Richard Norton MP (1615 - 1691)

Born 19 Nov 1615 in Southwick, Hampshire, England [uncertain]

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Biography

Richard Norton MP is Notable.

Born on the 19th of November 1615, Richard Norton was the 2nd but eldest surviving son of Sir Daniel Norton of Southwick in Hampshire and his wife, Honor Whyte, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Whyte of Southwick. ^[1][2] He was baptised at Southwick on the 6th of December 1615. ^[3]

Richard was educated privately by a Mr Fletcher, then at Brasenose College, Oxford and at Gray's Inn in 1634, followed by the by then almost obligatory foreign travels, returning to England in 1636, presumably because of the death of his father. ^[1]

On the 4th of July 1636 he married Anne Erle, daughter of Sir Walter Erle of Charborough in Dorset. Together they had a son and a daughter. His second wife was Elizabeth, daughter of William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele and his wife, Elizabeth Temple, who bore him 3 sons and 2 daughters. ^[1]

In July 1643 he led Parliamentary forces in a siege at Basing House in Hampshire, the home of John Paulet, Marquis of Winchester. The besiegers were soon driven off by the arrival of musketeers from Oxford commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Peake. ^[4]

Richard was first returned to Parliament as member for Hampshire in 1645, and maintained a seat for either Hampshire or Portsmouth throughout the Interregnum and the Restoration. ^[1]

In 1665 he secured for his son, Daniel, in marriage Isabel Lawson, daughter of Sir John Lawson together with her £6000. ^[5]

Richard died in May 1691. ^[1] British History online gives Richard date of death as 1732, actually the date of the death of his grandson, another Richard. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} History of Parliament online: NORTON, Richard (1615-91), of Southwick and Old Alresford, Hants
2. ↑ Visitation of Hampshire Page 15: Norton
3. ↑ England & Wales Christening Records, 1530-1906 (Southwick 6 December 1615 Richard Norton son of Daniell and Honor Norton) Viewed at Ancestry. Text only
4. ↑ BCWPROJECT: Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex
5. ↑ Diary of Samuel Pepys 6 July 1665. "...the rashness of Sir John Lawson, for breeding up his daughter so high and proud, refusing a man of great interest, Sir W. Barkeley, to match her with a melancholy fellow Colonell Norton's son, of no interest nor good nature nor generosity at all, giving her £6,000, when the other would have taken her with two; when he himself knew that he was not worth the money himself in all the world, he did give her that portion, and is since dead, and left his wife and two daughters beggars, and the other is gone away with £6,000 and no content in it, though the ill qualities of her father-in-law and husband, who, it seems, though a pretty woman, contracted for her as if he had been buying a horse; and, worst of all, is now of no use to serve the mother and two little sisters in any stead at Court, whereas the other might have done what he would for her: so here is an end of this family's pride....."
6. ↑ British History online: Southwick

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