HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Sir William Spring, 1st Baronet (13 March 1613 – 17 December 1654) was an English landowner and politician. During the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, he was one of the leading Parliamentarian officials in
East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
. He was the Member of Parliament for
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
before being removed during
Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...
in 1648, but was returned to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
as the MP for
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
shortly before his death in 1654.


Early life

Spring was born into the
Spring family The Spring family is a Suffolk Landed gentry, gentry family that has been involved in the politics and economy of East Anglia since the 15th century, as well as holding large estates in Ireland from the 16th century.Joseph Jackson Howard, ‘Spri ...
in
Pakenham, Suffolk Pakenham is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Its name can be linked to Anglo-Saxon roots, Pacca being the founder of a settlement on the hill surrounding Pakenham church. The village descr ...
in 1613, a descendant of the clothier
Thomas Spring of Lavenham Thomas Spring (c. 1474 – 1523) (''alias'' Thomas Spring III or The Rich Clothier) of Lavenham in Suffolk, was an English people, English cloth merchant.Phil W Kaufman, ''American Traces in Anglian Places'' (Lulu.com), 19. He consolidated his fa ...
. Spring was the son of Sir William Spring (died March 1638) and his wife Elizabeth Smith. He was brought up in a fervently
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
household and his father was a close associate of
Richard Sibbes Richard Sibbes (or Sibbs) (1577–1635) was an Anglican theologian. He is known as a Biblical exegete, and as a representative, with William Perkins and John Preston, of what has been called "main-line" Puritanism because he always remained in ...
. Like his father, he was educated at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...
, but left without a degree. The only surviving son, he inherited extensive estates in Suffolk from his father, including Pakenham Hall and Cockfield Hall. In October 1640 Spring stood for election in
Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...
, but was defeated in the face of the superior influence of his relations, the Jermyns. In 1641 he served as
High Sheriff of Suffolk This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Suffolk. The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown and is appointed annually (in March) by the Crown. The Sheriff was originally the principal law enforcement officer in the county a ...
, during which time he was
knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
by
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
. Towards the end of his year in office, the king also granted Spring a hereditary title, creating him a
baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
, of Pakenham in the
Baronetage of England Baronets are hereditary titles awarded by the Crown. The current baronetage of the United Kingdom has replaced the earlier, existing baronetages of England, Nova Scotia, Ireland and Great Britain. To be recognised as a baronet, it is necessary ...
, on 11 August 1641. This was despite Spring's sympathies for the parliamentary opposition to Charles I being known at court, and may have been a ploy by the king to win Spring's support. Nonetheless Spring remained committed to Parliament and in January 1642 he and Maurice Barrow were ordered by Parliament to search
Hengrave Hall Hengrave Hall is a Grade I listed Tudor era, Tudor manor house in Hengrave near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England and was the seat of the Kitson and Rokewode-Gage baronets, Gage families 1525–1887. Both families were Roman Catholic recusant ...
, the house of his cousin, Lady Penelope Darcy, where it was thought arms for a Catholic insurrection were being stored. At some point in the early 1640s he purchased Newe House from Sir Robert Bright. In April 1642 he was made a justice of the peace for Suffolk and he was a deputy lieutenant of the county by September that year.


Roundhead official

During the
English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
, Spring was among Parliament's most active supporters in East Anglia. Following the outbreak of hostilities in October 1642, he was appointed to all the local commissions in Suffolk organised to prosecute the war against Charles I. Spring travelled the eastern counties of England, helping to recruit soldiers to the Parliamentarian army and maintain Parliament's control of East Anglia. In late 1642, he and Samuel Moody raised over £7,500 from among Suffolk residents as a contribution to the Roundhead war chest. In January 1643 he was among those who met in Bury St Edmunds to decide the organisation of the new
Eastern Association The Eastern Association of counties was an administrative organisation set up by Parliament in the early years of the First English Civil War. Its main function was to finance and support an army which became a mainstay of the Parliamentarian m ...
. He was in regular correspondence with
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
, who notably wrote to Spring regarding the
Good Old Cause The Good Old Cause was the name given, retrospectively, by the soldiers of the New Model Army, to the complex of reasons that motivated their fight on behalf of the Parliament of England. Their struggle was against King Charles I and the Royal ...
. In the summer of 1643, Spring refused to recognise a troop of Ironsides raised by Captain Raphe Margery, as Spring deemed Margery, who was not from a
gentry Gentry (from Old French , from ) are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. ''Gentry'', in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to Landed property, landed es ...
family, to be too low-born to lead men into battle. Cromwell intervened, telling Spring that he did not care which social class his soldiers came from, as long as they believed in Parliament's cause. In September 1643, Cromwell wrote to Spring, saying: "I had rather have a plain russet-coated captain that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which you call a gentleman and is nothing else". In February 1644, he was appointed a joint-treasurer and receiver-general of the Eastern Association by the Earl of Manchester. In January 1645, Spring was sent by the Eastern Association to lobby the
Committee of Both Kingdoms The Committee of Both Kingdoms (known as the Derby House Committee from late 1647) was a committee set up during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms by the Parliamentarian faction in association with representatives from the Scottish Covenanters, aft ...
regarding the introduction of 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 ...
. A devout
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
by the 1640s, throughout 1644 Spring served on the Suffolk Committees for Scandalous Ministers, charged with purging the Suffolk
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
of those thought to be politically or theologically suspect. In November 1644 he wrote to the Committee of Both Kingdoms to express his concern at what he perceived to be the growing number of radical
antinomians Antinomianism ( [] 'against' and [] 'law') is any view which rejects laws or Legalism (theology), legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (), or is at least considered to do so. The term has both religious and secular meaning ...
and
anabaptists Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. The term (tra ...
in East Anglia. Spring was among the Suffolk leaders in May 1645 who instructed local constables to enforce use of the ''
Directory for Public Worship The ''Directory for Public Worship'' (known in Scotland as the ''Westminster Directory'') is a liturgical manual produced by the Westminster Assembly in 1644 to replace the ''Book of Common Prayer''. Approved by the Long Parliament, Parliament ...
'' in the county. He was a staunch friend of Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston of Kedington, a notable advocate of the
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
cause, upon whose death he wrote an acrostic elegy.


Member of Parliament

In October 1645, Spring was elected to the
Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...
as Member of Parliament for Bury St Edmunds in a recruiter election. On 25 February 1646 he took the
Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August ...
. His voting record in the Commons was strongly influenced by his Presbyterian beliefs and in November 1646 he was appointed to a committee to oversee the selling of the estates of
bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
. On 5 September 1646 Spring was among the delegation sent by parliament to 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 ...
to raise £200,000 needed to pay off the Scots Army in England. By the spring of 1647, Spring's ill-health had reduced his attendance at Westminster. In June 1648, he was despatched by parliament to shore up Roundhead support in East Anglia during royalist resistance at the
Siege of Colchester The siege of Colchester occurred in the summer of 1648 when the Second English Civil War reignited in several areas of Britain. Colchester found itself in the thick of the unrest when a Cavalier, Royalist army on its way through East Angli ...
. Spring was among the MPs secluded from the Commons by
Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...
in December 1648. While his name remained on the commission of the peace, he played no further part in the work of the local commissions after the purge. In July 1654, Spring was one of 18 men who stood for election to the ten seats allocated to
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
by the
Instrument of Government The Instrument of Government was the first constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and was also the first codified and written constitution in England. It was drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653. Anteced ...
. In the election he came second and was again returned to Westminster as an MP. The
First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the H ...
assembled in September 1654 but Spring is not recorded as having played any part in its proceedings, likely as a result of his declining health. He died at Pakenham on 17 December 1654 and was buried two days later, leaving large debts to his wife and young family. The debts were dealt with by the sale of some lands at Cockfield. Spring was succeeded in his title and estates by his eldest son, William Spring, who also served as an MP for Suffolk.


Family

On 3 November 1636, Spring married Elizabeth L'Estrange, the daughter of Lady Alice and Sir Hamon L'Estrange, with whom he had six children: * Sir William Spring, 2nd Baronet (1642–1684), married first Mary, daughter of Dudley North, 4th Baron North (no issue) and married second Sarah, daughter of Sir Robert Cordell, 1st Baronet of Melford Hall, Suffolk, with whom he had three children. *Thomas Spring, died unmarried in 1677, Fellow of
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...
*John Spring, became a politician in Watertown MA *Elizabeth Spring, died unmarried *Catherine Spring, married (1st) Capt. Laurence, (2nd) John Palgrave *Dorothy Spring (1648–1714/15), married Sir Christopher Calthorpe in 1664


Ancestry


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, William, 1st Baronet 1613 births 1654 deaths 17th-century English Puritans Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Baronets in the Baronetage of England Deputy lieutenants of Suffolk English justices of the peace English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1654–1655 High sheriffs of Suffolk Roundheads
William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...