Sir William Skipwith, MP

b. c.1564, 1st s. of Henry Skipwith by his w. Jane. educ. Jesus, Camb. c.1579/80. m. (1) Margaret (d.1594), da. of Roger Cave, of Stanford, Northants., 4s. 4da.; (2) Jane (d.1630), da. of John Roberts, wid. of John Markham of Sidebrook, s.p. suc. fa. 1588. Kntd. 1603.

Offices Held

J.p. Leics. from c.1592, sheriff 1597-8, commr. musters 1608.

Biography Skipwith was elected second knight of the shire in 1601 against opposition from Sir John Grey, with the support of the 4th Earl of Huntingdon, with whom he was on friendly terms, and with whose religious views he certainly sympathized, since Skipwith was one of those who in James I’s reign petitioned the Crown in favour of the puritan ministers of the shire. All the same, when the case of George Belgrave was argued in the House on 8 Dec. 1601, Skipwith supported Belgrave. There is no record of any other activity by Skipwith in the 1601 Parliament, though, as knight of the shire, he could have attended the main business committee, 3 Nov. and the committee on monopolies, 23 Nov.

Skipwith wrote verses described by Fuller as ‘neither so apparent that every rustic might understand them, nor so obscure that they needed an Oedipus to interpret them’. He died on 3 May 1610 and was buried in Prestwold church, where his widow erected a large monument to his memory on the south side of the altar.

C142/223/66, 317/121; Nichols, Leics. iii(1), 366, 368; Townshend, Hist. Colls. 296; D’Ewes, 624, 649; Fuller, Worthies, ii; PCC 42 Wood; Leicester Recs. iv. 3. 32, 60, 93, 137; APC. xxv. 216; xxxii. 160; HMC Rutland, i. 380; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 8; Trans. Leics. Arch. Soc. xvii. 8.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: S. M. Thorpe Notes 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.

William Skipwith: Born at Keythorpe, Leicestershire. Knighted by King James VI of Scotland at Worksop on 13 April 1603 while he was on his way to take the Crown as James I of England. Sir William was Member of Parliament for Leicester in 1604. After the death of his father (Henry Skipwith Esq., of Keythorpe) he inherited the Manors of Cotes and Prestwold that his father had purchased from his 'Neale' step-daughters around 1570 and where he had built the Mansion at Cotes in 1580. Made Prestwold his main residence. He also had a residence in London where he died. Taken back to Prestwold for burial in the Church of St. Andrew which was (and is) located within the estate. In the church there is a large monument to Sir William and his two wives.

References

• “Virginia Gleanings in England.” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 27, no. 1, 1919, pp. 50–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4243712