. 312-328. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78686 Date accessed: 18 June 2014.

References

*''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' (1930) *J E Neale, ''The Elizabethan House of Commons'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) *Deed of Appointment as Steward to Mary, Duchess of Richmond in Norfolk Record Office (ref: NG4) *Marriage settlement dated 4 June 1528 states he "will be 21 years on 1 January 1532" (ref: Norfolk Record Office A42) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lestrange, Nicholas 1511 births 1580 deaths People from Hunstanton English knights High Sheriffs of Norfolk High Sheriffs of Suffolk English MPs 1547–1552 English MPs 1555 English MPs 1558 English MPs 1559 English MPs 1563–1567 English MPs 1571 Members of Parliament for Norfolk Le Strange family