Sir Henry Bellingham, MP, 1st Baronet

He was not the last Baronet of Hilsingham - his son James succeeded him, for all of about two weeks before he also died.

Family and Education b. c.1594,2 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir James Bellingham of Over Levens, Westmld. and Agnes, da. of (Sir) Henry Curwen† of Workington, Cumb.3 educ. Queens’, Camb. 1609; M. Temple 1611.4 m. c.1613, Dorothy (d. 23 Jan. 1627),5 da. of Sir Francis Boynton of Burton Agnes, Yorks., 1s. 6da. (4 d.v.p.).6 cr. bt. 30 May 1620; kntd. 31 May 1620;7 suc. fa. 1642.8 d. Oct. 1650.9

Offices Held

J.p. Westmld. 1625-44;10 commr. Forced Loan, Westmld. 1626-7,11 oyer and terminer, Northern circ. 1639-41,12 assessment, Westmld. 1641-4,13 disarming recusants, 1641;14 scandalous ministers 1642,15 sequestration 1643, levying money 1643.16

Col. ft. (roy.) 1644-5, 1648.17

Biography One of Bellingham’s ancestors, of Northumbrian origin, crossed the Pennines to marry an heiress in the reign of Edward II, and another member of the family represented Cumberland in 1449.18 Bellingham himself obtained a baronetcy and won four county elections in his father’s lifetime; he resided at Helsington until he inherited Over Levens. Despite his senior social standing he gave precedence to John Lowther I as knight of the shire for Westmorland in the first and second Caroline Parliaments, in which his uncle, Patricius Curwen, and under-age nephew Ralph Assheton also sat. Bellingham left no trace on the parliamentary record in 1625; but undeterred by the plague in Westminster he took the opportunity while he was there to represent his father in a Star Chamber case concerning the Northern custom known as tenant-right.19 In the 1626 Parliament he was appointed to the committee for a private bill to enable the son of Lord Bergavenny (Sir Henry Neville II*) to make a jointure out of entailed land (17 Mar. 1626).20

Bellingham did not stand at the general election in 1628, but served again as junior knight of the shire in both the Short and Long Parliaments of 1640. Having tried to avoid commitment in the Civil War, he eventually sided with Charles, attended the Oxford Parliament, and commanded a regiment against the invading Scots in the aftermath of Marston Moor.21 In 1646 his estates were sequestered.22 He died soon after making his will on 15 Oct. 1650, but his only son and heir, James, also died a few days later, perhaps of the same sickness.23 Bellingham’s great-nephew, Alan, represented the county as a Whig in the Exclusion Parliaments.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Authors: John. P. Ferris / Rosemary Sgroi Notes 1. CJ, iv. 304a. 2. STAC 8/34/4. 3. Vis. Cumb. and Westmld. ed. Foster, 9. 4. Al. Cant.; M. Temple Admiss. 5. J. Nicolson and R. Burn, Westmld. and Cumb. i. 196. 6. Vis. Cumb. and Westmld. 9. 7. Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 75; CB, i. 145. 8. Nicholson and Burn, i. 205; Wills at York (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. iv), 94. 9. PROB 11/216, f. 197. 10. C231/4, f. 190; C66/2858; SP16/405, f. 69. 11. C193/12/2, f. 61v; T. Rymer, Foedera, viii. pt. 2, p. 145. 12. C231/5, p. 274; C181/5, ff. 128, 203. 13. SR, v. 89, 156; A. and O. i. 95, 543. 14. LJ, iv. 358b. 15. M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 105. 16. A. and O. i. 117, 151, 236. 17. Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. and Arch. Soc. x. 108; CCC, 521, 1867. 18. Nicolson and Burn, i. 125-6. 19. Ibid. i. 57. 20. Procs. 1626, ii. 305. 21. Docquets of Letters Patents 1642-6 ed. W.H. Black, 178. 22. SP23/197, pp. 425, 427-9; 23/253, p. 49. 23. PROB 11/216, f. 197; Bellingham Diary ed. A. Hewitson, p. viii

Sir Henry Bellingham, 1st Baronet c.1585-October 1650 was an English politician and lawyer, cavalier and baronet.

Parents: Sir James Bellingham d. 1641 and Agnes Curwen 1554-

Wife: Dorothy Boynton 1594-1626

Children:

• Agnes c.1620-
• Dorothy c.1622-
• Elizabeth c.1631-
• James d. 1650

Sir Hanry Bellingham was the son of Sir James Bellingham and Agnes Curwen, daughter of Sir Henry Curwen. Bellingham was educated at Queen's College, Cambridge in 1609, and admitted to the Middle Temple a year later. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Westmorland from 1625 until 1626 and again in the Long Parliament from 1640 until 1645. On 30 May 1620, he was created a Baronet, of Hilsington, in the County of Westmorland by King James I of England.

Bellingham married Dorothy Boynton, daughter of Sir Francis Boynton. They had seven children, three surviving daughters and a son, James, who succeeded in the baronetcy, but died two weeks after his father.

Sources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Henry_Bellingham,_1st_Baronet