Richard Whithed, MP

Family and Education bap. 15 Jan. 1594,2 1st s. of Sir Henry Whithed* of Norman Court, and 1st w. Anne, da. of James Weston†, chan. of Lichfield dioc.3 educ. Brasenose, Oxf. 1610, BA 1612; I. Temple 1613; travelled abroad 1614-17.4 m. (1) settlement 1 Aug. 1621,5 Margery, da. of John Culliford of Encombe, Dorset, 3s. 8da. (4 d.v.p.);6 (2) c.1640, Lucy (d.1652), da. of Robert Dove, vicar of St. Neots, Hunts. 1616-22, wid. of Richard Organ (d. by 1638) of Lambourn, Berks., s.p.;7 (3) Cecilia (d.1677), da. of Richard Browne of Betchworth Castle, Surr., wid. of Robert Edolph of Hinxhill, Kent and Sir Francis Knollys II* of Reading, Berks., s.p.8 suc. fa. 1629.9 d. c.1663.10

Offices Held Capt. militia ft., Hants 1626, col. 1631-8;11 freeman, Lymington, Hants 1627;12 j.p. Hants 1629-42, by 1650-at least 60, Wilts. 1650;13 commr. swans, Hants, Wilts., Dorset, Som., Devon, Cornw. and I.o.W. 1629,14 sewers, Hants and Berks. 1633, Hants and Suss. 1638;15 sheriff, Hants 1635-6;16 commr. oyer and terminer, Western circ. 1641-44, 1654-8, Surr. 1644,17 gaol delivery, Surr. 1644,18 subsidy, Hants 1641-2, assessment, Hants 1643-50, 1657, 1660, Berks. 1644-8, Wilts. 1644-52, 1657, sequestration, Hants 1643, levying money 1643, defence, 1643, Wilts. 1644, execution of ordinances, Hants and Berks. 1644, safety, Hants 1645, militia, Hants and Wilts. 1648, Hants 1660, poor prisoners 1653, scandalous ministers 1654.19

Col. ft. (parl.) 1643.20

Commr. requisitioning timber 1644, excise 1645, exclusion from sacrament 1645, scandalous offences 1648.21

Biography Whithed, like his father, was an enthusiastic leader of the local militia, but he and his father seem to have differed in political outlook. With his friend John Button*, Whithed expressed his independence by asking to be excused from subscribing to the Forced Loan of 1626-7, of which his father was a commissioner, and instead ‘voluntarily tendered’ the sum demanded.22 Probably through Button’s good offices he was admitted to the freedom of Lymington the following year, and returned for the borough at the general election in 1628, but he left no trace on the records of the Parliament. His father, who sat for Stockbridge, died while still in London after attending the second session, leaving Whithed to inherit Norman Court and take his place on the Hampshire magistrates bench. He initially refused to compound for knighthood on the grounds that he had not been summoned to attend the coronation and had not then held lands worth £40 p.a. but he paid £25 on a second commission.23 As sheriff, his Ship Money collections were seriously in arrears, but under threat of summons by the Privy Council he reduced the outstanding balance to £16 11s., allegedly by paying £30 from his own pocket.24 A staunch parliamentarian in the Civil War, he did not sit after Pride’s Purge, but nevertheless retained local office throughout the Interregnum.25 He died sometime in around 1663, and his will, dated 22 Dec. 1659, was proved on 17 May 1664.26 His second son Richard sat for Stockbridge in 1659 and 1660, and his heir Henry for Portsmouth in 1660 and Stockbridge in the first two Exclusion parliaments.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Authors: Virginia C.D. Moseley / Rosemary Sgroi Notes 1. Did not sit after Pride’s Purge, 6 Dec. 1648; readmitted 21 Feb. 1660. 2. B. Whitehead, Hist. Whitehead Fams. 18. 3.Vis. Hants (Harl. Soc. lxiv), 90. 4.Al. Ox.; I. Temple database of admiss.; APC, 1613-14, p. 585. 5. Hants RO, Daly ms 20079. 6. B. Whitehead, Hist. Whitehead Fams. 18, 19, 22. 7.Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvi), 117. 8. E. Hasted, Kent, vii. 565; P. Parsons, Monuments in Kent, 49; M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 244. 9. C142/448/92. 10. Whitehead, 19. 11. Add. 21922, ff. 61v, 206; Add. 26781, ff. 17, 51. 12. C. St. Barbe, Recs. New Lymington, 7. 13. C231/5, pp. 19, 528; C193/13/5, 6; Anon., Names of the JPs (1650), pp. 50, 61; CSP Dom. 1655, p. 94; Anon, A Perfect List of JPs (1660), p. 49. 14. C181/4, f. 2v. 15. Ibid. f. 147v; 181/5, f. 115v. 16.List of Sheriffs comp. A. Hughes (PRO, L. and I. ix), 56. 17. C181/5, ff. 189v, 221v, 239; 181/6, pp. 8, 307. 18. C181/5, f. 239v. 19.SR, v. 88, 155; A. and O. i. 91, 113, 140, 148, 230, 335, 450, 455, 475, 540, 696, 961, 974-5, 977, 1078, 1092-3, 1095, 1242, 1244; ii. 42, 45, 308, 311, 477, 480, 677, 760, 975, 1080, 1083, 1378, 1442. 20. Whitehead, 18. 21.A. and O. i. 423-4, 691, 853, 1209. 22. P. Haskell, ‘Ship Money in Hants’, in Hants Studies ed. J. Webb et al., 104. 23. Add. 21922, ff. 177, 179, 181v. 24. PC2/47 p. 48; Haskell, 86-88, 91, 99. 25. M. Keeler, Long Parl. 391-2; G.N. Godwin, Civil War in Hants, 97-8, 198-9, 229. 26. PROB 11/313, f. 186.