Family and Education

m. Elizabeth.1

Offices Held

Ct. of wards feodary, London and Mdx. c.1565-c.1601; surveyor of works; receiver to Philip, Earl of Arundel.

Biography

Next to nothing has been ascertained about Necton’s background. He may have been related to the family of that name who lived in Norwich in the reign of Henry VIII, and/or have been the William Necton of that city who in 1553 was speculating with the advowsons of several Norfolk parishes, and/or the man who bought the rectory and advowson of Newendon, in Kent, from Lord North in 1557.

Whatever his origins, during the time he served as Member of Parliament, always for New Shoreham, Necton was a feodary of the court of wards, though whether this employment preceded his receivership to Philip, Earl of Arundel, or was perhaps a consequence of it, is again obscure. Necton undoubtedly put his knowledge of the management of land and revenues to the use of private individuals, including Sir Walter Mildmay, and his return to Parliament for New Shoreham was due to Arundel, who owned the borough, but the fact that he continued to occupy the seat after Arundel’s attainder in 1589 suggests that he had other friends at court, possibly including Lord Burghley. Necton’s name has not been found in the journals of any of his Parliaments, but he was probably the man who was appointed to a committee about Paris Garden on 19 Jan. 1598. After Arundel’s attainder Necton and William Dix corresponded with and visited him in prison. Indeed, their correspondence may have been the means whereby Arundel kept in touch with Catholic sympathizers. Necton presumably died about the turn of the century when a new appointment was made to his court of wards position. Perhaps the James Necton who studied at Gray’s Inn and was deputy surveyor for Middlesex in 1611 was his son.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: M.R.P.

Notes

• 1. Her christian name only has been found, in the 1588 inquisition post mortem (C142/218/20) of John Morley I*.
• 2. J. Hurstfield, Queen’s Wards, 81; Lansd. 30, ff. 217 seq.; 52, ff. 68-9; 62, f. 153; 66, ff. 120 seq.; 86, ff. 151 seq.; CPR, 1553 and App. Ed. VI, pp. 231-2; 1555-7, p. 377; 1563-6, pp. 403, 508; CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 666; 1581-90, p. 382; 1598-1601, p. 168; 1611-18, p. 6; APC, xxvi. 448; Strype, Parker, ii. 432; Cath. Rec. Soc. xxi. 304, 305, 312-13, 314, 320-1, 381; Townshend, Hist. Colls. 121; D’Ewes, 583.