William Fleetwood (1535?1594) was an English lawyer and politician. 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

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

in 1558, Lancaster in 1559 and 1567, and for the City of London several times between 1572 and 1592, but his most significant position was as

Recorder of London The Recorder of London is an ancient legal office in the City of London. The Recorder of London is the senior circuit judge at the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey), hearing trials of criminal offences. The Recorder is appointed by the Cr ...

from 1571 to 1591. A lawyer 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 an ...

, he was a Queen's Serjeant in 1592.

Early life

Fleetwood was born about 1535, the (possibly illegitimate) son of Robert Fleetwood, in turn the third son of William Fleetwood of Heskin in Lancashire. He was educated at

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

, which he left without a degree, and the

, from where he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

. He became a freeman by patrimony of the -

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors ] The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 110 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prio ...

of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

on 21 June 1557; autumn reader of his inn on 21 May 1563; steward of the company's manor of Rushbrook in 1564, and counsel in their suit against the Clothworkers in 1565.

Career

In 1558 Fleetwood was elected to 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. ...

as one of the members for

, thus sitting in the last of Queen Mary's parliaments, and later was a member for Lancaster in the first two parliaments of Elizabeth's reign (1559 and 1563). In 1559 he was one of the commissioners to visit the dioceses of Oxford, Lincoln, Peterborough, Coventry, and Lichfield, and in 1568 he became "double reader in Lent" to the Middle Temple. By the Earl of Leicester's influence, on 26 April 1571 Fleetwood was appointed as

, an important position which he held for twenty years, and in the same year was made a commissioner to inquire into the customs. On 8 May 1572 he was returned to Parliament for the

. As Recorder of London he was famous for rigorously and successfully enforcing the laws against vagrants, mass-priests, and other papists. In 1576 Fleetwood was committed to the Fleet prison for a short time for breaking into the Portuguese ambassador's chapel under colour of the law against popish recusants. His own account of his action, dated 9 Nov, is printed in

John Strype John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydon Bois, Essex and lat ...

's ''Annals''. In 1580 he was made a

Serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

, and in 1583 a commissioner for the reformation of abuses in printing. In the same year he drafted a scheme for housing the poor and preventing the plague in London by maintaining open spaces. On 27 April 1586 he was promised, but did not receive, the post of

Baron of the Exchequer The Barons of the Exchequer, or ''barones scaccarii'', were the judges of the English court known as the Exchequer of Pleas. The Barons consisted of a Chief Baron of the Exchequer and several puisne (''inferior'') barons. When Robert Shute was a ...

. He was elected again as a member of parliament for London in 1584, 1586, and 1588. In 1588 he reported, with the solicitor-general, as to proceedings to be taken against the Jesuits, and in 1589 on the right of sanctuary for criminals attaching to St. Paul's churchyard. In 1591 the common council voted him a pension of 100 pounds, whereupon he resigned his office of Recorder. He was made Queen's Serjeant in 1592 and died at his house in Noble Street, Aldersgate, on 28 February 1593/4. He had formerly lived at Bacon House, Foster Lane, and at his death owned an estate at

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mar ...

, Buckinghamshire, where he was buried.

Private life

Fleetwood was a hard-working judge, and was disappointed at not receiving higher preferment. His connection with Leicester was insisted on by Leicester's enemies, and he is called "Leicester's mad Recorder" in ''

Leicester's Commonwealth ''Leicester's Commonwealth'' (originally titled ') (1584) is a scurrilous book that circulated in Elizabethan England and attacked Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. The work was read as Roman Catholic propaganda agai ...

'', but he was at the same time assiduous in cultivating Lord Burghley's favour. He was noted for wit, and his eloquence is eulogised by

Thomas Newton Thomas Newton (1 January 1704 – 14 February 1782) was an English cleric, biblical scholar and author. He served as the Bishop of Bristol from 1761 to 1782. Biography Newton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and was subsequently elect ...

in his ''Encomia'', 1589. He married Mariana, daughter of John Barley of Kingsey,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, by whom he left a family of six sons and two daughters. His elder son, Sir William, succeeded to Missenden, and a younger son, Sir Thomas, of the Middle Temple, was attorney to

Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612), was the eldest son and heir apparent of James VI and I, King of England and Scotland; and his wife Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuar ...

. One daughter (Cordelia) married

Sir David Foulis, 1st Baronet Sir David Foulis (died 1642) was a Scottish politician. Life Foulis was the third son of Sir James Foulis of Colinton, by Agnes Heriot of Lumphoy, and great-grandson of Sir James Foulis of Colinton (d. 1549). His brothers were James Foulis of Co ...

, and the other (Elizabeth) Sir Thomas Chaloner. Fleetwood is an ancestor of actor Benedict Cumberbatch through both of his daughters.

Printed works

Fleetwood's works are: *''An Oration made at Guildhall before the Mayor, concerning the late attempts of the Queen's Maiesties evil seditious subjects'', 15 October 1571. *''Annalium tam Regum Edwardi V, Ric. III, et Hen. VII quam Hen. VIII, titulorum ordine alphabetico digestorum Elenchus'', 1579, 1597. *''A Table to the Reports of Edmund Plowden'' (in French), 1578, 1579, 1599. *''The Office of a Justice of the Peace'', 1658 (posthumous). In the preface, Fleetwood mentions a work of his, ''De Pace Ecclesiæ'', not otherwise known. *Verses before Sir Thomas Chaloner's ''De Republica Anglorum instauranda'', 1579, and

William Lambarde William Lambarde (18 October 1536 – 19 August 1601) was an English antiquarian, writer on legal subjects, and politician. He is particularly remembered as the author of ''A Perambulation of Kent'' (1576), the first English county history; ''E ...

's ''Perambulation of Kent'', 1576.

Manuscripts

Many of Fleetwood's works remained in manuscript. Among them are ''Observacons sur Littleton'' (Harley MS 5225), besides four volumes of reports and law commonplaces (Harley MSS 5153–5156). Wood saw in manuscript ''Observations upon the Eyre of Pickering'', and on Lambarde's ''Archeion''. Also left was ''Itinerarium ad Windsor'', an unpublished work relating to the succession to Elizabeth I of England. Fleetwood had read the 1563

succession tract The succession tracts of the Elizabethan period, continuing into the reign of James I of England, debated the legal status, and other attributes, of candidates to succession to Elizabeth I of England, succeed Elizabeth I of England. Early tracts ...

of John Hales. In this work he describes a (fictional) dialogue, in which he takes part with the

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. Early creatio ...

and

Baron Buckhurst The title Baron Buckhurst has been created twice; once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created in 1567 for Thomas Sackville, MP for East Grinstead and Aylesbury. He was later created Earl ...

. It touches on the doctrine of the King's Two Bodies as a way for Queen Elizabeth to legitimate her rule. In this final section of the work, the characters use verbatim (though in English) sections from the ''Reports'' of

Edmund Plowden Sir Edmund Plowden (1519/20 – 6 February 1585) was a distinguished English lawyer, legal scholar and theorist during the late Tudor period. Early life Plowden was born at Plowden Hall, Lydbury North, Shropshire. He was the son of Humphrey ...

, to support the concept of

queen regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reignin ...

References

History of Parliament FLEETWOOD, William I (c.1525-94) of Bacon House, Foster Lane and Noble Street, London
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleetwood, William Year of birth uncertain 1530s births 1594 deaths English lawyers Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of England for the City of London Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall English MPs 1558 English MPs 1559 English MPs 1563–1567 English MPs 1571 English MPs 1572–1583 English MPs 1584–1585 English MPs 1586–1587 English MPs 1589 16th-century English lawyers Serjeants-at-law (England)