4. Sir Edwin Sandys - Parliamentary Career
Edwin Sandys sat in the House of Commons at various times from 1586 to 1626. He came to prominence during the reign of James I, when relations with Parliament were strained. Except for the brief session of 1614, Parliament was dissolved from 1610 to 1621[1]. However, when in session, he was very much at home in the House of Commons. He worked on numerous committees and became involved in many aspects of the House's affairs to become the voice of common sense during a period when the gentry was establishing a position independent of the Crown. Here is an outline of his career:
1586 - October 13th - An Edwin Sandys in Parliament as M.P. for Andover (although it may have been his cousin, also called Edwin).
1589- Elected M.P. for Plympton, Devon.
1593- Elected M.P. for Plympton, Devon and his first recorded speech in parliament.
1603 - James VI, king of Scotland (1567-1625), becomes James I of England. He made a triumphant journey south and conferred honours and knighthoods on the gentry as he went, granting over 300 knighthoods before even reaching London. Edwin was knighted Sir Edwin on 11 May at Charterhouse[2] on the outskirts of London.
Elizabeth I had been sparing in her distribution of honours; James created more knights before his coronation than Elizabeth did over the whole period of her reign. This was the beginning of the so-called 'inflation of honours' that characterised James I's reign, reckoned by many to cheapen honours but by James to represent the royal bounty.
1603/4 March 12th - King James I's first parliament (James I reigned 1603-25). Edwin was reelected to parliament as M.P. for Stockbridge, Hampshire, and remained their MP until 1611. It was now at the age of 42 that he became a significant figure in Parliament. He opposed the change of the royal title from king of England and Scotland to king of Great Britain.
In 1604 he appears to have become an active member of Sir Robert Cecil's faction. Sir Robert Cecil (1563 - 1612) entered the House of Commons in 1584 and became Queen Elizabeth I's chief minister in 1598. He directed the government during the first nine years of the Stuart reign.
1605 - November 5th - Sir Edwin present in parliament when Guy Fawkes (1570-1606) intended to blow up parliament in reprisal for increasing oppression of Roman Catholics in England. The chief instigator of the Gunpowder Plot was Robert Catesby (1573-1605) who, along with three other conspirators, was killed while resisting arrest. The rest were tried and executed on January 31, 1606.
1607- June - Sir Edwin Sandys urged that all prisoners should be allowed the benefit of counsel, a proposition that Sir Henry Hobart, the attorney-general, declared to be an attempt 'to shake the corner-stone of the law'.
In 1608 Sir Robert Cecil had taken over as treasurer to find the James I's debts approached £600,000, although by 1610 the debt had been reduced to £300,000. James's extravagant lifestyle, Elizabeth's sale of Crown lands and the military campaign in Ireland at the time, had put a strain on the finances. Royal finances needed to be looked at in a new light and this became known as the 'Great Contract' whereby the House of Commons fixed a yearly sum for the monarch's expenses in return for the abolition of certain feudal dues. However James I's extravagant spending continued and the king did not accept the proposal. During this time Sir Edwin Sandys became established as the principal tactician and negotiator in the Lower House.
He was very much at home in the House of Commons, he tirelessly worked on numerous committees and became involved in many aspects of the House's affairs to become the voice of common sense and the independent gentry.
In 1608 he leased a London town house in Aldersgate next-door to the Duke of Northumberland. Consequently he would spend some time away from Northbourne and often stayed in London, even between parliamentary sessions.
1610 - The 'Great Contract' had failed and in December James I dissolved Parliament. Except for the brief session of 1614, Parliament didn't meet again until 1621.
1613 - Espoused constitutional limitations on the crown.
1614 - Parliament met on April 5th and Edwin was returned as MP for Rochester and also it seems Hindon in Wiltshire. This was the 'Addled Parliament', so called because it passed not a single statute, and was dissolved by James I on June 7th and not summoned again for more than six years. Sandys, along with others, was called to account for his speeches and was confined to London for a month; sixteen MPs suffered some sort of punishment. Edwin directed his energies to various new colonial enterprises, particularly the Virginia Company.
1621, 1624 - MP for Sandwich, Kent.
1621 - Edwin's outspoken speeches in Parliament and James I's suspicion about the activities of the Virginia Company led to his imprisonment, along with others, in The Tower on the 16th June. He was released a month later on the 16th July and the Privy Council confined him to within five miles of his Northbourne house; the restriction was lifted on 6th November. This was not unusual, in 1614 the obstreporous MP John Hoskins earned himself a year in the Tower.
1624 - Travelling by road to in the early 17th century could be quite arduous and Edwin's route from Northbourne to Rochester took a day, and a second day to get to Gravesend and on by boat to London. A three-day journey would have not been uncommon. On 1st January 1624 he says had been very ill for five weeks and confined to Northbourne Court, 'rather expected to die than recover'. In a letter on 6th January 1624, written at Northbourne, he explains: 'The last time he performed a journey on horseback was eleven years ago, since which time he has only been able to travel by coach, and by easy stages.' His wife also went with him on his trips to London, although she was in poor health after a miscarriage in 1620.
By 1625 he was 'Father' of The House, but his health was failing and 1625 - 1629 saw the eclipse of Sir Edwin's public career.
1625- Due to loss of support in Kent he became M.P. for Penryn, Cornwall, May 1625 and January 1625/6.
1626- June 12th - Last speech in parliament.
1627/8- March - Failed to gain a seat in Parliament.
1629- October - Sir Edwin Sandys dies at Northbourne.
[1] - The parliamentary sessions were as follows:
| Year | Session |
|---|---|
| 1586 | 29 Oct. to 2 Dec. |
| 15 Feb. to 23 Mar. | |
| 1589 | 4 Feb. to 29 Mar. |
| 1593 | 19 Feb. to 10 Apr. |
| 1597 | 24 Oct. to 20 Dec. |
| 11 Jan. to 9 Feb. | |
| 1601 | 27 Oct. to 19 Dec. |
| 1604 | 19 Mar. to 7 July |
| 1605 | 5 Nov. to 27 May 1606 |
| 1606 | 18 Nov. to 4 July 1607 |
| 9 Feb. to 23 July 1610 | |
| 16 Oct. to 6 Dec. | |
| 1614 | 5 Apr. to 7 June |
| 1621 | 30 Jan. to 4 June |
| 20 Nov. to 18 Dec. | |
| 1624 | 12 Feb to 29 May |
| 1625 | 18 June to 11 July |
| 1 Aug. to 12 Aug. | |
| 1626 | 6 Feb. to 15 June |
[2] - Charterhouse was originally a Carthusian monastery founded in 1371, just outside the walls of London. Most of the monastic buildings were demolished to build a Tudor mansion; Elizabeth I was entertained here in January 1603. In May 1603 James I spent a few days at Charterhouse, then called Howard House, and held an investiture in the Great Chamber, where he created over 130 knights, including Edwin. The Great Chamber survives, but it was extensively restored in 1838 and damaged during bombing in May 1941, then restored after WWII.
Portrait of Sir Edwin Sandys courtesy of M. Sandys.