John LUMLEY

(6th B. Lumley)

Born: ABT 1534

Died: 11 Apr 1609

Buried: Cheam, Surrey, England

Father: George LUMLEY (Sir)

Mother: Joan KNIGHTLEY

Married 1: Joan FITZALAN (B. Lumley)

1. Charles LUMLEY

3. Mary LUMLEY

Married 2: Elizabeth DARCY (B. Lumley)

Inherited his grandfather's estates in 1544 while still an infant. He was the only son of George Lumley (who had been executed in the lifetime of his father for his role in the Pilgrimage of Grace), by Joan, second daughter and coheir of Sir Richard Knightley of Upton, Northamptonshire and niece of of Sir Edmund Knightley.

Lumley was a child at the death of his grandfather, to whose honours he did not succeed because of his own father's attainder. He petitioned to Edward VI and in 1547 he obtained an Act of Parliament restoring him in blood, and enacting "that he, the said John Lumley and the heirs male of his body, should have hold, enjoy and bear the name, dignity, state and pre-eminence of a Baron of the Realm" whereby he became Baron Lumley (a new Barony being created of that name, in tail male ) and he was summoned to Parliament accordingly from 5 Oct 1553 to 5 Nov 1605.

Lumley's seat was Lumley Castle in County Durham. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge.

Lumley married before 4 Mar 1552, Jane, the elder of the two daughters and coheirs of Henry Fitzalan Earl of Arundel, by his first wife Catherine, daughter of Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset. Jane Lumley was one of the six principal ladies who sat in the third chariot of state at the coronation of Mary I in 1553. She was buried 9 Mar 1576/7, at Cheam, Surrey (as were three of her children, all of whom died in infancy), near her father’s estate, Nonsuch Palace.

He was made Knight of the Order of the Bath on 29 Nov 1553, and attended at the subsequent coronation of Mary I. He also served as a Commissioner of Claims at the coronations of Elizabeth I and James I.

When Jane, Lady Lumley died in 1578, John Lumley married secondly, Elizabeth Darcy, daughter of Thomas Darcy, 2nd Baron Darcy of Chiche, by Frances, daughter of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich. Elizabeth survived her husband by 10 years and was buried 4 Feb 1616/7 at Cheam.

Lumley inherited the Palace of Nonsuch from his father-in-law in 1580. During his tenure, Lumley developed a major garden at Nonsuch. In 1592 Lumley remitted to Queen Elizabeth possession of Nonsuch, and so after 36 years it again became a royal palace. When the palace passed to Elizabeth, an inventory of Lumley's goods was prepared. Lumley stayed on at Nonsuch as Keeper of the Palace. After his death in 1609 his library was purchased by James I and became a significant addition to the Old Royal Library – which eventually became the basis of the British Library.

He was suspected of treasonable dealings with Mary, Queen of Scots, and was imprisoned in 1570 along with Arundel, his father-in-law, and his brother-in-law, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk. In Oct 1586 he was one of the judges at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, and also in 1602 of the trial of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex.

In 1593 he was granted a charter of Hartlepool.

John Lumley died 11 Apr 1609, aged 76, without any surviving children. At his death the Barony of Lumley (created 1547) became extinct. He was buried at Cheam with his first wife; a tomb and monument there at St. Dunstan’s Church memorialize Lumley and his two wives. The composer John Bull wrote one of his greatest works to Lumley's memory, contained in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, (Pavan and Galliard Lord Lumley). In his will dated 28 Jan 1606 and probated in 1609, Lumley settled the bulk of his estate on his cousin and heir male, Sir Richard Lumley, a grandson of Anthony Lumley, who was a brother to his grandfather. Richard was later created first Viscount Lumley of Waterford in the Peerage of Ireland.

to Bios Page	to Family Page
to Peerage Page	to Home Page