WYMARKE, Edward (d.1634), of London and Luffenham, Rutland.

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

Family and Education

o.s. of Edward Wymarke of Luffenham by Margaret, da. of William Dudley of Clopton, Northants. Prob. unm. suc. fa. 1599.3

Offices Held

Biography

Wymarke was one of those fringe Elizabethan officials whose status and occupation defy classification. Holding no specific office, he kept some sort of register of concealed lands, reimbursing himself from the amount recovered for the government. In 1597, for an unascertained reason, this work incurred the Queen’s displeasure, and in July he wrote to her asking for the matter to be referred to the lord treasurer, Burghley, and the chancellor of the Exchequer. Whether his wish to be returned for Chippenham in October had anything to do with this episode is not clear. In 1602 he apparently sold his book to Sir Edward Dyer, payment to be in instalments, which, of course, fell into arrears. Wymarke was presumably nominated for Chippenham by Anthony Mildmay, son of a former chancellor of the Exchequer, who owned property in the town, and was becoming an active patron there. Wymarke’s name was inserted on the return over that of Thomas Edmondes, the ambassador, who was sent abroad shortly before Parliament met. Wymarke was named to one minor committee 8 Nov. 1597, and, Dec. 1601, to the committee dealing with church attendance.4

Wymarke was a friend of and chief source for John Chamberlain, the letter writer, who once noted that he went out only by ‘owl light to the Star and to the Windmill, which course of his is cause of much descanting, and the nearest and dearest friends he hath know not what to guess of this humour’. Wymarke lived in London, in comfortable circumstances. He died 30 Sept. 1634 and was buried in St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate. His property went to his sister Frances, wife of John Green of Market Overton, Rutland.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Authors: R.C.G. / P. W. Hasler

Notes

  • 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.
  • 2. Elected for three constituencies - Peterborough, Liverpool and Newcastle-under Lyme: preference not known.
  • 3. Vis. Rutland (Harl. Soc. iii), 47.
  • 4. HMC Hatfield, vii. 330; x. 231; xii. 16; Lansd. 175, f. 136; E179/146/369; PRO Index 6800, f. 633; C219/33/225; Chippenham Recs. 327, 338, 339; D’Ewes, 553, 664.
  • 5. Chamberlain Letters ed. McClure, passim; Vis. Rutland, loc. cit.