Family and Education

b. c.1669, 3rd s. of Sir Thomas Lucy^† of Charlecote, and bro. of Sir Fulk Lucy. educ. Queen’s, Oxf. matric. 17 Sept. 1634, aged 14; travelled abroad 1637-40; G. Inn 1652. m. Elizabeth, da. and h. of John Urrey of Thorley, I.o.W., 4s. (3 d.v.p.) 2da. suc. bro. 1658.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Warws. 1646-7; commr. for assessment, Warws. 1648-52, Hants 1649-52, Warws. and Hants 1657, Jan. 1660-d., I.o.W. 1663-4, Westminster 1677-d., militia, Warws. and Coventry 1648, Warws. Mar. 1660; j.p. Warws. by 1649-d., Hants 1649-July 1660; commr. for scandalous ministers, Warws. 1654, oyer and terminer, Western circuit 1655, Midland circuit July 1660; capt. of militia ft. Warws. Apr. 1660, dep. lt. c. Aug. 1660-d.; recorder, Stratford-on-Avon 1672-d.; commr. for recusants, Hants 1675.2

Commr. for army 1653-9, Feb.-May 1660, excise arrears 1653-4; judge of probate 1654-9; member, high court of justice.3

Biography

Lucy’s ancestors had held Charlecote since the 12th century and first sat for Warwickshire in 1312. His eldest brother was a royalist colonel, but Lucy himself is not known to have taken part in the Civil War. Before succeeding to the property he was a salaried official under the Commonwealth and Protectorate. He acquired an interest in the Isle of Wight by marriage, and was first returned for Yarmouth, one mile from Thorley, in 1659, though he chose to sit for Warwickshire. Again elected for the borough in 1660, he was moderately active in the Convention, being appointed to 17 committees, of which the most important was for the indemnity bill. On 24 May he recorded his acceptance of the King’s pardon ‘with humble and hearty thankfulness’, and promised to ‘continue his loyal and obedient subject’. He made no speeches, but he was marked as a friend on Lord Wharton’s list and probably voted with the Opposition, and his name was struck out of the disbandment commission. He was re-elected with his brother-in-law Edward Smythe in 1661. Again moderately active in the Cavalier Parliament, he was named to 59 committees. His only recorded speech, made in the debate on the five mile bill on 30 Oct. 1665, suggests that he retained some nonconformist sympathies, for he objected to the second part of the oath to be imposed on dissenting ministers and schoolmasters: ‘there would be no danger to the crown from them that should take the first part’. In 1671 he sold Highclere to Robert Sawyer. He was added to the committee to consider the general test bill on 12 Feb. 1674, but otherwise seems to have avoided involvement in political controversy. He was noted in 1675 on the working lists as under the influence of the distinguished ex-Cromwellian, Lord Orrery (Roger Boyle). He visited Shaftesbury in the Tower in 1677, and was marked by him ‘thrice worthy’. He died on 21 Dec., aged 58.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: A. M. Mimardière

Notes

• 1. Vis. Warws. (Harl. Soc. lxii) 94; PC Reg. iii. 10.
• 2. Thurloe, iii. 296; Merc. Pub. 5 Apr. 1660; CSP Dom. 1671-2, p. 153.
• 3. G. E. Aylmer, State’s Servants, 238.
• 4. W. F. Lucy, Lucy Fam. 36-37; VCH Hants, v. 285; CJ, viii. 116, 154; CSP Dom. 1659-60, p. 445; 1675-6, pp. 562-3; 1677-8, p. 267; Bodl. Carte 80, f. 757v.; VCH Hants, iv. 278.