CHAMBERLAIN, Edward I (by 1503-57 or later), of Nottingham.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1503.1

Offices Held

Coroner, Nottingham 1527-9, 1530-3, 1535-6, mayor 1537-8, 1544-5, 1550-1, alderman by 1539-?d.2

Biography

Both the writ and indenture for Nottingham to the Parliament of 1542 are damaged but the abbreviated christian names in Latin of the two Members, ‘Edi’ and ‘Johi’, with the names of their sureties, are legible on the back of the writ. ‘Edi’ is correctly extended ‘Edwardi’ but in the Official Return it has been given as Edmund. Whereas the second Member was almost certainly the local magnate Sir John Markham, who had sat for the town in the previous Parliament and was to do so again in 1545, the identity of Edward is more elusive. Markham customarily took the first place and his acceptance of the other in 1542 seems to imply that his fellow-Member outshone him socially. No local gentleman of importance bearing the name Edward has been traced and since Nottingham rarely returned strangers the Member has been presumed to be the leading townsman for the period, Edward Chamberlain.3

Chamberlain was a merchant who occupied a house in the Narrowmarsh, where in 1524 he was assessed towards the subsidy at 8s. on movables. He may have been the mercer of that name who received permission to sell his goods in the town in 1500-1. By 1527 he had been named coroner and in the succeeding years his municipal career followed the usual progression. In 1542 his experience of Nottingham’s affairs was almost unrivalled and it was presumably this which qualified him for Membership. Although never himself re-elected he took part in all the elections under Edward VI and Mary. His attendance as an alderman at the election held on 21 Dec. 1557 is the last reference found to him. If he made a will it has not been traced.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first certain reference.
  • 2. Nottingham Bor. Recs. iii. 464-6; iv. 416.
  • 3. C219/18B/62v, 63.
  • 4. Nottingham Bor. Recs. iii. 84, 166, 210, 216, 218, 366, 375; iv. 10, 100, 396; C219/19/127, 20/164, 21/207, 22/130, 23/178, 24/215, 25/147.