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In the fifteenth century the west-country Midwinters had ranked among the richest woolmen of the Cotswolds, and though by the Elizabethan period they had sunk into obscurity, their descendants were still living at Marlborough and Malmesbury in Wiltshire, as well as in Devon and Somerset. The christian name Edmund does not seem to have been common in the family, and it has not proved possible to identify this Member. The general pattern of Westbury representation in the second half of Elizabeth’s reign would suggest that he was either a Wiltshire gentleman or a Londoner connected with one of the local families. In May 1560 an Edmund (son of John) Midwinter of the city of London—possibly the Westbury MP—bought land in Somerset near the Wiltshire border.

G. D. Ramsay, Wilts. Woollen Industry, 7; Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 231-2; Som. Enrolled Deeds (Som. Rec. Soc. li), 55.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N. M. Fuidge

Notes