Sir Allen Apsley (1567 – 24 May 1630) was an English

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

courtier A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the officia ...

and landowner,

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

of Feltwell, and Naval administrator. He was Surveyor of Marine Victuals of the Royal Navy from 1612 to 1630.

Biography

Born in London, Apsley was the son of the rich merchant Sir John Apsley in Pulborough, West Sussex, and the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Shelly of Worminghurst, West Sussex. Sir Allen Apsley was first knighted in Ireland, on 5 June 1605. On 31 January 1612 he was appointed joint Surveyor of Marine Victuals of the Royal Navy (with Sir Marmaduke Darrell) – a post usually held for life. On 3 March 1617 Apsley was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London by James I. Apsley's second wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Peter Carew, Knt.,''The Complete Peerage'' by G.E.Cockayne, edited by the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, and H. Arthur Doubleday, vol.iv, London, 1916, p. 32. was related by marriage to the Villiers family, and Apsley was considered to have won the appointment through the influence of the King's favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. In 1620, he was one of the founders of the New England Company.New England Charter
at yale.edu He died on 24 May 1630.

Family

On 23 October 1615, at the City of London church of

St Ann Blackfriars St Ann Blackfriars was a church in the City of London, in what is now Ireland Yard in the ward of Farringdon Within. The church began as a medieval parish chapel, dedicated to St Ann, within the church of the Dominicans (the order after whom ...

, Apsley married Lucy, a daughter of Sir John St John of Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire, and his wife Lucy (daughter of Sir Walter Hungerford (Knight of Farley)); and a sister of Sir John St John, 1st Baronet. They had two children: * Allen (1616–1683), became a leading Royalist in the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

and a courtier of Charles II after the Restoration *and

Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...

(1620–1681), married John Hutchinson an officer in the

New Model Army The New Model Army or New Modelled Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 t ...

during the Civil War and the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

. Lucy wrote a biography of her husband's exploits and several other notable works.

Notes

References

* * * 16th-century births 1630 deaths Military personnel from London 17th-century Royal Navy personnel People from the City of London 17th-century English merchants 17th-century English landowners Lieutenants of the Tower of London People from Feltwell {{England-business-bio-stub