Sir Maurice Berkeley, Kt., MP

Family and Education b. c.1579, 1st s. of Henry Berkeley II. educ. Queen’s, Oxf. 1590, BA 1593; M. Temple 1594. m. Elizabeth, da. of William Killigrew, at least 5s. 2da. suc. fa Sept. 1601. Kntd. 1596.1

Offices Held

Steward of manors of South Stoke and Corton, Som. 1601; j.p. from c.1602, dep. lt. 1608.2

Biography Berkeley was brought into Parliament while still under age by his father-in-law. His name is not mentioned in the parliamentary journals of 1597. His family status was sufficient for him to be returned as knight of the shire for Somerset in 1601. Apart from committees to which he was automatically appointed as knight of the shire, dealing with the order of business (3 Nov.), clothworkers (18 Nov.), the Severn harbour (21 Nov.) and monopolies (23 Nov.), he was also named to committees concerning letters patent (17 Nov.) and cloth (21 Nov.).

Berkeley went to Cadiz with the Earl of Essex in 1596, and in January 1598 was one of a number of young men who offered to accompany Sir Robert Cecil, his distant relation, on an embassy to France, but there is no evidence that he went. In August he asked Cecil for a military appointment, preferably at sea, or, if there was ‘no place left’, in command of a troop of horse, though he added that hitherto he had been ‘a truant to the wars’ and could not ‘brag of much more knowledge of it than books have afforded him’, yet would ‘supply all wants with industry and resolution’. Three years later he succeeded to the family seat of Bruton, but he was never in occupation as his mother, who had a life interest, survived him. This, together with the fact that many of his father’s lands had been bequeathed to his younger brothers, probably accounts for his dying ‘far indebted’ 1 May 1617, after an active parliamentary and county career in the reign of James I. In his will, dated 26 Apr. and proved 8 July 1617, he mentioned his five sons Charles, Henry, Maurice, William and John and his father-in-law Sir William Killigrew. He provided dowries of £2,000 and £1,500 respectively for his daughters Margaret and Jane, though it is doubtful whether these were paid. He appointed Robert Killigrew, Sir John Horner, Robert Hopton, and Edward Bisse as overseers.3

HMC Hatfield, viii. 16, 323; PCC 68 Woodhall; 64 Weldon; C142/366/170; Chamberlain Letters ed. McClure, ii. 74.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: R.C.G. Notes 1. C142/197/56; 270/148; Vis. Som. (Harl. Soc. xi), p. 7; Collinson, Som. iii. 280; Brown, Som. Wills, vi. 102; PRO Index 4208, p. 248. 2. E315/309, f. 138d; Add. 5496, p. 7a. 3. D’Ewes, 624, 641, 642, 647, 649.

References

• http://www.thepeerage.com/p11888.htm#i118879
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Berkeley-484 cites

1. Frederic Thomas Colby, ed. Visitation of the County of Somerset in the Year 1623. (1876). Harleian Society Visitation Series, vol. 11. Online at Archive.org, page 7.
2. Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013), vol. III, page 577, LIGON 17.ii.a. Maurice Berkeley, Knt.
3. Joseph Jackson Howard and Frederick Arthur Crisp. Visitation of England and Wales. Volume 30. (London: Priv. printed, 1893). Online at Archive.org, pages 154-164: Pedigree of Berkeley of Bruton, Co. Somerset.
4. Cokayne, George Edward and H.A. Doubleday et. al eds. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. VI: Gordon to Hurstpierpoint, 2nd edition. (London, 1926): pages 408-409.
5. Joseph Foster. ed. "Bennell-Bloye", in Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, (Oxford, 1891), pp. 106-141. British History Online, accessed 18 Dec 2020.
6. P.W. Hasler, ed. "Berkeley, Sir Maurice II (c.1579-1617), of Bruton,." in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, 1981. Online at History of Parliament.
7. John Collinson and Edmund Rack. The History And Antiquities of the County of Somerset. (Bath, England: Printed by R. Cruttwell, 1791). Online at HathiTrust. vol. 3, page 281.
8. ↑ British History online: Bruton
9. Frederick Arthur Crisp. Abstracts of Somersetshire wills, etc., copied from the manuscript collections of the late Rev. Frederick Brown. (London: Priv. print. for F. A. Crisp, 1887-90). Online at HathiTrust, Vol. 6, page 102.
10. Warren M. Billings. "Berkeley, Sir William (1605–1677), colonial governor." in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Originally published 23 Sep 2004, this version 4 Oct 2008, accessed 16 Dec 2020. Online with paid subscription at ODNB.
11. George Edward Cokayne and Vicary Gibbs ed. Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Vol. II: Bass - Canning, 2nd edition (London, 1912). online at Archive.org, page 234: Botetourt; page 147: Berkeley of Stratton.
12. John Bennett Boddie. “Lygon of Madresfield, Worcester, England and Henrico, Virginia.” in The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 2, 1936, pp. 302–303. Online at JSTOR, accessed 18 Dec 2020
13. John Smyth, John Maclean, and Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society. The Berkeley Manuscripts: The Lives of the Berkeleys, Lords of the Honour, Castle And Manor of Berkeley, In the County of Gloucester, From 1066 to 1618. (Gloucester: Printed by J. Bellows). Online at HathiTrust, vol. I, page 266.
14. R. & W. & G. Bartow, et al. The Statutes At Large. Volume II. (New-York: Printed for the editor, by R. & W. & G. Bartow). Online at HathiTrust, pages 558-560.
15. Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2011. See also WikiTree's source page for Magna Carta Ancestry.
16. Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013. See also WikiTree's source page for Royal Ancestry. See also:
17. Ligon, William D. The Ligon Family and Connections. (Hartford, CT: Printed by the Bond Press, 1947). Online at Ancestry.com, page 222.
18. Wikipedia: Maurice Berkeley (died 1617)