COPPYN, Robert (b.c.1510-75), of Dunwich, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1553
Oct. 1553
Nov. 1554

Family and Education

b. c.1510, 1st s. of George Coppyn of Dunwich by his w. Margaret. m. (1) bet. 1538 and 1544, Christian, wid. of Nicholas Baldwin of Dunwich; (2) Anne; 3s. (inc. Gregory) prob. all by 2nd w. suc. fa. 1544/5.

Offices Held

Bailiff, Dunwich 1542, 1546, 1547, 1550, 1553, 1554, 1558, 1562, 1654, 1570.

Biography

The Coppyns were Dunwich merchants, and there were branches of the family in Ipswich and Sudbury. Coppyn himself was a cloth merchant and shipowner. His steady membership of Parliament for Dunwich was broken in April 1554, and, when he sat again in the November Parliament he was fined for absenting himself without licence (January 1555). He did not sit again until Elizabeth’s second Parliament, though he could presumably have been returned in 1559 had he wished. Instead his son Gregory represented Dunwich. Coppyn himself resumed the seat in 1563 and 1572, dying before the second session of the latter Parliament. He made his will 28 Feb. 1575, describing himself as ‘of good and perfect remembrance ... considering my age’. His Dunwich property, and lands and cattle at Westleton, were to be divided between his widow and sons.

Huntington Lib., Hastings mss; PCC 31 Pynnyng, 15 Pyckering, 35 Langley; C1/984/1-3; T. Gardner, Hist. Dunwich, 82; Add. 19124, f. 318; Coke, Institutes, iv. 20; KB 27/1186.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the duration of the Parliament.