Francis Gawdy
Sir Francis Gawdy QS (died 15 December 1605) was an English judge. He was a Justice of the King's Bench, and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. His country seat and estates were in Norfolk.[1]
Career
Family and name
Francis Gawdy was the third son of Thomas Gawdy, and was baptised Thomas Gawdy, as were his two elder half-brothers,[2] Thomas Gawdy (d.1556) and Thomas Gawdy (d.1588). Francis then had his name changed at his Confirmation, establishing legal precedent that a name given at baptism could be changed at confirmation.[3][4]
Legal education and progress
He may have studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, matriculating in 1545,[2] but this record might rather be attributable to Francis's half-brother, the Thomas Gawdy who died in 1588.[5] He was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1549, becoming a bencher in 1558 and treasurer in 1571. He was Reader at Lyon's Inn in 1561 and at the Inner Temple in 1566 and 1571. He had an unremarkable parliamentary career, elected to represent Morpeth for the 1571 election, but focused mainly on his legal career. He was made Serjeant-at-law in 1577 and Queen's Serjeant in 1582, and as Queen's Serjeant opened the prosecution against Mary, Queen of Scots.
Marriage and estates
In 1563 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Coningsby.[2] Sir Henry Spelman wrote (of Shouldham "Abbey") that
"Sir Francis Gaudy of the Justices of the King's Bench was owner of it, he married [Elizabeth] the Daughter and Heir of Christopher Cunningsby Lord of the Manour of Wallington, and having this Manour and other Lands in right of his Wife, induced her to acknowledge a Fine thereof, which done she became a distracted Woman, and continued so to the day of her Death, and was to him for many Years a perpetual affliction."[7]
In this she believed he had cheated her out of her interest in Eston Hall, her father's home.[2][8] He also obtained Fincham Hall (Fincham, Norfolk)[6] and Wallington Hall (Runcton Holme, Norfolk), which had belonged to Elizabeth's father,[9] Christopher Coningsby,[10] the son of William Coningsby.[11] Coningsby had been the Recorder in King's Lynn.[12]
Later career
Gawdy succeeded his elder brother, the middle Thomas Gawdy, as a justice of the King's Bench in 1588. With John Clench, Francis Wyndham[13] and William Peryam, he was one of the four justices appointed to hear causes in Chancery in the six months which intervened between the death of his kinsman the Lord Chancellor, Sir Christopher Hatton (20 November 1591), and the appointment of his successor, Sir John Puckering.[14][15] He took part in many of the major trials of this period, including that of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1603, and was knighted the same year. Gawdy apparently expected to succeed Sir William Peryam as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, but James I informed him he was being saved for a more senior position when it became available, and appointed Sir Thomas Fleming to that position instead.
Raising his granddaughter
The sole issue of his marriage was his daughter Elizabeth.[9] In 1589, at Holdenby, she married Sir William Newport (a nephew and heir of Sir Christopher Hatton's), who changed his name to William Hatton (1560-1597): it was an occasion upon which Sir Christopher Hatton demonstrated his celebrated predilection for dancing.[16] Elizabeth died during her father's lifetime leaving no male issue, but an only daughter, Frances (1590-1623), who was brought up by Gawdy himself. Sir William's second wife was Elizabeth Cecil, who upon Sir William's death remarried to that eminent jurist Sir Edward Coke. In February 1605, without her grandfather's approval, Frances was married to Robert Rich, who became Earl of Warwick in 1619,[11] and after this marriage Gawdy broke off relations between himself and his granddaughter.
In August 1605 Gawdy was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a position he did not live to enjoy, dying of apoplexy on 15 December at Serjeant's Inn.[2]
Death and burial
After his death his body was brought from London to Wallington; it is said that they could find no place to bury his body as he was refused space locally.[12] (Gawdy had depopulated the town around his hall and converted the church to a dog kennel or hay store.) As the smell of the body became offensive he was eventually buried without ceremony at North Runcton church and only paving stones were used to cover the grave. The parish register at North Runcton records that he was buried in the chancel by the local parson on 27 February (although the differing calendars would account for much of this apparent delay).[6]
It was noted in 1829 that Wallington church was in ruins although the Hall was well repaired.[9] Wallington Hall has been described as a "Tudor Rose in Bloom". The house still stands today in nearly 600 acres (2.4 km2) near King's Lynn and was valued at five million pounds in 2006.[12]
References
- ^ 'Francis Gawdy', in E. Foss, The Judges of England, VI: 1603-1660 (Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, London, 1857), pp. 158-60 (Internet Archive).
- ^ a b c d e D. Ibbetson, 'Gawdy, Sir Francis (d. 1605)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2004), subscription required for online access.
- ^ Coke on Littleton (Institutes of the Lawes of England, the first part), chapter 3.a., Sir Edward Coke
- ^ Walden v Holman (1704) 6 Mod 115, Ld Raym. 1015, 1 Salk. 6
- ^ J. and J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part I vol 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1922), p. 201 (Internet Archive).
- ^ a b c W. Blyth, Runcton registers cited in Historical Notices and Records of the Village and Parish of Fincham (1863), p. 16 (Google). Retrieved 24 September 2008
- ^ H. Spelman, The History and Fate of Sacrilege Discover'd by Examples of Scripture, of Heathens, and of Christians; from the Beginning of the World Continually to This Day (John Hartley, London 1698), Chapter VIII, at p. 251 (Umich/eebo).
- ^ 'Wallington: Eston-Hall', in F. Blomefield, ed. C. Parkin, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, IV (W. Whittingham, Lynn 1775), pp. 146-47 (Google).
- ^ a b c J. Chambers (ed.), A General History of the County of Norfolk, Intended to Convey All the Information of a Norfolk Tour, with the More Extended Details of Antiquarian, Statistical, Pictorial, Architectural, and Miscellaneous Information; Including Biographical Notices, Original and Selected (1829), p. 72 (Google). Retrieved 24 September 2008
- ^ Dashwood, G.H. (ed.). The Visitation of Norfolk in the year 1563, taken by William Harvey, Clarenceux King of Arms: Volume 1 (PDF). Norwich. p. 50.
- ^ a b
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Gawdy, Francis". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
- ^ a b c 'A Tudor Rose in Bloom', The Times, 16 June 2006 (The Times online). Retrieved September 2008
- ^ E.I. Carlyle, 'Wyndham or Windham, Francis (died 1592), judge', Dictionary of National Biography (1885-1900), Vol. 63, pp. 243-44 (Wikisource).
- ^ H.W. Woolrych, A Series of the Lords Chancellors, Keepers of the Great Seal, Masters of the Rolls (etc.) (J. and W.T. Clarke, London 1826), p. 23 (Google), citing Oldmixon's History, p. 600.
- ^ E. Foss, The Judges of England, V: 1485-1603 (Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, London, 1857), pp. 397-98 (Google).
- ^ N.H. Nicolas, Memoirs of the Life and Times of Sir Christopher Hatton (Richard Bentley, London 1847), pp. 478–9, and p. 502 (Hathi Trust).
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