Michael Hicks (1543–1612)

For other people named Michael Hicks, see Michael Hicks (disambiguation).

Sir Michael Hicks (21 October 1543 – 15 August 1612) was an English courtier and politician who was secretary to Lord Burghley during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. The son of a Bristol merchant and elder brother of Baptist Hicks, 1st Viscount Campden, he matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1559 and was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1564.^[1] Joining the household of Sir William Cecil, the future Lord Burghley, he rose to become one of Burghley's two principal secretaries at the time he was the Queen's chief minister. Taking the same position with Sir Robert Cecil after Burghley's death, Hicks became an influential figure at court and appears to have been popular. Kimber & Johnson (1771) state that he "by his ingenious education and good parts, became very polite and agreeable and was admitted into a society of learned and eminent persons, having the accomplishment of a facetious wit to recommend him", but also that "many persons, knowing what interest he had with Sir Robert ... made him their friend, at any rate, to solicit their causes with him, who was ever ... ready to gratify Sir Michael, especially where benefit was likely to accrue to him".

Hicks also had considerable financial ability, acquiring a substantial fortune, and consolidated his influence by making generous loans to other courtiers, including Francis Bacon on a number of occasions. He seems not to have been a demanding creditor, and Bacon's correspondence with him was invariably amicable. His wealth enabled him to buy estates at Beverstone in Gloucestershire and Ruckholt in Essex, and he entertained James I at the latter in June 1604, being knighted a few weeks later. He died at Ruckholt in 1612, and was buried in Leyton Church.

Hicks was an MP in every Parliament but one between 1584 and his death, representing Truro (1584-5), Shaftesbury (1588-9 and 1593), Gatton (1597-8) and Horsham (1601 and 1604–11). How long he was dependent on Cecil influence for election, and when his wealth and position were eventually enough to make him a desirable member on his account, is not clear. He also served as Receiver-General for Middlesex from 1603 to 1604.

He married Elizabeth Colston in 1597. Their eldest son, William (1596–1680), was created a baronet in 1619. He also served as a Member of Parliament, and was later imprisoned during the Civil War for his Royalist loyalties. The Earls St Aldwyn were his descendants.

References

1. ^ Hickes, Michael in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Hicks, Michael". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.  This entry cites:
  • E Kimber & R Johnson, The Baronetage of England (London, 1771) [1]
  • J. E. Neale, The Elizabethan House of Commons (London: Jonathan Cape, 1949)
  • Browne Willis, Notitia Parliamentaria (London, 1750) [2]

Persondata
Name	Hicks, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 October 1543
Place of birth
Date of death	15 August 1612
Place of death