Robert Gawdy MP (1577 - 1639)

Born 1577 in Claxton, Norfolk, England

Descendants

Died 22 Jun 1639 at about age 62 in Claxton, Norfolk, England

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Biography

Sir Robert Gawdy was the second-born but first surviving son of Henry Gawdy MP and his first wife Elizabeth Warner . He was born at Claxton, Norfolk, about 1577 and succeeded to his father's estate in 1621. He married Winifred Bacon, daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon MP, and they had three children: ^[1]

Henry - b. about 1600, d. before 1639

Dorothy - b. 1605, m. Philip Parker, d. before 1639

Francis - b. 1612, d. before 1639. As she was not named in Nathaniel Bacon's 1614 Will, she may have died young.

Robert Gawdy and his two oldest children were named in Nicholas Bacon's 1614 Will.^[2] Robert Gawdy received "one of my best geldings", Henry his grandfather's Latin law books, and Dorothy "a piece of gilt plate, value 10l, with the following sentence engraved upon it, "Vindicta Domino", as a gift in remembrance of their grandfather."

Sir Robert Gawdy may have been knighted about 1605 by King James, but Shaw has no record of this.^[3] He was returned as MP for East Looe in 1597 and stood for Norfolk in 1624 and 1625, but was not returned.^[1]

Robert Gawdy outlived his wife and all three children, dying on 23 July 1639. They were buried in the church at Claxton. His estate in Norfolk passed to his nephew Thomas Gawdy, with a bequest of £1000 to his granddaughter Mary Parker, daughter of Dorothy Gawdy Parker.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} History of Parliament Online: Gawdy, Robert (1577-1639) Robert Gawdy
2. ↑ "Calendar of state papers, domestic series, of the reign of James I". Green, Mary Anne Evertt, ed. Her Majesty's Public Record Office. London : Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans and Roberts, 1857. p. 541. Will
3. ↑ Shaw, William Arthur. The Knights of England. London: Sherratt and Hughes, 1906.Gawdy