Appendix I: The 1559 House of Commons
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Effective dates of session: 25 Jan.-8 May 1559.
Speaker: Sir Thomas Gargrave
Clerk: John Seymour
Privy Councillors in the Commons:
| Sir Ambrose Cave | Sir Thomas Parry |
| Sir William Cecil | Sir William Petre |
| Sir Robert Dudley | Sir Edward Rogers |
| Sir Francis Knollys | Sir Richard Sackville |
| Sir John Mason | Sir Ralph Sadler |
Total number of Members elected 405
for counties 91
for boroughs 314
at general election 402
for counties 90
for boroughs 312
at by-elections 3
for counties 1
for boroughs 2
Number of Members known to have left before end: 5, of whom 3 sat for counties, 2 for boroughs
Residential qualification. Borough Members
resident in borough 93
resident in county 109
resident in adjacent county etc. 13
strangers 94
no information 5
Electoral qualification. Borough Members returned through
own or family interest 66
wife’s family interest 10
corporation interest 94
‘natural’ influence 25
influence of a great man 92
duchy of Lancaster 14
no information 13
Number of Members with
| central office | local office |
| major 4 | lord lieutenant 3 |
| minor 72 | deputy lieutenant 5 |
| legal 9 | custos rotulorum 13 |
| duchy of Lancaster 13 | j.p. 178 |
| diplomatic/agent abroad 5 | other county 83 |
| military/naval 12 | mayor 13 |
| ecclesiastical 10 | recorder 10 |
| other municipal 61 | |
| no office in this Parliament 120 |
Experience. Members who
had sat in previous Parliament 27%
were to sit in next Parliament 35%
Activity
very active speakers 1%
very active committeemen 1%
with any recorded activity 7%
with any recorded speeches 2%
with any recorded committees 6%
served on religious committee 2%
spoke on religion 1%
served on subsidy committee 1%
spoke on the subsidy: less than 0.5%
served on a social/economic committee 3%
spoke on a social/economic matter: less than 0.5%
served on a legal committee 1%
spoke on a legal matter: less than 0.5%
served on a committee concerning the Queen’s marriage or the succession 2%
spoke on these matters 1%
No information has been obtained about the activity of 93% of members of this Parliament due to defective journals and the clerk’s practice of noting only the Member to whom the bill was committed, rather than a list of committee members.
Sources for the names of Members (unless an individual reference is given)
Return of the names of every Member 1213-1702 (HC Parliamentary Papers 69 and 69-II of 1878) cited OR, has been used for all Parliaments in this period except 1571. In two parts, the first lists the Members, the second includes additions and corrections.
Over 100 returns for 1559 are missing. In July 1963 Dr. C. E. Challis discovered in the Public Record Office a list of Members copied on to an Exchequer originalia roll E371/402 (1). Dr. Challis generously made available to the Trust a transcription of this list, so that (1978) the only constituencies not known to have had Members were Berwick-upon-Tweed and Taunton.
Sources for the proceedings of the Commons
Journals of the House of Commons , reprinted by order of the House of Commons 1803, vol. i, cited CJ , i.
A Complete Journal of the ... Lords and ... Commons collected by Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1682), cited D’Ewes. The manuscript Commons journal and the manuscript D’Ewes have numerous advantages over their printed versions, but in 1978 neither was available in a modern edition. The printed texts cited were the only versions accessible throughout the compiling and editing of the biographies, which extended over a period of 27 years. Fortunately the Trust had access to typed and edited transcripts, the work of Miss Helen Miller, of all other known sources for the proceedings of the Commons in this period. These, too, still await publication.
Extracts from British Library manuscripts Harley 5176 and Lansdowne 94, made by Miss Miller, have also been used for this Parliament.
