Sir Edward Atkyns (c 1630 – October 1698) was an English lawyer and 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. ...
in 1660. He was the
Chief Baron of the Exchequer
The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...
from 1686 to 1689.
Life
Atkyns was the younger son of
Sir Edward Atkyns of Hensington and Albury Hall,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
and his first wife Ursula Dacres, daughter of Sir Thomas Dacres of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.
[ History of Parliament Online - Atkyns, Edward]
/ref> He was admitted at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...
in October 1646. He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
on 19 June 1647 and was called to the bar in 1653.[
In 1660, Atkyns 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 of ...
for Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
in the Convention Parliament. He was commissioner for oyer and terminer for the London, Oxford and Midland circuits in July 1660 and commissioner for assessment for Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
from August 1660 to 1661. In November 1660 he was granted a 40-year monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
in the publication of law books. He was commissioner for assessment for Hertfordshire from 1661 to 1680. He was recorder
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
of Woodstock from 1661 to 1662. In 1669 he succeeded to the Albury estate on the death of his father.[
In 1675 Atkyns was appointed autumn reader at his inn of court, and in Easter term 1679 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 ...
. Having secured some reputation for legal learning and for hospitality, he was raised to the bench as one of the Barons 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 ...
on 22 June 1679. He was knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
on 26 June 1679. He took a prominent part in the trial of Fr Thomas Thwing
Thomas Thwing (1635–1680) was an English Roman Catholic priest and martyr, executed for his supposed part in the Barnbow Plot, an offshoot of the fabricated Popish Plot invented by Titus Oates. His feast day is 23 October.
Early life
His fath ...
and Mary Pressicks, who were charged on 29 July 1680, at the instigation of the anti-catholic agitators of the day, with compassing the death of King Charles II and seeking the overthrow of the Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
religion; in his summing up Atkyns placed the case before the jury with becoming impartiality, and Mrs. Pressicks was acquitted, although Fr Thwing was found guilty. At the close of the same year, he was one of the judges appointed to try William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford
William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, FRS (30 November 1614 – 29 December 1680) was the youngest son of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, and his wife, the former Alethea Talbot. A Fellow of the Royal Society from 1665, he was a Royalist ...
and other Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
peers on a charge of high treason, but he there supported his colleagues in their contention that the law, which demanded two witnesses to every overt act of treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
, might on occasion be waived. On 21 April 1686, when Lord Chief Baron
The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who p ...
Montagu was removed from the bench for refusing to certify to the legality of the dispensing power exercised by James II, Atkyns was promoted to his place. After the revolution of 1688 he consistently refused to take the oaths of allegiance to William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
, and consequently resigned his office. His elder brother Sir Robert Atkyns was immediately appointed in his place. Shortly afterwards Atkyns retired from public life, and withdrew to his country seat at South Pickenham
South Pickenham is a small village and civil parish in the Breckland district of mid Norfolk, East Anglia, England. It has an area of 758 hectares (2.93 square miles) and it had a population of 101 in 40 households at the 2001 census.
This had d ...
, Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
.kidney stone
Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine s ...
.[
]
Family
Atkyns married Elizabeth Lucy, daughter of Francis Lucy of the Strand, Westminster on 9 December 1656. He had two sons and seven daughters.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkyns, Edward
1630 births
1698 deaths
English Jacobites
English lawyers
English MPs 1660
17th-century English lawyers
Chief Barons of the Exchequer