Family and Education

b. 23 Oct. 1612, 1st s. of Edward Lingen of Stoke Edith by Blanche, da. of Sir Robert Bodenham of Rotherwas. educ. M. Temple 1629. m. 3 Apr. 1626 (with £1,000), Alice, da. of Sir Walter Pye of The Mynde, Much Dewchurch, 3s. (1 d.v.p.) 6da. suc. fa. 1635; kntd. 6 July 1645.1

Offices Held

J.p. Herefs. by 1634-46, July 1660-d., sheriff 1638-9, 1643-4, commr. of array 1643, oyer and terminer, Oxford circuit July 1660, assessment, Herefs. Aug. 1660-d., Hereford 1661-d.; dep. lt. Herefs. c. Aug. 1660-d.

Col. of ft. (royalist) 1643-6, 1648; gov. Goodrich Castle 1645-6.2

Biography

Lingen’s ancestors had been seated in Herefordshire since the reign of Henry III, though their acquisition of Stoke Edith, six miles from the county town, was comparatively recent. They first represented the county under Edward III. Lingen’s father, a Roman Catholic, was imprisoned by the council in the marches, first for refusing to pay alimony to his estranged wife, and then on the grounds of insanity, but he was restored to his property by order of the Privy Council. Lingen, who was himself brought up as an Anglican by the first Lord Scudamore, was one of the ship-money sheriffs, and during the Civil War he was the most energetic royalist commander in the county, and the last to surrender. His fine of £4,270 was set at the maximum rate and was later increased to £6,008 after he had taken part in the second Civil War, in which he was seriously wounded. He remained an active Royalist throughout the Interregnum, and was proposed as a knight of the Royal Oak at the Restoration, with an estate of £2,000 p.a.3

Lingen, debarred as a Cavalier from standing at the general election of 1660, supported the candidature of Thomas Prise for the county. He was himself returned at a by-election for Hereford, where he was highly esteemed, but was totally inactive in the Convention. There was no opposition offered to him personally in 1661, but he insisted on the mayor’s returning Sir Edward Hopton to the second seat. There was a double return with Herbert Westfaling, but Lingen was allowed to take his seat in the Cavalier Parliament at once, and on 11 May was named to the committee of elections and privileges. Though not an active Member, he was also appointed to the committees on the bills for confirming public acts and restoring advowsons. From the elections committee (Sir) Job Charlton recommended that only Hopton’s election should be declared void, which would have enabled Lingen to retain the parliamentary privilege that he required to shelter him from his creditors; but the House resolved to quash the whole election. Lingen was re-elected with Westfaling, but left no further trace in the Journals, dying of smallpox at Gloucester on his way home for the Christmas recess. He was buried at Stoke Edith on 22 Jan. 1662. After his death, his widow was granted some compensation for his losses, but his sons died without issue, and in 1670 Stoke Edith was sold to Paul Foley for £6,100.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Edward Rowlands

Notes

• 1. C. J. Robinson, Mansions and Manors of Herefs. 179-80; Wards 7/88/70; Her. and Gen. v. 137.
• 2. J. Webb, Civil War in Herefs. i. 300; ii. 280.
• 3. Duncumb, Herefs. ii. 184-5; T. Coningsby, Manor of Marden, i. 529; CSP Dom. 1634-5, pp. 60, 91, 373; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1525-6; Cal. Cl. SP, i. 440; D. Underdown, Royalist Conspiracy, 35, 242.
• 4. HMC Portland, iii. 220; Military Mere. of Col. Birch (Cam. Soc. n.s. vii), 141; R. Johnson, Ancient Customs of Hereford, 149-53; CJ, viii. 251, 308; Coningsby, i. 538.