John SHURLEY of The Friars
(MP)
Born: ABT 1546
Died: 2 Oct 1616
Buried: 26 Oct 1616, Isfield, Sussex, England
Father: Edward SHURLEY of
Isfield
Mother: Joan FENNER
Married 1: Elizabeth KYME (bur. 30 May 1580)
Children:
1. Dau. SHURLEY
Married 2: Frances CAPELL
14 Sep 1585
Children:
2. Catherine SHURLEY
3. John SHURLEY (m. Dau. Honeywood)
4. Dau. SHURLEY
The details in this biography come from the
History of Parliament, a
biographical dictionary of Members of the House of Commons.
Second son of Edward Shurley of Isfield (d. 1558), Suss. cofferer to
Henry VIII, and Joan, dau. of
John Fenner of Crawley. Educ. Queens’, Camb. 1562; Clifford’s Inn; M. Temple
1565, called by 1575. Married first Elizabeth, dau. and coh. of
Richard Kyme of Lewes, 1da. d.v.p.; and second, 14 Sep 1585, Frances,
dau. of Henry Capell of Little Hadham and
Rayne, and
Catherine Manners, 1s. 2da.
Reader, New Inn 1578-9, M. Temple 1588, 1597. bencher 1587-1603, treas.
1601-2 fee’d counsel, Hastings, Suss. 1605, Rye, Suss. by 1607 sjt.-at-law
1603-d.
J.p. Suss. by 1585-d.; commr. sewers, rape of Pevensey, Suss. 1602-at
least 1605, Kent 1603, Suss. 1604, 1610, Kent and Suss. 1604, subsidy, Suss.
1608, aid 1609.
This ancient family appears to have taken its name from Shurley, a manor
in the parish of Lingen, near Presteign, in the county of Hereford, but was of
Isfield in Sussex, early in the reign of
Henry VIII. Their first recorded ancestor in that county, John
Shurley, esq. cofferer to King Henry VIII,
by will, dated 1 Mar 1526, proved 23 Nov 1529, directs "to be buried in the
church of Isfelde", appoints to John Shurley, his heir apparent, to
be his executor; bequeaths to him "inter alia three great booles, with a
cover, all gilt, pounced, which he bought of the executours of my lady the
King's graunt dame, and two salts, with a cover, which were given unto my wife
by hir brother, John Gorying, at her marriage". Names Parnell Grauntford
his wife, deceased; William, his second son; Edward Shurley, his
third son, under the age of 24, with this salvo, "if he be a pries:";
Joane and Bridget, his daughters, unmarried; he appoints Roger
More, Sergaunt of the King's bakehouse, co-executor with John his
son; Sir Richard Broke, Knight, Chief Baron of Exchequer, supervisor; and
Thomas Weldon, the third clerk of the King's kitchen, a legatee. He
mentions lands at Prestend (Presteign), Co. Hereford, in the marches of Wales.
which were William Walker's, his grandfather, and Roger Shurley, "myn
own father's"; and directs prayers for the soul of his grandfather and
Margery his wife, and for that of his own mother. Ralph Sherley of Wiston, in his will dated 11 Feb 1509, calls this
John Shurley, "cousin".
| Shurley was the younger son of the gentry family based at Isfield, five
miles from Lewes, that was headed in this period by his nephew Sir John Shurley.
He followed a legal career in London, but also kept a house in Lewes. Returned
three times for the borough under Elizabeth, he was occasionally consulted by
the town authorities on legal matters. He
was promoted to the rank of serjeant-at-law in 1603 and was re-elected for Lewes
the following year. Shurley was appointed to 56 committees, made five recorded speeches and
delivered three reports in the 1604-10 Parliament. On 22 Mar 1604 he moved for
privilege to be granted to Sir Thomas Shirley, whose daughter had married
Sir
John Shurley and who had been returned for Steyning only to be arrested for debt
shortly before Parliament met. Five days later Shurley was named to a committee
to consider the case. As
a serjeant-at-law, Shurley was entitled to attend the committee for the
continuance or repeal of expiring statutes that was named on 24 Mar. The
committee drafted a bill, which received its second reading on 5 Jun, when it
was committed to the members of the drafting committee with additions.
|
John Shurley of Isfield
(b. 1565 - d. 1632) |
During
the debate Shurley responded to Nathaniel
Bacon’s motion for a proviso
concerning the export of corn, arguing that the new committee should also be
empowered to draft a separate measure to repeal the existing statute, but his
suggestion was not taken up. On 29 Jun the members of the committee were instructed to confer with the Lords
about the continuing statutes bill. The conference also considered the bill
against Jesuits and seminary priests, and on 3 Jul Shurley reported the
amendments to this measure agreed at the meeting, which were debated and
confirmed the following day.
On 11 Jun Shurley successfully reported the bill to explain the
bankruptcy laws, renamed the bill ‘for the better relief of creditors’, although
he had not been named to the committee. He
was among those ordered to attend the king (8 Mar) and to confer with the
judges (5 Apr) over the Buckinghamshire election dispute.
In the second session Shurley was one of seven Members ordered on 19 Feb
1606 to prepare to confer with the Lords on purveyance, and he ‘set forth the
occasion’ at a conference a fortnight later. He
received leave of absence on 17 Mar ‘to ride the circuit’, although he may
already have left, having not been mentioned in the Journal since 5 Mar, when
he was appointed to the committee to draft fresh recusancy legislation. He
had returned to the Commons by 1 Apr, when he was appointed to consider the
bill to relieve counties of the cost of conveying malefactors to gaol, which he
successfully reported eight days later.
Shurley was named to only nine committees in the third session, including
the bill for the sale of the Lincolnshire estates of Herbert Pelham, the
kinsman of his neighbour, Thomas Pelham of Laughton. On 4 Dec 1606 he spoke in
the debate concerning the impact of the Union with Scotland on escuage, the
feudal tenure of military service, and a week later he was appointed to prepare
for a conference with the Lords about the Union. On the same day a motion by
Shurley prompted Richard Digges to report from the sub-committee concerning the
potential impact of the Union on the English shipping industry. He does not
appear to have been entirely happy with what Digges said, and queried his
exposition of the navigation laws. On 5 Jun Shurley spoke against Nicholas Fuller’s proposed clause allowing
witnesses to defendants in Border trials, arguing ‘for defence of the law as it
stands’. He
was appointed to 11 committees in the fourth session, including two which may
have been of interest to him for professional reasons, for bills relating to
forcible entries (24 Feb 1610) and warrants of attorney (29 Mar), but he made
no recorded speeches. He left no trace in the meagre records of the fifth
session.
Shurley was probably in his late sixties by 1614 and his age may have
deterred him from seeking re-election. He died at Lewes on 2 Oct 1616, leaving
property there and at nearby Ringmer as well as the manor of Broadwater in West
Sussex. He was buried three days later in All Saints’ church ‘in the alley of
the little side chapel’. As his eldest son was still a minor, his widow
purchased his wardship for £100. No will or administration has been found. His
descendants became extinct in the male line in 1637 without further
parliamentary service.
Sources:
Davidson, Alan:
https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/shurley-john-1546-1616
Shirleys of Isfield:
https://www.shirleyassociation.com/NewShirleySite/NonMembers/England/isfield.html
