Sir William Damsell (''c.'' 1520 – 16 June 1582), sometimes spelt Damosel, was Receiver-General of the Court of Wards and Liveries and a Member of Parliament. Of a gentle but obscure family in Devon, Damsell gained some education at the University of Oxford, but there is no record of his taking a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

. He was good at languages, serving as King's factor in the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands from 1546 to 1552, and was a member of the Mercers' Company of the City of London.Stanley T. Bindoff, ''The House of Commons: 1509-1558'', vol. 4
p. 9
/ref> Damsell joined the

House of Commons of England The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England (which incorporated Wales) from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of ...

as a member for Wilton in 1553, and in 1555 returned to represent

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

. In 1563, he was elected from Hastings, to a parliament which was not dissolved until 1567. In June 1553, Damsell signed Edward VI's "devise for the succession". Despite this, he was knighted by Queen Mary on 2 October 1553, following her coronation, and was later appointed Receiver-General of the Court of Wards and Liveries. Also in 1553, Damsell bought Wye College, in Kent, from Sir Maurice Denys Stephen Batman's ''The Travayled Pylgrime'' (1569), a verse translation of

Olivier de la Marche Olivier de la Marche (1425–1502) was a courtier, soldier, chronicler and poet in the last decades of the independent Duchy of Burgundy. He was close to Charles the Bold, and after his death held the important position of maître d'hotel to his ...

's poem ''le Chevalier délibéré'' (1483), was dedicated to "Sir Wm. Damsell, Knight, Receiver General of the Queen's Court of Wards and Liveries".William Carew Hazlitt, ''Handbook to the popular, poetical, and dramatic literature of Great Britain'' (1867 edn.)
p. 32
/ref> Damsell died on 16 June 1582 and was buried at the church of

St Mary Aldermanbury St Mary Aldermanbury was a parish church in the City of London first mentioned in 1181 and destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt in Portland stone by Christopher Wren, it was again gutted by the Blitz in 1940, leaving only the ...

, London. By his Will he gave one hundred pounds to poor scholars at Oxford, "...whereof I was a scholar in times past".

Notes

Knights Bachelor 1520s births 1582 deaths Politicians from Devon Alumni of the University of Oxford English MPs 1553 (Edward VI) English MPs 1555 English MPs 1563–1567 {{1563-England-MP-stub