Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry (157814 January 1640) was a prominent English lawyer, politician and judge during the early 17th century.
Education and early legal career
He entered
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
, in 1592, and the
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 W ...
in 1594, becoming bencher of the society in 1614, reader in 1616, and holding the office of treasurer from 1617 till 1621. His exceptional legal abilities were rewarded early with official promotion. On 16 November 1616 he was made
Recorder of London in spite of
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
's opposition, who, although allowing him to be "a well trained and an honest man", objected that he was "bred by my
Lord Coke and seasoned in his ways". On 14 March 1617 he was appointed
Solicitor General and was knighted.
Political and judicial career
He was returned for
Droitwich to the
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...
of 1621; and on 11 January in that year was made
attorney-general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
. He took part in the proceedings against
Bacon
Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sa ...
for corruption, and was manager for 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. ...
in the impeachment of
Edward Floyd for insulting the
elector
Elector may refer to:
* Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors
* Elector, a member of an electoral college
** Confederate elector, a member of ...
and electress palatine.
On 1 November 1625 he was made
Lord Keeper of the Great Seal; in this capacity, he delivered
Charles I's reprimand to the Commons on 9 March 1626, when he declared that "liberty of counsel" alone belonged to them and not "liberty of control". On 10 April 1628 he received the title of ''Baron Coventry of Aylesborough'' in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
. At the opening of parliament in 1628, he threatened that the king would use his prerogative if further thwarted in the matter of supplies. In the subsequent debates, however, while strongly supporting the king's prerogative against the claims of the parliament to executive power, he favoured a policy of moderation and compromise. He defended the right of
the council in special circumstances to commit people to prison without showing cause, and to issue
general warrants. He disapproved of the king's sudden dissolution of parliament, and agreed to the liberation on
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countrie ...
of the seven imprisoned members on condition of their giving security for their good behaviour.
He showed less subservience than Bacon to the
Duke of Buckingham
Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingha ...
, and his resistance to the latter's pretensions to the office of
Lord High Constable greatly incensed the duke. Buckingham taunted Coventry with having gained his place by his favour; Coventry replied, "Did I conceive I had my place by your favour, I would presently unmake myself by returning the seal to his Majesty". After this defiance Buckingham's sudden death alone probably prevented Coventry's displacement.
He passed sentence of death on
Lord Audley in 1631, drafted and enforced the proclamation of 20 June 1632 ordering the country gentlemen to leave London, and in 1634 joined in
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 16 ...
's attack on the
Earl of Portland for peculation. The same year, in an address to the judges, he supported the proposed levy of
ship money
Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs co ...
on the inland as well as the maritime counties on the plea of the necessity of effectually arming, "so that they might not be enforced to fight", "the wooden walls" being in his opinion "the best walls of this kingdom". He voted in Star Chamber in 1633 to remove the Irish judge
Lord Sarsfield from office for corruption, censuring him severely for hearing a murder case in private and for bullying the jury into returning a guilty verdict.
In the
Star Chamber
The Star Chamber (Latin: ''Camera stellata'') was an Kingdom of England, 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 Council of England, Privy Counsellors ...
Coventry was one of
John Lilburne's judges in 1637, but he generally showed conspicuous moderation, inclining to leniency in the cases of
Richard Chambers in 1629 for seditious speeches, and of
Henry Sherfield in 1632 for breaking painted glass in a church. He prevented also the hanging of men for resistance to
impressment
Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of ...
, and pointed out its illegality, since the men were not subject to
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
. While contributing thirty horse to the Scottish expedition in 1638, and lending the king £10,000 in 1639, he gave no support to the forced loan levied upon the city in the latter year.
Summary
Lord Coventry held the great seal for nearly fifteen years (1625–40), and was enabled to collect a large fortune. He was an able judge, and he issued some important orders in chancery, probably alluded to by Wood, who ascribes to him a tract on "The Fees of all law Officers".
Bulstrode Whitelocke accuses him of mediocrity, but his contemporaries in general have united in extolling his judicial ability, his quick despatch of business and his sound and sterling character.
Clarendon in particular praises his statesmanship, and compares his capacity with
Lord Strafford's, adding, however, that he seldom spoke in the council except on legal business and had little influence in political affairs; to the latter circumstance, he owed his exceptional popularity. He describes him as having "in the plain way of speaking and delivery a strange power of making himself believed", as a man of "not only firm gravity but a severity and even some morosity", as "rather exceedingly liked than passionately loved".
Family
Lord Coventry was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Coventry, judge of the common pleas (a descendant of John Coventry,
Lord Mayor of the City of London
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ...
in the reign of
Henry VI), and of Margaret Jeffreys of Earls Croome, or
Croome D'Abitot, in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
.
He married:
1. Sarah, (sister of
Sir Edward Sebright of Besford in Worcestershire, and daughter of John Sebright by Anne Bullingham),
by whom besides a daughter he had one son,
:*
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the ...
, who succeeded him as 2nd baron, and
2. Elizabeth, daughter of John Aldersley of Spurstow, Cheshire, and widow of William Pitchford, by whom he had four more sons and four more daughters:
:*
John, father of
Sir John Coventry
:*Francis,
:*
Henry, Secretary of State (1672–1680) and
:*
Sir William Coventry, the statesman;
:*Anne married
Sir William Savile, 3rd baronet
Sir William Savile, 3rd Baronet of Thornhill (1612 – 24 January 1644) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1640 and 1642. He fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War and was killed in action.
Savile wa ...
(1629) and then
Thomas Chicheley of
Wimpole
Wimpole is a small village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, about southwest of Cambridge. Until 1999, the main settlement on the A603 was officially known and signed as ''New Wimpole and Orwell, Cambridge Road''. On 1 April 1 ...
(1645)
:*Mary married
Sir Henry Frederick Thynne, 1st Baronet
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...
:*Margaret married
Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper, later Earl of Shaftesbury
:*Dorothy married
Sir John Pakington, 2nd Baronet
Sir John Pakington, 2nd Baronet (13 August 1621 – 1680) of Westwood House, near Droitwich, Worcestershire was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1679. He supported the Royalist cause in t ...
.
[''Burke's Peerage'' (1939 edition).]
Thomas Coventry, 5th baron (died 1699), was created
Earl of Coventry in 1697 with a special limitation, on the failure of his own male issue, to that of Walter, youngest brother of the lord keeper, from whom the
present earl of Coventry is descended.
References
Attribution
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coventry, Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron
1578 births
1640 deaths
16th-century English people
17th-century English judges
17th-century English nobility
Attorneys General for England and Wales
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Barons Coventry
Peers of England created by Charles I
English MPs 1621–1622
Lord chancellors of England
Members of the Parliament of England for Droitwich
Recorders of London