Family and Education

b. c.1560, 2nd s. of Robert Wingfield† (d.1580) of Upton, Northants. and Elizabeth, da. of Richard Cecil† of Little Burghley, Northants.; bro. of Sir Robert*. educ. Westminster sch.; Trin. Camb. 1578. m. (1) by 1593, Elizabeth (d. 14 Feb. 1602), da. and h. of Paul Gresham of Tickencote, 3s. (1 d.v.p.) 1da.; (2) Margaret (bur. 3 Sept. 1618), da. of Robert Thorold of Hough-on-the-Hill, Lincs., wid. of John Blythe of Denton, Lincs., 2s. (1 d.v.p.) 4da. (2 d.v.p.). bur. 29 July 1626.1

Offices Held

J.p. Lincs. (Kesteven) c.1587-?1605, Rutland by 1604-d.;2 feodary, Lincs. 1594-1601, 1609-14;3 commr. sewers, Gt. Fens 1604-d., Lincs. and Northants. 1607, subsidy, Rutland 1608, oyer and terminer, Midlands circ. 1610-d.4

Servant to Robert Cecil† (later 1st earl of Salisbury) c.1604.5

Biography

Wingfield’s uncle, the 1st Lord Burghley, was responsible both for his education and his appointment as feodary of Lincolnshire. His first wife brought him a comfortable estate in Rutland, which he increased by purchase.6 However, after her death in 1602 he seems to have entered the service of his cousin Robert Cecil, 1st earl of Salisbury. He was apparently far from sharing the parliamentary ambitions of his elder brother Robert, though he played some part in local administration in Rutland. He also lacked social ambition, allowing his son John in 1619 to obtain a knighthood, which honour he had presumably refused for himself.7

Wingfield contributed £5 to the Benevolence raised after the dissolution of the 1614 Parliament.8 At the general election of 1620/1 Wingfield was returned for Stamford, three miles from Tickencote, on the nomination of Salisbury’s brother, the 1st earl of Exeter (Thomas Cecil†).9 A ‘Mr. Wingfield’ was appointed to three legislative committees, on sheriffs’ accounts (15 Mar.), Hollyman (8 May) and the shortening of Michaelmas term (20 Nov.), and also made two speeches, on lawyers’ fees (29 May) and an imposition on malt (30 Nov.), but whether this was Wingfield himself or William Wingfield, Member for Lichfield, is unclear.10 Following the dissolution, Wingfield contributed £10 to the Benevolence raised for the recovery of the Palatinate.11 In the summer of 1622 he and Sir William Bulstrode* discussed composition for purveyance with John Coke*, who had been instructed to enter into a series of local agreements on behalf of the Crown, but negotiations were broken off for want of authority from the Rutland freeholders.12 In 1624 he was one of the arbitrators appointed in the dispute between Boston and the county over responsibility for repairing the town sluice.13

Wingfield was elected to his third and final Parliament in the last year of his life, when Sir George Manners*, who could no longer secure election at Grantham, presumably because of his Catholic connections, probably gave his interest to the 2nd earl of Exeter (William Cecil†) in return for a seat at Stamford in the next election for his stepson (Sir) Edward Baeshe*. Wingfield left no trace on the records of the second Caroline Parliament, and died six weeks after the dissolution, being buried at Tickencote on 29 July 1626. In his will, dated 26 Apr. 1626, he left £20 as a stock to discharge all duties payable to the parish church by the local cottagers. Portions totalling £4,535 were provided for his younger children. His heir survived him by only five years, but his grandson Francis represented Stamford in the Convention as a strong supporter of the Restoration.14

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Authors: Paula Watson / Andrew Thrush

Notes

• 1. Blore, Rutland, ii. 69-70; The Gen. ii. 154; List of Queen’s Scholars of St. Peter’s College, Westminster comp. J. Welch, 55; Al. Cant.
• 2. E163/14/18; C66/1549; SP14/33, f. 51; C66/1620; T. Rymer, Foedera, viii. pt. 2, p. 14.
• 3. WARD 9/275.
• 4. C181/1, f. 74; 181/2, f. 106v; 181/3, ff. 199, 206; SP14/31/1.
• 5. HMC Hatfield, xxiii. 158-9.
• 6. VCH Rutland, ii. 276; Blore, ii. 63-4.
• 7. Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 171.
• 8. E351/1950, unfol.
• 9. The Gen. ii. 154.
• 10. CJ, i. 555a, 615a, 641a; CD 1621, iii. 342; vi. 215.
• 11. SP14/156/15.
• 12. HMC Cowper, i. 74 (misdated 1611); M. Young, Servility and Service: The Life of Sir John Coke, 91-2.
• 13. CSP Dom. 1623-5, p. 182.
• 14. PROB 11/149, f. 392.