Sir Robert Southwell (1563–1598), of Woodrising, Norfolk, was an English politician.

Robert was the son of Sir Thomas Southwell and his second wife Mary, daughter of Sir Rice Mansel. Thomas's third wife was Nazaret or Nazareth Newton.

He was High Sheriff of Norfolk for 1589–90 and Vice-Admiral of Norfolk from 1585 to 1598. He was a Member (MP) of the Parliament of England for Guildford in 1597.[1]

Robert was an admiral in 1588 in the battle with the Spanish Armada, in command of the Elizabeth Jonas. His portrait was included in the Armada Tapestries.[2]

In 1591 the Privy Council asked him, as Vice-Admiral, to adjudicate in the case of a Scottish ship belonging to an Edinburgh merchant Archibald Johnston wrecked on the coast of Norfolk.[3]

He died on 12 October 1598 at Woodrising, and was buried on 16 November at Woodrising church. The chief mourner was his cousin Robert Mansell.[4]

Family

Arms of Southwell of Woodrising, Norfolk: Argent, three cinquefoils gules each charged with six annulets or

On 27 April 1583 he married Elizabeth Howard, eldest daughter of Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, and a lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth. They had four sons and four daughters, including:

Robert's half-sister, the daughter of Nazaret Newton, Elizabeth Southwell, was a Maid of Honour to Queen Elizabeth. She was a mistress of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and the mother of Walter Devereux.[14] She married Sir Barentine Moleyns or Molyns of Clapcot.[15]

References

  1. ^ "SOUTHWELL, Sir Robert (1563-98), of Wood Rising, Norf. - History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  2. ^ William Thomson, Tapestry weaving in England (London, 1914), p. 33
  3. ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1603, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 476, 517, 527.
  4. ^ Granville Leveson-Gower, 'Howards of Effingham', Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol. 9 (London, 1888), pp. 425-6.
  5. ^ Mill Stephenson, 'A list of Monumental Brasses in Surrey', Surrey Archaeological Collections, vol. 32 (1919), p. 70.
  6. ^ Michael Brennan, Noel Kinnamon, Margaret Hannay, The Letters of Rowland Whyte to Sir Robert Sidney (Philadelphia, 2013), pp. 377, 398.
  7. ^ Michael Brennan, Noel Kinnamon, Margaret Hannay, The Letters of Rowland Whyte (Philadelphia, 2013), pp. 498, 501: Arthur Collins, Letters and Memorials of State, vol. 2 (London, 1746), p. 201: Roy Strong, The Cult of Elizabeth (London, 1977), pp. 28-43.
  8. ^ Catherine Loomis, The Death of Elizabeth I: Remembering and Reconstructing the Virgin Queen (New York, 2010), pp. 83-5.
  9. ^ John Temple Leader, Life of Sir Robert Dudley (Florence, 1895), pp. 9-10, 146.
  10. ^ Norman Egbert McClure, Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 512.
  11. ^ Isaac Herbert Jeayes, Letters of Philip Gawdy of West Harling, Norfolk, 1579-1616 (London, 1906), p. 176.
  12. ^ HMC Rutland vol. 4 (London, 1905), p. 500.
  13. ^ Godfrey Basil Mundy, Life of Rodney (London, 1836), p. xi.
  14. ^ Johanna Rickman, Love, Lust, and License in Early Modern England: Illicit Sex and the Nobility (Ashgate, 2008), pp. 30-32.
  15. ^ Alan Davidson, 'MOLYNS, Michael (c.1601-at least 1662), of Clapcot', The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010.
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