Sir Arthur THROCKMORTON

Born: 1557, Mile End & Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, England

Died: 1626

Buried: 1 Aug 1616, Paulerspury, Northamptonshire

Father: Nicholas THROCKMORTON (Sir)

Mother: Anne CAREW

Married: Anne LUCAS ABT 1587

The details in this biography come from the History of Parliament, a biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.

Born ABT 1557, second son of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton by Anne, da. of Sir Nicholas Carew of Beddington, Surr.; bro. of Nicholas Throckmorton (afterwards Carew). Matriculated from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1571, aged 14; travalled abroad 1580-2. m. c.1586, Anne, dau. of Sir Thomas Lucas of Colchester, Essex, by whom he had four daughters. He was M.P. for Colchester in 1588/9. Freeman, Colchester 1589; j.p. Mdx. from c.1591; j.p. and commr. musters, Northants. 1597-1606, in 1598 he joined the expedition to cadiz, where he was knighted. Capt. of horse, W. division 1601, Sheriff of Northamptonshire Nov 1604 - Feb 1606, dep. lt. 1613.

Throckmorton, whose elder brother William, born in 1546 was a lunatic; inherited from his parents a high social position, wealth, and estates in Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, and the manor of Paulerspury, Northamptonshire. After leaving Oxford, where he was a ‘careless and negligent student’, serving in the Netherlands, and travelling on the Continent, he went to court, and married one of Elizabeth's ladies-in-waiting. A ‘hot-headed youth’, he suffered the Queen's displeasure on more than one occasion. In Nov 1588 he was returned to Parliament for Colchester, where his father-in-law, sometime recorder, was a prominent and unpopular figure. Throckmorton had the support of Walsingham, who recommended him to the bailiffs as ‘a gentleman of very good credit and ability... to whom I bear especial good will’. After his election Throckmorton wrote to the bailiffs:

'Your choice of me to be your burgess especially as you write being so generally consented cannot but deserve an especial thankful remembrance from me to you all according to my poor ability and in particular as far as each shall think me worthy. As I [understand] the reasons of your choice are so mingled betwixt such doubtful causes as somewhat I must say you have made them confused, seeking for your own satisfaction to ride as it were by so many anchors as you leave me uncertain where most I am beholden, but like to a man in the dark laying hold upon the first object, so will I now for this pleasure grope no further than to bethink myself how best to thank yourselves, referring my gratitude to others for a greater good turn. Thus resting to you all a loving and a beholding burgess, I pray you to defer mine [freeman] oath until my return [when] I hope in God [I] shall be ... at leisure enough to do all right you shall think reasonable.

From my house at Mile End this 10th of Nov 1588'

The only mention found of Throckmorton in the journals of the 1589 Parliament is his appointment to the subsidy committee 11 Feb.

In 1596, Throckmorton, as a gentleman volunteer, no doubt, went on the Cadiz expedition through the influence of his brother-in-law, Sir Walter Raleigh, receiving his knighthood during the voyage. Instead of returning to the court he settled at Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, where, in Feb of that year, he had been granted another 16 acres of land ‘for services’. Still, he knew early of the Raleigh marriage and the birth of Bess Raleigh's child, to whom he stood godfather. He was anti-Catholic, in 1599 suggesting it was necessary to restrain and disarm not only recusants, but also those whose wives refused to go to church. In 1605 he took part in searching the houses of Catholic suspects, including Robert Catesby.

Throckmorton was seriously ill in 1606, and again ‘in physic’ in 1613. He died at Paulerspury 21 Jul 1626, and was buried there. The will he made 26 Jan 1625 has a long religious preamble. His wife was executrix and residuary legatee. His respect for his father is implicit in bequests to two of his overseers: to his son-in-law, Sir Thomas Wotton, he gave a great gilt cup engraved with the Carew and Throckmorton arms, presented to his father by Mary, Queen of Scots in France; and to Sir Henry Wotton he bequeathed his father's papers concerning his missions in France and Scotland, asking him to write a book to counter the slanders brought against Sir Nicholas. ‘Mr. Serjeant Harvey’ (Francis Harvey), another friend, was joined with these two as an overseer. He left his library of Italian and French books, which he had purchased abroad, to Magdalen College. To the poor of Tiffield, Northamptonshire, he gave £20, in addition to 6d., a piece of beef and a loaf of bread to each of 71 of his poorest tenants in Northamptonshire. In accordance with his wishes a memorial was erected to him, extolling his piety, character and wealth.

Died w/o male issue, but Mrs. Richardson says the offspring of one of the daughters "influenced the Royal descent".

Sources:

A. L. Rowse: 'Ralegh and the Throckmortons'

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