Sir William Armine, 1st Baronet (11 December 1593 – 10 April 1651) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

at various times between 1621 and 1651. He supported the

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

cause in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. (His name was also spelled Airmine, Armin, Armyne and Armyn.).

Background

Armine was the son of William Armyn (MP) of Osgodby,

South Kesteven South Kesteven is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Lincolnshire, England, forming part of the traditional Kesteven division of the county. Its council is based in Grantham. The district also includes the towns of Bourne, ...

, Lincolnshire, and his first wife, Martha, daughter of Lord Eure.J.C.H., 'Armyn, William (1561–1622), of Osgodby, Lincs.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603'' (from Boydell and Brewer 1981)
History of Parliament Online

Public life

Armine was created a

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on 28 November 1619 and succeeded to the estates of his father on 22 January 1622. He was elected Member of Parliament for

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at least in 1624 and possibly in 1621 to replace Sir Thomas Cheek who sat for another seat. In 1625, he was elected MP for

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

and in 1626 MP for

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. He acted as assistant to the managers of the parliamentary impeachment of the Duke of Buckingham in 1626. In 1627, he refused to collect an arbitrary "loan" which the King had attempted to impose on Lincolnshire, and was imprisoned as a result. He was elected MP for Lincolnshire again in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He was Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1630 and Sheriff of Huntingdonshire in 1639. George Edward Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage'' 1900
/ref> In 1641, Armine was elected MP for Grantham again in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he declared for Parliament, and was sent on Parliament's behalf to discuss terms with the King in 1643. He was one of the judges who was elected for the trial of the King in 1649, but refused to sit. He was elected a member of the

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in 1649, and was re-elected in 1650 and 1651. Armine died in 1651 at the age of 57 and was buried at Lavington, otherwise known as Lenton, Lincolnshire, a place adjacent to Osgodby.

Family

Armine married firstly, on 14 December 1619, Elizabeth Hicks, daughter of Sir Michael Hicks of

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, Gloucestershire, and of Ruckholte, in Low Leyton, Essex. By her he had children:

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

(1622–1658) who succeeded to the baronetcy, Theophilus (1623–1644) who became a parliamentary colonel in the civil wars and was killed at

Pontefract Castle Pontefract (or Pomfret) Castle is a castle ruin in the town of Pontefract, in West Yorkshire, England. King Richard II of England, Richard II is thought to have died there. It was the site of a series of famous sieges during the 17th-cent ...

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(1625–1688) who succeeded his brother to the baronetcy, Elizabeth (1621–1679), who married Sir Thomas Style of

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and Anne (1624–1671), who married Sir Thomas Barnardiston of Ketton, Suffolk. Armine married secondly, on 28 August 1628, Mary Holcroft, widow of Thomas Holcroft of Vale Royal Abbey (1557–1620) and daughter of Henry Talbot, son of the

Earl of Shrewsbury Earl of Shrewsbury () is a hereditary title of nobility created twice in the Peerage of England. The second earldom dates to 1442. The holder of the Earldom of Shrewsbury also holds the title of Earl of Waterford (1446) in the Peerage of Ireland ...

. She was a philanthropist who founded three hospitals, and also took an active interest in missionaries among Native Americans in England's colonies. By her, Sir William had one further child Talbot Armine (born 1630).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armine, William, 1st Baronet 1593 births 1651 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England High sheriffs of Lincolnshire High sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire People from West Lindsey District English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 People from Grantham