Marske Cheshire Home 1 by Francis Hannaway

Sir William Pennyman (1607 – 22 August 1643) was an English landowner, soldier and politician. He was the illegitimate son of William Pennyman (died 1628) a Clerk in Chancery and was educated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

and

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

. His father purchased a third of the Manor of Marske, Yorkshire, in present-day

Redcar and Cleveland Redcar and Cleveland is a borough with unitary authority status in North Yorkshire, England. Its main settlements are Redcar, South Bank, Eston, Brotton, Guisborough, the Greater Eston part of Middlesbrough, Loftus, Saltburn and Skelton. Th ...

, in 1616. Pennyman later married Ann Atherton, granddaughter of

John Atherton John Atherton (1598 – 5 December 1640) was the Anglican Bishop of Waterford and Lismore in the Church of Ireland. He and John Childe (his steward and tithe proctor) were both tried and executed for buggery in 1640. Life and death Early l ...

and Katherine Conyers and heiress to the remaining two thirds. His wife was also the granddaughter of Sir John Byron, whose daughter Ann married into the Atherton's. He built

Marske Hall Marske Hall is a 17th-century former mansion house, now a Valorum Care Group residential care home, in Marske-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland, England. It has Grade I listed building status. The building is constructed of squared stone in t ...

in 1625. He acquired substantial wealth from

alum An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , where is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium or a ...

mining on the Marske estate. He was a supporter of King Charles I and served as a member of the

Council of the North The Council of the North was an administrative body first set up in 1484 by King Richard III of England, to improve access to conciliar justice in Northern England. This built upon steps by King Edward IV of England in delegating authority in the ...

and as an officer of the

Star Chamber The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an English court that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster, from the late to the mid-17th century (c. 1641), and was composed of Privy Counsellors and common-law judges, to supplement the judic ...

. He was created a

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

by Charles on 6 May 1628. He served as

High Sheriff of Yorkshire The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere ...

in 1635-1636 and later was Deputy Lieutenant of that county. In 1638 he raised a Regiment of Foot from the Yorkshire Trained Bands to assist in the war against the Scots. He was

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

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

1640–1642 in both the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

and

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 ...

but was barred from sitting in 1642. Pennyman was one of the witnesses called on to testify at the trial of

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, (13 April 1593 ( N.S.)12 May 1641), was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1 ...

on the earl's conduct concerning the Yorkshire petition. At the commencement of 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 ...

he again raised, together with his half-brother James, a regiment of which he served as Colonel, which he led for the King at the Battle of Nottingham and the

Battle of Edgehill The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitutional compromise between K ...

in 1642. He was appointed by Charles as Governor of Oxford. He died at Oxford of the plague in 1643 and the manor passed to his half-brother James, who was made 1st Baronet Pennyman of Ormesby in 1664.

References

''A History of the County of York, North Riding'' Vol 2, Editor, William Page (1923) p399 from British History Online
* National Archives: Papers of the Pennyman Family of Ormesby, Teesside Archives Ref U-PEN. * ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004) Rev RM Armstrong {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennyman, William 1607 births 1643 deaths People from Redcar and Cleveland Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple Baronets in the Baronetage of England High Sheriffs of Yorkshire English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English landowners Cavaliers 17th-century deaths from plague (disease)