Family and Education

b. 1569, 3rd s. of Robert Suckling by Elizabeth, da. of William Barwick. educ. G. Inn 1590. m. (1) Martha (d.1613), da. of Thomas Cranfield, sis. of Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, 1s. 4da.; (2) Jane Reve or Reeve, wid. of Charles Hawkins, ?s.p. Kntd. Jan. 1616.

Offices Held

Sec. to Lord Buckhurst by 1601; receiver of fines and alienations 1604; master of requests 1620; comptroller of the Household 1622; sec. of state 1622; PC 1625.

Biography

Almost the whole of Suckling’s political career lies outside the Elizabethan period. His father, a wealthy Norwich merchant who died in 1589, left him most of his extensive property in Norwich and neighbouring districts, as his eldest son Edmund was a clergyman (afterwards dean of Norwich) and the next was a Catholic. John sold much of this, and did not live for any length of time in Norfolk. His election for Dunwich in 1601 is recorded in the town minute book, where he is described as ‘secretary to the right honourable the lord high treasurer of England’. He bought land and advowsons in various parts of the country, including (about 1600) Roos Hall, near Beccles, Suffolk, and was reported as ‘paying well for the post’ of comptroller of the Household. He died on 27 Mar. 1627. His son John was the poet.2

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes

• 1. In 1624 he was also returned for Lichfield and Kingston-upon-Hull, and in 1626 for Sandwich.
• 2. DNB (Suckling, Sir John); HMC Var. vii. 87; CSP Dom. 1603-10, pp. 162, 175, 377; 1619-23, pp. 161, 434; Suckling, Hist. Suff. i. 29; Dunwich minute bk. 1595-1619. f. 84.