Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex
Lionel Cranfield | |
---|---|
Lord High Treasurer | |
In office 1621 – 25 April 1624 | |
Preceded by | Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester |
Succeeded by | James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough |
Personal details | |
Born | 1575 London, England |
Died | 6 August 1645 |
Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Sheppard Anne Brett |
Children | Martha Cranfield, Countess of Monmouth Elizabeth Cranfield, Lady Sheffield Countess of Mulgrave Mary Cranfield Gertrude Howard James Cranfield, 2nd Earl of Middlesex Frances Cranfield, Countess of Dorset Lionel Cranfield, 3rd Earl of Middlesex Edward Cranfield Susanna Cranfield |
Occupation | mercer |
Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex (1575 – 6 August 1645) was an English merchant and politician. He sat in the
Life
He was the second son of Thomas Cranfield, a
Cranfield was appointed Receiver-General of rents and revenues from royal lands in Dorset and Somerset by letters patent in 1605. This included the manors in the jointure lands given to Anne of Denmark. Much of the work was done by Randolph Baron, Sheriff of Bath, who served as deputy collector, and by clerks employed in London. A part of the income was used to pay the keepers of Portland Castle and Sandsfoot Castle. Some of Cranfield's receivership papers survive.[3]
In 1613, he was knighted and was appointed Surveyor-General of Customs. He was elected
He was elected MP for Arundel in 1621. Cranfield was responsible for many economies in the public service, and his business acumen was very useful to the King. He took part in the attack on Lord St Alban in 1621, and although, contrary to general expectation, he did not succeed him as Lord Chancellor, he was created Baron Cranfield, of Cranfield in the County of Bedford, in July of that year. In 1621 also he became Lord High Treasurer and in September 1622 was created Earl of Middlesex.
Cranfield lost his positions and influence shortly afterwards because he opposed the projected
Cranfield's homes included Chelsea House, which he bought in 1619 and improved employing the services of Inigo Jones and Nicholas Stone, and Copthall in Essex. Furnishings were supplied by the upholsterers Oliver Browne and John Baker who also supplied the royal court and wardrobe, and painted and gilded by Thomas Capp. These included a suite of furnishings for Anne Brett's "lying-in" at Chelsea in 1621 with a cradle with a canopy of crimson damask for James Cranfield in 1621. Furniture from Copthall was taken to Knole in 1701.[5]
Family
Cranfield married Richard Sheppard's daughter Elizabeth in 1599. His second wife was Anne Brett (died 1670), a cousin of Buckingham's mother, whom he married somewhat reluctantly in 1621 in order to ensure Buckingham's support.[6]
He left with other issue a son,
Children by his first wife Elizabeth Sheppard (d. 1617):
- Martha Cranfield, Countess of Monmouth (b. 1601)
- Elizabeth Cranfield, Lady Sheffield Countess of Mulgrave (b. 1608)
- Mary Cranfield (1610–1636)
Children by his second wife, Anne Brett (d. 1670):
- James Cranfield, 2nd Earl of Middlesex (1621–1651)
- Frances Cranfield, Countess of Dorset (1622–1687)
- Lionel Cranfield, 3rd Earl of Middlesex (1625–1674)
- Edward Cranfield (b. c. 1628)
- Susanna Cranfield (c. 1631–1636)
Memorial
There is a memorial to him in the Chapel of St Benedict at Westminster Abbey.[7]
References
- ^ M. Prestwich, Cranfield: Politics and Profits Under the Early Stuarts. The Career of Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1966).
- ^ A. Davidson & S. Healy, Cranfield, Sir Lionel (1575–1645), of Wood Street, London; later of Chelsea, Mdx.; Copt Hall, Essex and Milcote, Warws., in A. Thrush and J.P. Ferris (eds), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, (Cambridge University Press 2010), History of Parliament online.
- ^ Colin J. Brett, Crown revenues from Somerset and Dorset, 1605 (Somerset Record Society, 2012), pp. 1, 6-15.
- ^ Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer: James I (London, 1836), pp. 239-40.
- ^ Edward Town, A Biographical Dictionary of London Painters, 1547–1625', Walpole Society, 76 (London, 2014), p. 51: Edward Town & Olivia Fryman, 'A rich inheritance: Lionel Cranfield's legacy at Knole', National Trust Historic Houses and Collections Annual, Apollo (2016), pp. 35-7.
- ^ Roger Lockyer, Buckingham (London, 1981), p. 71.
- ^ Stanley, A.P., Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey (London; John Murray; 1882), p. 202.
public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Middlesex, Lionel Cranfield". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 413.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in theFurther reading
- R. H. Tawney Business and Politics under James I: Lionel Cranfield as Merchant and Minister (1958), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press