Sir Edward Lake, 1st Baronet

Sir Edward Lake, 1st Baronet (1600 - 18 July 1674) was an eminent Lawyer who became Advocate general of Ireland. He was a Royalist, badly wounded in the Battle of Edgehill, and was the first of the Lake baronets. Sir Edward also became Chancellor and Vicar General of the diocese of Lincoln, England.

Origins

Edward Lake was the oldest son of Richard Lake and his first wife Anne, (or Ann) née Wardall This surname was sometimes spelled as "Wardell". His parents were married on 18 May 1600 in Keelby, Lincolnshire.Marriages Image.''"
KEELBY PAR/1/1: Keelby Parish Register 1565-1705: Baptisms, Burials & Marriages (1600), Lincolnshire Archives, p.19A.Via find my past. On the same day at Keelby, Anne's sister Margaret, married John Markham.
Anne was a daughter of Edward Wardall, a yeoman, who was a Churchwarden of Keelby in 1600.His name is listed as a Churchwarden at the bottom of the same register page on which the marriages of his two daughters Ann, and Margaret were recorded at Keelby. Ann's mother, ''"Jannett Wardell"'' was buried in Habrough, on 15 May 1595. Edward Lake's maternal grandfather Edward Wardall, was buried on 8 July 1619 in Keelby.''"Lincolnshire Burials Image, copyright Lincolnshire Archives."''
KEELBY PAR/1/1: Keelby Parish Records - Baptisms, Burials & Marriages (1619), Lincolnshire Archives, p.41. Via find my past.
Edwards Lake's father, Richard, was born in 1570 in Irby upon Humber and baptised there on 16 July. He was a son of John Lake. Irby is just over five and a half miles from the village of Keelby. Richard's first wife died before 1615. His second wife was Anne Morrelly (or "Morriley"). She was baptised in Claxby, Lincolnshire, on 1 February 1583. Their oldest son, Thomas Lake, was baptised in Tetney, on 11 August 1615. Richard Lake was a Tailor, and died in 1626 in Tetney. He made his will on 2 September 1626."Richard Lakes, Tailor, Tetney." Lincoln Consistory Court Wills, Tetney 1626, no.572. Lincolnshire Archives.

Early life and education

Edward was born in 1600"Lake of Irby & Lincoln."
'Visitation of Lincolnshire 1666,'' Lincoln Record Society vol.8, pub. 1917, p.35 and baptised on 22 February 1600, in Tetney, Lincolnshire."England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J3Q5-34W : 11 February 2018, Edward Laikes, 22 Feb 1600); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 505,760. This was nine months after his parents were married, as prior to 1752, England used the Julian Calendar, and the year began on 25 March. A memorial inscription in All Saints' Church, Normanton, Yorkshire states that he was 77 when he died on 18 July 1674, which would point to him being born in about 1597. However, it was not uncommon at this time for there to be errors on ages at burial.

When his father Richard died in Tetney in September 1626, Edward was named as Richard's oldest son in his will. Richard left Edward two shillings. The rest of Edward's half-siblings were to have thirty shillings each. Edward's stepmother died a year later in Tetney. He was not mentioned in the will of his stepmother. But Edward's half-siblings, Thomas, Ambrose, John, Luke, and Anne all were. These five half-siblings of Edward were all previously mentioned in the will of Richard Lake. Thomas, John, and Luke, were later mentioned in Edward's original will, dated 8 April 1665 in Lincoln.
'"Will of Sir Edward Lake of Lincoln, Lincolnshire"''.PROB 11 - Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers. PROB 11/348/267 . The National Archives, Kew.
Ancestry.com. ''England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858'' atabase on-line Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
Original Data: The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 348
Anne's brother, John Morriley of Claxby, was named as the executor of her will. John had previously been named as Richard's brother in-law, and executor of Richard Lake's will in 1626.

He studied at St Catharine Hall, Cambridge, and gained a BA in 1626. He then studied at St Alban's Hall, Oxford (now incorporated into Merton College), and graduated as a BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law), from there on 24 January 1628.
In the following year, Edward received a Master of Arts from Cambridge University. In 1636, he was incorporated at Cambridge as an LL.B (Bachelor of Laws), graduating in 1637 as an LL.D (Legum Doctor).

Adult life

Edward Lake became a lawyer and was appointed Advocate general of Ireland. From 1639 he represented Cavan in the Irish Parliament, and helped to draft the clerical subsidies bill in the following year. But he was expelled from the Commons in Ireland on 9 November 1640. This was as a result of "misconduct" while on a grand committee that was set up to investigate certain privileges which had been claimed by Michael Stanhope, the register.

Following the outbreak of the English Civil War he joined the Royalist forces and fought in the Battle of Edgehill, on Sunday 23 October 1642. In this battle he received sixteen wounds. His left arm was wounded by a shot. He bravely held the bridle of his horse with his teeth, while fighting with his sword in the right hand. He was captured and imprisoned at Great Crosby, Lancashire, but escaped after seven weeks. Edward was safe in Bangor, Caernarvonshire by Christmas of 1642.

On 30 December 1643 King Charles I awarded him a warrant for a baronetcy in recognition of his services, but no patent was taken out at the time. Charles I also promised him some compensation for the loss of his estates. Following the Restoration, he petitioned for the restoration of lands, preferment, and the award of the baronetcy. He was made Chancellor of the diocese of Lincoln in 1660.Burke's Peerage 1938 p.1472 In this position Edward was the Bishop's Chancellor. This was a separate role from the Chancellor of the cathedral.

The copy of a Patent confirming the armorial augmentations to Sir Edward Lake were signed and sealed by Sir William Dugdale, Norroy King of Arms on 12 June 1661. He was not given back his lands but was given a baronetcy. He was given the baronetcy of Carnow, County Wicklow Ireland, by patent. This baronetcy was created on 10 July 1661.
Cockayne, G.E., ''Complete Baronetage Vol.III,'' 1903, p.313.

Sir Edward became Vicar General of the diocese of Lincoln in 1661. In this role, Edward was the principal official of the Bishop of Lincoln."Case 20. Lake Bar. versus King."
''The Reports of the Most Learned Sir Edmund Saunders, Knt: Of Several Pleadings and Cases in the Court of King's Bench, in the Time of the Reign of His Most Excellent Majesty King Charles the Second. 666-1672 Volume 1'' p.120
On 14 November 1666 Edward King (Parliamentarian) presented a petition of grievances against Sir Edward Lake at a parliamentary committee. These grievances included extortion and other illegal conduct. Edward King printed and published a petition against Sir Edward. The accusations published were judged to be false, and "''stuffed with illegal assertions, ineptitudes, imperfections, clogged with gross ignorances, absurdities, and solecisms. ''"''Actions on the case for defamation'': "KING v LAKE (1667)."
''Baker and Milsom Sources of English Legal History: Private Law to 1750'', John Hamilton Baker, Stroud Francis Charles Milsom, Oxford, 2010, p.712 And so Edward satisfied this committee about his conduct, and the case was judged in his favour at the Guildhall in London, on 22 May 1667.

Marriage

Edward Lake married Anne Bibye, daughter of Simon Bibye of Bugden, Huntingdonshire. They were married on the 13th of January 1629, at the church of St Martin Orgar, London. At the time of marriage, Edward was described on the register as being of St Margaret's, Westminster. They had one son, Edward Lake, who died before 1665. He was baptised on the 13th of November 1630 at the church of St Margaret's, Westminster, London. Anne was still alive at the time that Sir Edward Lake made his will in Lincoln on 8 April 1665. But she had died by the time he made the first codicil to his will on 6 October 1670.

Death and burial

Sir Edward Lake died on the 18th of July 1674.
INTRODUCTION."''Sir Edward Lake's Account of His Interviews With Charles I. On Being Created A Baronet, And Receiving An Augmentation To His Arms'', edited by T. P. Taswell-Langmead for Camden Society's Miscellany. vol. iv, 1858.p.vi He died at Bishop Norton, Lincolnshire. He was buried two days later in Lincoln Cathedral. Edward's wife Anne had previously been buried in the cathedral. In the codicil to his will dated 8 June 1674, he wished to be buried as near to his wife in the cathedral as possible. The burial was registered at the church of St Margaret In The Close, Lincoln.
''Lincolnshire Burials Image, © Lincolnshire Archives, Findmypast.''"Sr Edward Lake, 20 July 1674, St Margaret In The Close, Lincoln.p.40. A memorial to Sir Edward Lake was erected on a pillar near the west door of the cathedral. This memorial was placed there by Sir Edward's nephew and heir, Thomas Lake. At some point before 1730, this monument fell into disrepair. The part of his monument exhibiting the arms, and crest of Sir Edward Lake survived. The remains of this were exhibited in a small chapel in Lincoln Cathedral, called Bishop Russell's chantry.
MEMORIALS OF SIR EDWARD LAKE. From Original Evidence, Communicated by Rev. S.Blois Turner.", ''Proceedings Of The Archaeological Institute '' Pall Mall, London, 1848, pp.195-196. A few years before 1907, part of Edward's monument displaying his arms and crest, were fixed to the south wall of the cloister in Lincoln Cathedral. By this time it had broken in two pieces. The Latin inscription on the monument had been lost. But it was written down on paper, and was published in 1848, by Rev. S. Blois Turner, in the Lincoln volume of his book ''Proceedings Of The Archaeological Institute. '' On 11 April 1907 a tablet in marble with the original Latin inscription carved upon it was fixed below the remains of the arms and crest. It was erected by the Dean and Chapter, with descendants of Thomas Lake, and members of the Curtois families.TO A LINCOLNSHIRE WORTHY."
''Lincolnshire Echo'', Friday 12 April 1907, p.2. © 2019 Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited - Findmypast in partnership with the British Library.

The Fate of His Baronetcy

The baronetcy became extinct on his death. But in 1711 his great-nephew Bibye Lake, son of Sir Edward's heir, Thomas, successfully petitioned to be made a baronet in recognition of his great-uncle's services to the Crown and the circumstances in which the baronetcy had become extinct.

Notes

Writings

* ''An account of his interviews with Charles I'', edited by T. P. Taswell-Langmead for Camden Society's Miscellany. vol. iv, 1858
* ''Memoranda: touching the Oath Exofficio, pretended Self-Accusation, and Canonical Purgation. Together with some notes about the making of some new, and alteration and explanation of some old, laws. All most humbly submitted to the consideration of this Parliament'', London, 1662.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lake, Edward
1674 deaths
Cavaliers
17th-century English lawyers
Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland
1600 births