Francis Newdigate, MP, of Hanworth

Francis Newdegate (1519-82), of Hanworth, Mdx.

brief biography

The Newdigate family was well represented in the Tudor House of Commons. Francis Newdigate’s father is not known to have sat there, but his uncle William had represented Bedwyn in the early sessions of the Reformation Parliament, his eldest brother John was knight of the shire for Middlesex four times between 1547 and 1558, and another brother, Nicholas, had sat in Mary’s last Parliament for Westminster.

The turning point in Francis Newdigate’s life was his marriage to the Duchess of Somerset. Until then his career had been that of a servant to nobility. His uncle Nicholas and brother John were both at Eton and King’s, but his own name is not to be found in the register of either college, and it is probable that his education took the form of service with a leading family. It is not known how soon he entered the Seymour household, but he seems to have risen with his master, and he was sufficiently close to the Protector to be implicated in his fall, when he suffered the confiscation of his property. Nine months after Somerset’s execution Newdigate was pardoned and had his lands and goods restored. During the Duchess’s imprisonment in the Tower, which seems to have lasted until the accession of Mary, he was doubtless active in salvaging the family fortunes, and his knowledge of what went on was later to be drawn upon by the commission set up in 1555 to trace the disposal of the dead Duke’s property. His devotion to her service was presumably a principal reason for the Duchess’s acceptance of him as her second husband in a marriage which could have appeared a disparagement. Whether he suffered from her ‘haughty stomach’ does not appear, and there is no suggestion of any marital discord.3

family

b. 25 Oct. 1519, 5th s. of John Newdigate of Moor Hall, Harefield, Mdx. and Arbury, Warws. by Anne, da. of Nicholas Hilton of Cambridge; bro. of John†, Nicholas† and Robert I m. 1558, Anne, da. of Sir Edward Stanhope, wid. of Edward, Duke of Somerset, s.p.1

Sources

1. NEWDIGATE, Francis (1519-82), of Hanworth, Mdx.