Family and Education

bap. 8 May 1622, 1st s. of Sir William Luckyn, 1st Bt., of Little Waltham by 1st w. Mildred, da. of Sir Gamaliel Capel of Rookwood Hall, Abbess Roding. educ. Bishop’s Stortford, Caius, Camb. 1639, L. Inn 1640, called 1647. m. 20 Jan. 1648, Mary (d. 18 Mar. 1719), da. of Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Bt., of Gorhambury, Herts., 6s. (3 d.v.p.) 7da. Kntd. 2 June 1660; suc. fa. as 2nd Bt. Feb. 1661.2

Offices Held

Commr. for militia, Essex 1648, Mar. 1660, j.p. Mar. 1660-d.; commr. for assessment, Essex Aug. 1660-d., Harwich 1664-79, recusants, Essex 1675.3

Biography

Luckyn’s ancestors can be traced back as Essex yeomen to 1454, but his grandfather was the first to style himself a gentleman. His father bought Little Waltham about 1624 and was created a baronet in 1629. Luckyn and his father were probably neutral in the Civil War; the latter was assessed at £700 by the committee for the advance of money in 1644, but no proceedings were taken. Nevertheless Luckyn became the first of the family to enter Parliament when he was elected as a recruiter for Harwich on his father-in-law’s interest in 1648, but he did not sit after Pride’s Purge, and took no part in politics during the Interregnum. In 1650 he acquired Messing Hall, which became his principal residence.4

Luckyn was re-elected at the general election of 1660 and became a moderately active Member of the Convention, in which he was named to 17 committees, but made no recorded speeches. Lord Wharton classed him as a friend, but he was doubtless a court supporter, being rewarded with a knighthood in June. His chief interests were apparently ecclesiastical; in the first session he was among those ordered to inquire into impropriate rectories, to provide maintenance for a minister in his constituency, to settle ministers in their livings, and to provide for observation of the Lord’s day. After the recess he was appointed to committees for the prevention of profanity, the establishment of a chapel of ease in Waltham forest, and to enable his father-in-law to make leases as master of the rolls. On 17 Dec. he acted as teller for the third reading of the bill to restore Lord Arundell of Wardour’s estate.

Luckyn is unlikely to have stood in 1661, but he successfully contested a by-election in 1664. There was a double return, but he must have taken his seat by 9 Dec. when he was appointed to a private bill committee. An inactive Member of the Cavalier Parliament, he was appointed to only 14 committees of no major political importance and again made no recorded speeches. He was among those to whom the public accounts bill was committed on 11 Dec. 1666. He was included in both lists of 1669-71 among the Members who usually voted for supply, but he later veered towards the Opposition. Sir Richard Wiseman commented that he was governed by his father-in-law, and Shaftesbury marked him ‘worthy’ in 1677. His later committees included those to consider a bill to prevent simoniacal contracts and to bring in a bill to remedy inconveniences in the poor laws. He was three times teller in 1678: for naming subsidy commissioners in the House (26 June), for putting the question on the expulsion of (Sir) Jonathan Trelawny I from the House (21 Nov.), and for excusing Sir John Duncombe for his default in attendance (18 Dec.). Luckyn’s health had given grounds for anxiety since 1674, and he did not stand again. He died on 23 Jan. 1680 and was buried at Messing. His grandson changed his name to Grimston on succeeding to the Gorhambury estate and sat for St. Albans as a Whig.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Gillian Hampson / Geoffrey Jaggar

Notes

• 1. Did not sit after Pride’s Purge, 6 Dec. 1648, readmitted 21 Feb. 1660.
• 2. Great Baddow par. reg.; VCH Herts. Peds. 177-81.
• 3. Essex RO, 35/101-20; Q/SR 414-39; T/2 26.
• 4. VCH Herts. Peds. 176, 177, 178; Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 405; D. Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 153; Trans. Essex Arch. Soc. n.s. vi. 210, 212-14.
• 5. CJ, viii. 558; Harwich bor. recs. 98/4/26, VCH Herts. Peds. 179.