Sir Robert Lane, MP, of Hogshaw & Horton

LANE, Robert (1527-c.88), of Hogshaw, Bucks. and Horton, Northants.

Family and Education

b. 7 Jan. 1527, 1st s. of Sir Ralph Lane of Orlingbury and bro. of Ralph and William Lane I m. (1) Catherine (d. bef. 29 Mar. 1563), da. of Sir Roger Copley of Gatton, Surr., 3s. inc. William Lane II 2da; (2) Mary, da. of John Heneage† of Benniworth, Lincs., wid. of Sir Thomas Andrew of Charwelton, and of Erasmus Cope of Canons Ashby, 1s. suc. fa. 26 Sept. 1540, mother 1559. Kntd. 2 Oct. 1553.

Offices Held

J.p. Bucks. 1559; j.p. Northants. from c.1559-87, dep. lt. 1560, sheriff 1563-4, commr. musters 1569; eccles. commr. dioceses of Lincoln and Peterborough 1571.1

Biography By the time of Elizabeth’s accession, Lane was a substantial figure in Northamptonshire. Quite why he had to go to Gatton for a seat in the 1563 Parliament is not clear, though it would have been easily arranged by his brother-in-law, Thomas Copley, who owned the borough and on this occasion returned himself as the other Member. Lane was classified as an ‘earnest furtherer’ of religion in 1564, and in 1571, when he sat for the county, he was one of those ordered (25 Apr.) to wait on Archbishop Parker to discuss matters of religion. On 5 May he took to the Lords the bill on receiving communion. The only other reference found to Lane in the journals of the House is to his membership of the supply committee, 7 Apr. 1571. Between the 1550s and the 1570s he was mortgaging his property, and ultimately sold lands in Buckinghamshire and, probably, the manor of Wotton, Northamptonshire. By 1587 he was ‘a man not able through infirmity of his body’, and was dropped from the commission of the peace. In the following year his son William appears in control of the family estates.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Authors: H.G.O. / Alan Davidson Notes 1. C142/64/94, 118/6; Genealogist, n.s. xxxi. 134-5; Bridges, Northants. i. 367; Vis. Northants. ed. Metcalfe, 15, 64, 185-6; Machyn Diary (Cam. Soc. xlii), 303, 335, 394; Lincs. Peds. (Harl. Soc. li), 482-3; Strype, Eccles. Memorials, iii(1), 577; CPR, 1558-60, p. 99; 1560-3, p. 440; 1569-72, p. 277. 2. Bridges, i. 367-8, ii. 118, 204; CPR, 1558-60, pp. 99, 168; 1560-3, p. 97; Cam. Misc. ix(3), p. 35, Lawe being incorrect; D’Ewes, 159, 179, 181; CJ, i. 83, 106; APC, viii. 61, 93; CSP Dom. 1547-80, pp. 366, 377; HMC Buccleuch, i. 224; Strype, Annals, ii(1), 96, St. Ch. 5/P5/22; Nothants. RO, Isham (Lamport), 383, 392, 393, 394, 453, 3413; Lansd. 54, f. 178; 56, f. 168 Geneologist, xxxi. 135.

Robert Lane

• Birth: Jan 7 1526/27 - Hogshaw Bucks, Horton, Northampton, England
• Death: June 5 1582 - Northampton, England
• Parents: Sir Ralph "of Orlingbury" Lane, Maud Parr
• Wives: Catherine Copley, Mary Heneage