Edward Dering
Encyclopedia
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
.
Ancestry and childhood
Dering was the eldest son of Sir Anthony Dering of Surrenden Dering in PluckleyPluckley
Pluckley is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, United Kingdom. It is located close to the North Downs, and is approximately 5 miles west of Ashford...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
(d.1636). His mother, Sir Anthony's second wife, was Frances, daughter of Chief Baron Robert Bell. He was born in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
on 28 January 1598, his father being the deputy-lieutenant. He was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College, Cambridge
Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...
.
Early career
After leaving the university he devoted himself to antiquarian studies and to the collection of manuscripts. On 22 January 1619 he was knighted at Newmarket, and in November of the same year married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas TuftonNicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet
Nicholas Tufton, 1st Earl of Thanet was an English peer.The son of Sir John Tufton, 1st Baronet, he represented Peterborough in 1601 and Kent from 1624 to 1625 as Member of Parliament. Tufton was knighted by James I on 13 April 1603, and was appointed a justice of the peace in Kent and then a...
. She died on 24 January 1622. According to an entry in his account book, he purchased two copies of William Shakespeare's First Folio
First Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
on 5 December 1623: this is the earliest recorded retail purchase of this famous book.
Dering subsequently married Anne, daughter of Sir John Ashburnham. Lady Ashburnham
Elizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady Cramond
Elizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady Cramond was an English writer and peeress.Born Elizabeth Beaumont, she was the eldest child of Sir Thomas Beaumont and his wife, Catherine...
, his new mother-in-law, being of the Beaumont family, was a connection of the king's favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
, Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
. Through her, Dering strove for court favour and was created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
on 1 February 1626 (1627 New Style
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
). Buckingham's assassination in 1628 cut short Dering's ambitions at court. He lost his second wife in the same year that he lost his patron.
On 20 November in the year of his wife's death Dering became one of the many suitors of a rich city widow, Mrs Bennett, and kept a curious journal of his efforts to win her, especially of the bribes which he administered to the lady's servants. Mrs Bennett, however, married Sir Heneage Finch
Heneage Finch (Speaker)
Sir Heneage Finch was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1607 and 1626. He was Speaker of the English House of Commons in 1626....
on 16 April 1629, and shortly afterwards Dering married his third wife, Unton, daughter of Sir Ralph Gibbs, his 'ever dear Numps', as he calls her in the letters which he addressed to her. He had lately been appointed lieutenant of Dover Castle
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in the town of the same name in the English county of Kent. It was founded in the 12th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history...
, an office for which he paid the late holder of the post, and which brought him in much less than he expected. When he at last managed to be quit of it, he was able to devote himself more freely to the antiquarian pursuits at which he was most at home.
Religious belief and controversy
Antiquarian studies could, in the days of William LaudWilliam Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
's power, hardly fail to connect themselves with reflections on the existing state of the church. Dering was one of a numerous class which was distinctly protestant without being puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
.
Since his father's death in 1636 he was owner of the family property, and a person of consequence in Kent. Sir Edward served as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Hythe
Hythe (UK Parliament constituency)
Hythe was a constituency centred on the town of Hythe in Kent. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons until 1832, when its representation was reduced to one member...
in 1629. He was chosen to represent Kent
Kent (UK Parliament constituency)
Kent was a parliamentary constituency covering the county of Kent in southeast England. It returned two "knights of the shire" to the House of Commons by the bloc vote system from the year 1290...
in the Long Parliament
Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...
.
He took an active part in all measures of church reform, and became chairman of the committee on religion. On 13 January 1641, having had a petition from 2500 of his constituents sent to him for presentation, in which complained about the government of archbishops, &c. and which asked the House of Commons 'that the said government, with all its dependencies, root and branch, may be abolished', he altered the petition, and made it ask 'that this hierarchical power may be totally abrogated', so as to avoid committing himself to an approval of divine-right presbyterianism. During Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford was an English statesman and a major figure in the period leading up to the English Civil War. He served in Parliament and was a supporter of King Charles I. From 1632 to 1639 he instituted a harsh rule as Lord Deputy of Ireland...
's trial he took the popular side, "and wrote to his wife how he heard people say 'God bless your worship'" as he passed.
On 27 May Dering moved the first reading of the Root and Branch Bill, which is said to have been drawn up by Oliver St John
Oliver St John
Sir Oliver St John , was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1653. He supported the Parliamentary cause in the English Civil War.- Early life :...
, apparently not because he thoroughly sympathised with its prayer, but because he thought its introduction would terrify the lords into passing a bill for the exclusion of bishops from their seats in parliament which was then before them. Dering's real sentiments were disclosed when the bill was in committee, when he argued in defence of primitive episcopacy
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...
, that is to say, of a plan for insuring that bishops should do nothing without the concurrence of their clergy. It was a plan which appealed strongly to students of antiquity; but it is no wonder that he was now treated by the more thoroughgoing opponents of episcopacy as a man who could no longer be trusted.
In the debate on 12 October on the second Bishops Exclusion Bill
Clergy Act 1640
The Clergy Act 1640 was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of England passed in 1642 by the Long Parliament.-Preamble:...
, Dering proposed that a national synod should be called to remove the distractions of the church. In the discussion on the Grand Remonstrance
Grand Remonstrance
The Grand Remonstrance was a list of grievances presented to King Charles I of England by the English Parliament on 1 December 1641, but passed by the House of Commons on the 22nd of November 1641, during the Long Parliament; it was one of the chief events which were to precipitate the English...
he assailed the doctrine that bishops had brought popery and idolatry into the church, and he subsequently defended the retention of bishops on the ground that, if the prizes of the lottery were taken away, few would care to acquire learning. By his final vote on the Grand Remonstrance he threw in his lot with the episcopal royalist party. It was the vote, not of a statesman, but of a student, anxious to find some middle term between the rule of Laud and the rule of a Scottish presbytery, and attacking the party which at any moment seemed likely to acquire undue predominance.
He began to overestimate the amount of consistency which lies at the bottom of almost all changes of opinion honestly made. He prepared for publication an edition of his speeches with explanatory comments of his own. On 4 February the House of Commons ordered the book to be burnt and himself to be sent to the Tower. He remained a prisoner till the llth.
Dering's imprisonment probably threw him more decidedly on the king's side than he had intended. On 25 March he took a leading part in the Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
assizes in getting up a petition from the grand jury in favour of episcopy and the prayer-book. On this he was impeached by the commons, but he contrived to escape.
English Civil War
At the opening of the civil warEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
Dering raised a regiment of cavalry for the king.
Dering was even less a soldier than he was a statesman. He was in bad health, and the talk of the camp probably disgusted him. Even before the battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
he inquired on what terms he might be allowed to submit to parliament. Nothing came of the negotiation, but before the opening of the campaign of 1643 he threw up his commission. It is said that he asked the king in vain to give him the deanery of Canterbury
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
. Every month that passed must have made his position at Oxford more painful. Not only had primitive episcopacy vanished, but Charles
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
in September made a cessation with the confederate Catholics of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and negotiations were subsequently opened with the object of bringing Irish catholic soldiers into England.
On 30 January 1644 parliament issued a declaration offering pardon to those who had taken up arms against them if they would take the covenant and pay a composition for the restoration of their sequestered estates. Dering was the first to accept the terms, and he had leave to go home. The composition was settled at £1,000 on 27 July; but Dering, who had been kept out of his property till his payment had been arranged, was already beyond parliamentary jurisdiction. He died on 22 June, having suffered much from poverty after his return.
His position at the end of his life may be best illustrated from a Discourse on Sacrifice, which was published by him in June 1644, though it was written in the summer of 1640. In issuing it to the world he declares that he wishes for peace and for the return of the king to his parliament. "In the meantime," he adds, "I dare wish that he would make less value of such men both lay and clergy who, by running on the Canterbury pace, have made our breaches so wide and take less delight in the specious way of cathedral devotions". These words exhibit Dering as a fair representative of that important part of the nation which set itself against extreme courses, though it was unable to embody its desires in any practically working scheme.
Antiquarian studies
Dering's antiquarian interests led him to amass a great library; his name is still associated with:- the Dering RollDering RollThe Dering Roll is the oldest English roll of arms surviving in its original form. It was made between 1270 and 1280 and contains the coat of arms of 324 knights, starting with two illegitimate children of King John. Sir Edward Dering acquired the roll during the 17th century and modified it to...
, an important 13th century Roll of armsRoll of armsA roll of arms is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms...
, believed to be the earliest surviving English roll of arms. In 2008, the Roll was purchased by the British LibraryBritish LibraryThe British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
. - the Dering Manuscript of Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written no later than 1597. It is the second play in Shakespeare's tetralogy dealing with the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV , and Henry V...
, the earliest surviving manuscript of a play by William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
.
He concocted an ancient Saxon pedigree for himself, inserting details into various authentic documents and installing fake monuments in the church..
Personal life and descendants
Sir Edward was married three times:- On 25 November 1619 at St Dionis Backchurch, London, to Elizabeth Tufton (1602/3-1622/3), eldest daughter of Nicholas Tufton, later 1st Earl of ThanetEarl of ThanetEarl of the Isle of Thanet, in practice shortened to Earl of Thanet, was a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1628 for Nicholas Tufton, 1st Baron Tufton. He had already succeeded as second Baronet of Hothfield in 1631 and been created Baron Tufton, of Tufton in the County of Sussex,...
, by Lady Frances Cecil, daughter of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of ExeterThomas Cecil, 1st Earl of ExeterThomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, KG , known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician and soldier.-Life:...
. Their only child, Anthony, died September 1634, aged 14. - During January 1625 , to Anne Ashburnham (c. 1605-1628), third daughter of Sir John Ashburnham of AshburnhamAshburnham PlaceAshburnham Place is an English country house, now used as a Christian conference and prayer centre. It can be found five miles west of Battle in East Sussex...
, SussexSussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, by ElizabethElizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady CramondElizabeth Richardson, 1st Lady Cramond was an English writer and peeress.Born Elizabeth Beaumont, she was the eldest child of Sir Thomas Beaumont and his wife, Catherine...
(later created Lady CramondLord CramondThe title of Lord Cramond was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created on 23 February 1628 for Dame Elizabeth Richardson. On the death of the fifth lord in 1735, it became extinct.-Lords Cramond :...
), daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont of Stoughton Grange, LeicestershireLeicestershireLeicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
. Anne was the mother of Sir Edward Dering, 2nd BaronetSir Edward Dering, 2nd BaronetSir Edward Dering, 2nd Baronet was an English politician.He was the eldest surviving son and heir of Sir Edward Dering, 1st Baronet of Pluckley, Kent by his second marriage to Anne, sister of John Ashburnham. He was admitted as a fellow-commoner to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge...
; she died aged 23 and was buried 17 April 1628. - On 16 July 1629, at St Dionis Backchurch, to Unton Gibbes (d.1676), daughter of Sir Ralph Gibbes, 1st Baronet of Honington, WarwickshireWarwickshireWarwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, by Gertrude, daughter of Sir Thomas Wroughton of WiltshireWiltshireWiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. They had further issue.
Through his son Edward, Sir Edward is the 10x Great Grandfather of Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall
Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and is the current holder of the titles of Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay and Countess of Chester...
. He was buried at St. Nicholas's Church, Pluckley.
Published works
Dering's published works are:- The Four Cardinal Virtues of a Carmelite Friar, 1641.
- Four Speeches made by Sir E. Dering, 1641 (the pamphlet thus headed contains only three speeches, the fourth being published separately).
- A most worthy Speech ... concerning the Liturgy, 1642.
- A Collection of Speeches made by Sir E. Dering on Matters of Religion, 1642.
- A Declaration by Sir E. Dering, 1644
- A Discourse of proper Sacrifice, 1644
External links
- Laetitia Yeandle, Sir Edward Dering, lst bart., of Surrenden Dering and his 'Booke of Expences' 1617-1628; http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/lyeandle.html