Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche

Lord Zouche.

Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, 12th Baron St Maur (6 June 1556 – 18 August 1625) was an English diplomat.

Early life

Zouche was the son of George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche and his wife Margaret, née Welby. He was a royal ward from 1570, under the care of William Cecil. In a letter to Cecil written in 1596, Zouche confessed that he spent his patrimony as a youth, having indulged in "little searching for knowledge".

Marriage

In or around 1578 Zouche married his cousin Eleanor Zouche, daughter of Sir John Zouche and Eleanor, née Whalley. They had two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, but, shortly after Mary's birth in 1582, Zouche abandoned his wife and they lived apart until her death in 1611. Eleanor's father wrote to Lord Burghley complaining of her treatment:

'My Lord Souche (sic) put away this his lady twenty-nine years ago and refusing her all allowance was by law sentenced there-unto, which he not performing was excomunicate; from which he went beyond sea and returning was ordered to pay her 50s the week, from which poor allowance with a small addition from her friends hath this Baron's wife...ever since lived. She was oft dangerously sick that physic was chargeable. He never disbursed a penny, and now dead she might have rotted in her chamber ere he would have buried her'.

Within a year of his first wife's death, Zouche married again, to Sarah, daughter of Sir James Harington. Sarah Harrington had been twice widowed, having been the former wife of Francis Hastings, styled Lord Hastings, and of Sir George Kingsmill. There were no children of this marriage.

Career

Zouche matriculated from Trinity College, Cambridge in Easter 1570, M.A. 1571; and was admitted to Gray's Inn, 1575, though he was not admitted to the bar.

Zouche lived and travelled abroad from 1583 to 1587, possibly in the service of Francis Walsingham, William Cecil's spymaster. On his return in 1586, he was appointed a Commissioner for the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringhay. Here he demontrated courage and independence, in that he was the only Commissioner to offer any dissent against the judgement and subsequent sentence of death.

In later years he served as Ambassador to Scotland, Lord President of the Council of Wales and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He was a Privy Counsellor from 1603.

Zouche showed a strong interest in the New World, and was a Commissioner of the Virginia Company from 1608. He was also interested in horticulture; his house in Hackney included a physic garden and he employed Matthias L’Obel as his gardener.

The house in Hackney lay on the north side of Homerton High Street, probably on the site of the present Dean Close. The herbalist, John Gerard, visited Hackney and was given foreign seeds from Zouche’s garden. Zouche ceased to be a Hackney resident before his death in 1625 and it is likely his house was sold in 1620, to Sir Julius Caesar, Master of the Rolls.

In 1605 Zouche purchased the manor of Bramshill in Surrey and almost immediately began to build the mansion that currently stands on the site. James I stayed at Bramshill in 1620 and the next year George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, went down to Bramshill to consecrate a chapel for Lord Zouche. Bramshill is currently used as the UK Police Staff College.

Death

Zouche died in 1625, after sufferring illness for some time. His resting place is unknown. He was not buried in the parish church at Hackney, despite the verses penned by Ben Jonson.

Wherever I die, oh, here may I lie Along by my good Lord Zouche, That when I am dry, to the tap I may hie, And so back again to my couch.

On Zouche's death, the Barony of Zouche fell into abeyance between his daughter Mary and the heirs of his daughter Elizabeth, the abeyance being terminated in 1815 in favor of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, 12th Baron Zouche.

Zouche in literature

Zouche is a character in the fiction based on fact novel 'A Spurious Brood', which is based on the true story of Katherine More, whose four children were taken from her to be transported to America on board the Pilgrim Fathers’ ship The Mayflower. Zouche employed Katherine's husband, Samuel More, as a clerk and may have had an influence in the choice of America as a destination for the banished children.

Offices

• Ambassador to Scotland, January–April 1594
• Ambassador to Denmark, June–July 1598
• Deputy Governor of Guernsey 1600-01
• Lord President of the Council of Wales, 14 June 1602–1607
• Privy Counsellor 11 May 1603
• Commissioner of Claims for the Coronation of James I, 7 July 1603
• Commissioner for compounding for knighthoods, 17 July 1603
• Commissioner to banish Jesuits, 5 September 1604
• Commissioner to inquire into injuries done by pirates, 16 July 1609
• Councillor for the Virginia Company, 23 May 1609
• Councillor for New England, 3 Nov 1602
• Commissioner to treat with France 4 July 1610
• Commissioner for the Treasury 16 June 1612–1614
• Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports and Constable of Dover Castle for life, 13 July 1615,
• Commissioner for the rendition of Flushing and Brill, 21 May 1616
• Privy Councillor (Scotland) 29 June 1617
• Commissioner to inquire into abuses in the Treasury, 10 July 1618
• Commissioner of Ecclesiastical Causes, 29 April 1620 and 21 January 1624/5
• Commissioner for defective titles of lands, 4 July 1622 and 26 July 1623.

External links

• Works by or about Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Pembroke	Lord President of Wales Lord Lieutenant of Wales (less Glamorgan and Monmouthshire), Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire 1602–1607	Succeeded by The Lord Eure
Honorary titles
Preceded by Robert Carr	Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1615–1625	Succeeded by The Duke of Buckingham
Peerage of England
Preceded by George la Zouche	Baron Zouche 1569–1625	Succeeded by Cecil Bisshopp