Sir William Spring, MP, 2nd Baronet

Family and Education b. May 1642, o. surv. s. of Sir William Spring, 1st Bt.†, of Pakenham by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Hamon L’Estrange of Hunstanton, Norf. educ. Bury St. Edmunds g.s. 1656; Christ’s, Camb. 1658. m. (1) lic. 11 Oct. 1661, Mary (d. 23 Oct. 1662), da. of Sir Dudley North, 4th Lord North, 1s. d.v.p.; (2) 3 Feb. 1667, Sarah, da. of Sir Robert Cordell, 1st Bt., of Long Melford, Suff., 3s. 3da. suc. fa. 17 Dec. 1654.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Suff. 1661-80, j.p. aft. 1666-70, sheriff 1674-5.2

Biography Spring was descended from the famous clothier who built the grandest of the Suffolk ‘wool churches’ at Lavenham. The family acquired the ex-monastic property at Pakenham in 1545, and Spring’s grandfather represented the county in 1621. His father supported Parliament during the Civil War, serving on the Suffolk county committee and holding numerous other local offices. A recruiter to the Long Parliament for Bury St. Edmunds, he was secluded in 1648, but continued to hold local office under the Commonwealth and was returned to the first Protectorate Parliament. Spring was removed from the commission of the peace in 1670, presumably as an opponent of the Conventicles Act. He contested Sudbury in February 1679 and was classed as ‘honest’ on Shaftesbury’s list. He was returned for Suffolk to both the second and third Exclusion Parliaments as an exclusionist. On 14 Feb. 1681, after he and Sir Samuel Barnardiston had been unanimously elected, an address was presented to them from the free-holders, thanking them for ‘your zeal for the Protestant religion, your loyalty to his Majesty’s person and government, and your endeavours for the preservation of our laws, rights and liberties’ and urging them to continue their support of exclusion. He made no recorded speeches and was not appointed to any committees in either Parliament. He died on 30 Apr. 1684 and was buried at Pakenham, the last of his family to sit.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690 Author: John. P. Ferris Notes 1. Howard, Vis. Suff. i. 189; Bury St. Edmunds G. S. List (Suff. Green Bks. xiii), 365. 2. Suff. Inst. Arch. Procs. x. 173; B. McClenaghan, Springs of Lavenham , 62-88; Copinger, Suff. Manors, vi. 304. 3. Suff. and the Gt. Rebellion (Suff. Rec. Soc. iii), 16, 27; Prot. Intell. 18 Feb. 1681.