Family and Education

b. c.1627, 1st s. of Edward Wenyeve of Brettenham by Anne, da. of Thomas Plumsted of Plumstead, Norf. educ. Bury St. Edmunds g.s.; Trinity Coll. Camb. 1644; L. Inn 1646, called 1653. m. (1) Frances (d. 23 Mar. 1658), da. and coh. of Edward Dudley of Clopton, Northants., 1s.; (2) 1660, Christian, da. of Sir Dudley North I, 4th Lord North, 1s. 2da. suc. fa. 1658; kntd. 8 May 1663.1

Offices Held

J.p. Suff. 1662-July 1688, 1689-96, 1700-d., Sudbury 1664; commr. for assessment, Suff. Aug. 1660-80, 1689-90, complaints, Bedford level 1663-4; dep. lt. Suff. 1685-?June 1688, 1689-?96, 1702-d.2

Biography

The Wenyeves had lived in Brettenham, ten miles north-east of Sudbury, since 1452, but they did not acquire the hall and the manor till the 16th century. Wenyeve’s father does not seem to have taken any part in the Civil War. But he accepted the Commonwealth, serving as j.p. by 1650 and sheriff in 1653-4, and in the second Protectorate Parliament he was elected for the county, though he was excluded from the House in 1656. Wenyeve himself took no part in local affairs until the Restoration, or in politics till after the exclusion crisis, though he was knighted after his second marriage. He remained on the commission of the peace in 1680, and was returned to Parliament for Sudbury in 1685 as a Tory on the recommendation of Lord Keeper Guilford (Sir Francis North), his brother-in-law. An active Member of James II’s Parliament, he was nominated to ten committees, including those set up to consider expiring laws, wool and corn prices, the prevention of clandestine marriages, the improvement of tillage, and the encouragement of shipbuilding. Presumably he opposed the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws, for he was removed from local office in the summer of 1688. He did not stand for Parliament again, although he continued to play some part in local affairs, even after refusing to sign the Association in 1696. He died on 26 May 1706 in his 80th year, the last of the family to sit in Parliament.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: Paula Watson / John. P. Ferris

Notes

• 1. Vis. Suff. ed. Metcalfe, 212; Copinger, Suff. Manors, iii. 141; Suff. Inst. Arch. Procs. ix. 133-9; Bury St. Edmunds G.S. (Suff. Green Bks. xiii), 413.
• 2. CSP Dom. 1685, p. 166; 1698, p. 342; 1702-3, p. 393.
• 3. Copinger, iii. 141; vi. 260; Cal. Comm. Comp. 2133; Suff. Inst. Arch. Procs. ix. 133-9; North, Lives, i. 335.