Sir Nicholas le Strange (1 January 1511 – 19 February 1580) of

Hunstanton Hunstanton () is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, which had a population of 4,229 at the 2011 Census. It faces west across The Wash, making it one of the few places on the east coast of Great Britain where the sun sets over the sea. Hunstant ...

, Norfolk, was an English Member of Parliament (MP). The eldest son of

Sir Thomas Le Strange Sir Thomas Le Strange (1494–1545) of Hunstanton, Norfolk, born in 1494, son of Robert le Strange (''d''. 1511), sixth in descent from Hamo le Strange, brother of John le Strange, 6th Baron of Knockyn, was Esquire of the Body to Henry VIII, and ...

, he succeeded his father in 1545 and was knighted in 1547. His mother was Anne, a daughter of Nicholas Vaux, 1st Baron Vaux of Harrowden. He had a brother

Richard Lestrange Richard Lestrange (L'Estrange, Strange) (born before Aug 1517Inquisition Post Mortem of John le Strange held at Norwich 25 Oct 1518 - Exchequer Series) of Hunstanton and King's Lynn, Norfolk; later of Kilkenny, Ireland, was an English politician ...

, who was also a Norfolk MP. He was appointed a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for Norfolk for 1538–1547, 1558/59–1571 and from 1579 for life, and

High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Sheriff (since 1974 called High Sheriff) is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually by the Crown. He was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the c ...

for 1548–49. He was appointed as steward of the manors of the Duchess of Richmond in 1546, and also Chamberlain to the Duke of Norfolk. On 15 September 1549 he wrote to William Cecil, the king's attorney, denying any sympathy with Kett's rebellion. In March 1552, during the reign of Edward VI, le Strange succeeded Sir Walter Buckler as chamberlain to Princess Elizabeth's household at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Almost certainly at the Duke of Norfolk's nomination, he was elected MP for the County of Norfolk in the Parliament of 1547, for

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

in 1555 and

Castle Rising Castle Rising is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is situated some north-east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. The River Babingley skirts the north of the village separating C ...

in 1558, 1559, 1563 and 1571. (His brother, Richard L'Estrange, also sat as an MP for boroughs under the Duke of Norfolk's influence in 1559 and 1563.) He was not elected to Parliament again after Norfolk's fall in 1572. In May 1571 he conveyed his estates to his eldest son, Hamon, and moved to

. He married twice: firstly in 1528 Eleanor, daughter of William Fitzwilliam (Sheriff of London) of Milton, Northamptonshire with whom he had three sons and two daughters and secondly in 1546 Katherine, the daughter of John Hyde of Hyde, Dorset and widow of Nicholas Mynn of Great Fransham, Norfolk. He was buried 19 February 1580 at Sedgeford, Norfolk. Sir Hamon le Strange (1583–1654), also an MP, was a descendant of this Nicholas through his son Hamon, who died soon after him, and his grandson Nicholas (buried 1592).'Smethdon Hundred: Hunstanton Lordship', An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 10 (1809), pp. 312-328. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78686 Date accessed: 18 June 2014.

References

*''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'' (1930) *J E Neale, ''The Elizabethan House of Commons'' (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949) *Deed of Appointment as Steward to Mary, Duchess of Richmond in Norfolk Record Office (ref: NG4) *Marriage settlement dated 4 June 1528 states he "will be 21 years on 1 January 1532" (ref: Norfolk Record Office A42) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lestrange, Nicholas 1511 births 1580 deaths People from Hunstanton English knights High Sheriffs of Norfolk High Sheriffs of Suffolk English MPs 1547–1552 English MPs 1555 English MPs 1558 English MPs 1559 English MPs 1563–1567 English MPs 1571 Members of Parliament for Norfolk Le Strange family