Family and Education

m. Anne, da. of Thomas Fleetwood of Colwich, Staffs., at least 2s.1

Offices Held

Servant to Sir John Dackombe* to 1618;2 v.-chan., palatinate of Lancaster 1616-17;3 freeman, Preston, Lancs. by 1622.4

Biography

Perhaps related to the Kippaxes of Marsden, near Colne on Lancashire’s north-eastern border, this Member seems to have resided mainly in London,5 and described himself as having been a servant to Sir John Dackombe (d.1618), chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, for ‘a long time’ prior to Dackombe’s decease. This association probably explains how Kippax came to be appointed vice-chancellor of the palatinate of Lancaster in 1616.6 Although he apparently lacked a formal legal training, Kippax, as vice-chancellor, was required to sit as a judge in the palatinate’s Chancery court. In 1618 he was charged with corruption concerning the fines pro licencia concordandi or ‘post fines’.7 He protested his innocence, but the scandal coincided with the inauguration of a new chancellor of the duchy, Sir Humphrey May*, and he was replaced by the latter’s brother Thomas* a few months later.

Kippax’s former Duchy connections played no discernable role in his election to Parliament in 1621. Instead, he seems to have owed his return to his brother-in-law Sir Richard Fleetwood, 1st bt., of Colwich Penwortham, who controlled the borough of Newton. Kippax made two recorded speeches in the Commons. On the first occasion, in committee over the Easter recess (12 Apr.), he drew upon his judicial experience when he averred during a debate on matters of probate that ‘the executor or administrator ever useth to keep the inventory itself, which is made and subscribed by the appraisers; and delivereth into the court a copy of the same, upon his oath’.8 His only other recorded intervention followed the second reading of the Irish cattle bill on 9 May. Perhaps with an eye to the interests of his patron Fleetwood, who held extensive lands in Munster and Cork, he urged that the measure should ‘provide against importation out of the Isle of Man’.9 Kippax was subsequently appointed to bill committees to consider private measures concerning Francis Verselini (17 May), the lands of Robert Frith (26 May), and St. Mary’s, Lichfield (29 May). As a Lancashire burgess he may have attended the committee for the Duchy’s bill to confirm decrees relating to its estates (1 December).10

In January 1623 Kippax entered a Chancery suit against William Dackombe, the son and heir of his former master, over various debts he had incurred on the latter’s behalf.11 Richard Kippax ‘of London, gent.’ was still alive in June 1624, when he was involved in a lawsuit concerning property he had leased from Fleetwood.12 His date of death is unknown. He had at least two sons, but neither they nor any of his other descendants sat in Parliament.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Author: Rosemary Sgroi

Notes

• 1. Vis. Staffs. ed. H.S. Grazebrook, 129-30.
• 2. C2/Jas.I/K1/38.
• 3. Duchy of Lancaster Office-Holders ed. R. Somerville, 94.
• 4. Preston Guild Rolls ed. W.A. Abram (Lancs. and Cheshire Rec. Soc. ix), 83.
• 5. DL1/215; Lancs. RO, WCW, Richard Kippax, of Marsden, 1623.
• 6. C2/Jas.I/K1/38.
• 7. DL1/275.
• 8. Nicholas, Procs. 1621, i. 246.
• 9. CJ, i. 615b; T.E. Bewley, ‘The Fleetwoods of Co. Cork’, Jnl. Royal Soc. of Antiquaries of Ire. xxxviii. 103-25.
• 10. CJ, i. 623b, 627b, 631a, 654a; CD 1621, ii. 377-8; iv. 249.
• 11. C2/Jas.I/K1/38.
• 12. DL1/299.