Family and Education

b. c.1587, 2nd s. of Sir Thomas Fleming I* (d. 1613) of North Stoneham, Hants, and Mary, da. of Richard James of Newport; bro. of Sir Thomas Fleming II*.2 educ. Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 8 June 1604, aged 17; L. Inn 1605, called 1612; travelled abroad 1615.3 m. Frances, s.p.4 d. 28 Oct. 1638.5

Offices Held

Freeman, Newport, I.o.W. 1611,6 Yarmouth, I.o.W. 1623,7 Portsmouth, Hants 1628;8 dep. steward of Crown lands, I.o.W. by 1623-?d.;9 commr. charitable uses, I.o.W. 1635,10 sewers, Hants 1638;11 j.p. Hants 15 Feb. 1638-d.12

Biography

Fleming was living on the Isle of Wight in 1609, probably as lessee of his father’s house in Newport.13 He was returned for the Hampshire borough of Lymington in 1614, but left no trace on the records of the Addled Parliament. In 1618 Newport’s corporation empowered him to establish a fresh water supply and charge for it, but he failed to do so within the stipulated three years, and the grant lapsed.14 He does not appear to have stood at the general election for the third Stuart Parliament. However, following the death of Newport’s Member Sir Richard Worsley immediately after the end of the first sitting, the corporation thought ‘no man so fit’ as Fleming to replace him, and he was returned at a by-election once the second sitting had begun.15 He probably did not have time to take up his seat before the session ended abruptly in December 1621, but he was re-elected in 1624 and to every subsequent Parliament of the period. He left no trace on any of their records.

In June 1625 Fleming informed the 1st Viscount Conway (Sir Edward Conway I*), the newly appointed captain of the Isle of Wight, that its castles were in poor repair.16 Upon receiving the writs for Privy Seal loans he wrote again, complaining on 12 Jan. 1626 that the ‘poor town’ of Newport was expected to produce more for the Loan than Southampton or Salisbury.17 In reply Conway accompanied a vague promise of an impartial examination with the nomination to one of Newport’s seats of Sir John Suckling*.18 This nomination was awkward since the corporation had already elected both Sir Christopher Yelverton* and Fleming himself. Writing back to Conway, Fleming alleged that the borough’s unintended snub had been perpetrated in his absence, and offered to resign his seat; however, this proved unnecessary as Suckling was successful elsewhere.19 Perhaps maliciously, he was soon afterwards presented as a loan defaulter, though no ill consequences followed and he received a discharge in March.20

On 17 Feb. 1628 Sir John Oglander* reported to Conway that Fleming was in demand as a candidate at Yarmouth, but he was again returned for Newport.21 On 19 May the House was informed that he had not received communion, but Fleming affirmed that he had done so at the opening of Parliament, and had given his certificate to (Sir) Robert Pye*, which was accepted.22 He died in Portsmouth on 26 Oct. 1638. Under his nuncupative will he left everything to his wife, apart from £40 which he left to a cousin and £10 which he bestowed upon a servant.23

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Authors: Virginia C.D. Moseley / Rosemary Sgroi

Notes

• 1. I.o.W. RO, 16a/30, f. 165.
• 2. Vis. Hants (Harl. Soc. lxiv), 156-7.
• 3. Al. Ox.; LI Admiss; SO3/6, unfol. (June 1615).
• 4. PROB 11/179, f. 135.
• 5. Ibid.
• 6. I.o.W. RO, 16a/30, f. 21v.
• 7. Add. 5669, f. 59v.
• 8. Portsmouth Recs. ed. R. East, 350.
• 9. STAC 8/30/7.
• 10. C93/15/5.
• 11. C181/5, f. 115v.
• 12. C231/5, p. 279.
• 13. Oglander Mems. ed. W.H. Long, 24.
• 14. VCH Hants, v. 254.
• 15. I.o.W. RO, 16a/30, f. 164v.
• 16. CSP Dom. Addenda, 1625-49, p. 29.
• 17. SP16/523/13.
• 18. SP16/523/14.
• 19. SP16/523/27.
• 20. SP16/22/91; E401/2586, p. 548.
• 21. Procs. 1628, vi. 173.
• 22. CJ, i. 900a.
• 23. PROB 11/179, f. 135.