Sir Nicholas Martyn (12 April 1593 – 25 March 1653) was an English politician who sat in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
from 1646 to 1648.
Martyn was the son of
Sir William Martyn and his wife Susan Prestwood, of Exeter. He was educated at
Broadgates Hall, Oxford matriculating on 8 March 1611, at the age of 17. He became a student of the
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...
in 1613. He was knighted by King James I at his Court at Newmarket on 12 February 1624. He was landowner of
Oxton and
Kenton and in November 1639 he became
High Sheriff of Devon
The High Sheriff of Devon is the Queen's representative for the County of Devon, a territory known as his/her bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, they hold the office for one year. They have judicial, ceremonial and administrative ...
.
[William George Willis Watson ''The house of Martin'']
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In 1641, in a year of plots and treasons, Martyn was proclaimed a traitor by the king, and he was excepted from the offer of a general pardon together with Sir George Chudleigh, Sir John Northcote, and Sir Samuel Rolle. He was included in an order clearing proclaimed persons issued on 7 December 1642.[ In June 1646, he was elected ]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 o ...
for Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
in the