Sir Christopher Pigott (also Piggot or Pygott) (c. 1558 – 24 October 1613) of Doddershall, near Quainton, Buckinghamshire was an English Member of Parliament for from 1604 to 1607.
[historyofparliamentonline.org, ''Pigott, Christopher (c.1558-1613), of Doddershall, nr. Quainton, Bucks.''](_blank)
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He was the only surviving son of Thomas Pigott of Doddershall and educated at Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...
.
Pigott entered parliament in 1604 in the wake of an electoral cause celèbre, the disbarring of Francis Goodwin and Sir John Fortescue John Fortescue may refer to:
* Sir John Fortescue (judge) (c. 1394–1479), English lawyer and judge, MP for Tavistock, Totnes, Plympton Erle and Wiltshire
* Sir John Fortescue of Salden (1531/1533–1607), third Chancellor of the Exchequer of Engl ...
as the king's solution to an electoral dispute for Buckinghamshire. He was knighted at Theobalds
Theobalds House (also known as Theobalds Palace) in the parish of Cheshunt in the English county of Hertfordshire, was a significant stately home and (later) royal palace of the 16th and early 17th centuries. Set in extensive parkland, it was a ...
, in August 1604. He then drew attention to himself, contributing to the ongoing debate on the Union by an extreme verbal attack on Scotland and the Scots, in early 1607 (N.S.). At the king's wish, Pigott was then imprisoned in the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sepa ...
, and stripped of his seat. He was released after about ten days, pleading sickness.
He married twice; firstly Ursula, the daughter and coheiress of Valentine Pigott of Loughton, Buckinghamshire, with whom he had a daughter, and secondly in 1602, Dorothy, the daughter of Richard Ingoldsby, with whom he had a second daughter. He was the father-in-law of the parliamentarian, Sir Thomas Tipping.
Notes
1550s births
1613 deaths
Politicians from Buckinghamshire
Alumni of the University of Oxford
Members of Gray's Inn
16th-century English people
English MPs 1604–1611
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