Christopher Lewknor

Christopher Lewknor was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1628 and 1641. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War.

Lewknor was the son of Richard Lewknor of West Dean, Chief Justice of Chester, and his wife Eleanor Broome, daughter of Christopher Broome of Halton, Oxfordshire.^[1]

In 1628 Lewknor was elected Member of Parliament for Midhurst and held the seat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.^[2][3]

In 1636 Lewknor was appointed to a commission for better preservation of timber in view of the growth of the Sussex iron trade.^[4] By 1640 he was recorder of Chichester. In April 1640, he was elected MP for Chichester in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Chichester in November 1640 for the Long Parliament and sat until he was disabled as a Royalist.

In August 1642 Lewknor supported the mayor of Chichester, Robert Exton when he issued the Royal Commission of Array, calling upon all able-bodied men to take arms for the king;in response to the city's "Valiant Resolution to stand for the privileges of Parliament, the Protestant religion, the laws of the land, and the liberty of the people".^[5] Lewknor was styled as " the man appointed by his Majesty to take in money and plate on his behalfe" and on 28 August 1642, he took part in a parley between the besiegers of Portsmouth and the beleaguered garrison.^[6] In January 1643 he was a prisonor at Windsor Castle.^[7] In 1651, parliament ordered his lands to be sold.^[1]

Lewknor married Mary Smith widow of Mr Smith and daughter of John May of Rawmere, Sussex. His son Richard Lewknor was MP for Midhurst and Sussex.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Sussex Archaeological Collections, the History of Antiquities 1850
2. ^ Browne Willis Notitia parliamentaria, or, An history of the counties, cities, and boroughs in England and Wales: ... The whole extracted from mss. and printed evidences 1750 pp229-239
3. ^ West Dean, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 4: The Rape of Chichester (1953), pp. 97-101. Date accessed: 18 January 2011.
4. ^ Mark Antony Lower Contributions to literature: historical, antiquarian, and metrical
5. ^ The City of Chichester: Historical introduction, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 3 (1935), pp. 82-90. Date accessed: 18 January 2011
6. ^ Marquis of Winchester's Regiment - Civil War in Hampshire
7. ^ Royalist Prisoners Held at Windsor Castle

Parliament of England
Preceded by Richard Lewknor Sir Henry Spiller	Member of Parliament for Midhurst 1628-1629 With: Edward Savage	Succeeded by Parliament suspended until 1640
Preceded by Parliament suspended since 1629	Member of Parliament for Chichester 1640 - With: Edward Dowse Sir William Morley	Succeeded by Sir John Temple Henry Peck

Persondata
Name	Lewknor, Christopher
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