LUMLEY, Sir Martin (1597-1651), of Great Bardfield, Essex.

The Lomelynes were a Genoese family who settled in England during the first half of the sixteenth century when this MP’s great-grandfather, Domingo Lomelyne, had become jester to Henry VIII.25E.F. Rimbault, ‘Domingo Lomelyn, jester to Henry VIII’, N. and Q. 1st ser. i. 193-4; W.D’O. Bayley, ‘Domingo Lomelyne’, N. and Q. 1st. ser. iv. 194. By the seventeenth century their surname had been anglicised as Lumley. The jester’s grandson, Martin Lumley, prospered as a London Draper and in 1623 he served as the City’s lord mayor. During his year in office he received the customary knighthood. By then Sir Martin was already making the transition from City merchant to country gentleman. In 1621 he had purchased an estate at Great Bardfield in north-west Essex.26Morant, Essex, ii. 519. Other lands in Essex were acquired by him at Finchingfield and Shalford from Henry Neville alias Smith.27Morant, Essex, ii. 369, 377. He also bought lands at Midloe in Huntingdonshire and in Kent.28‘Additions to vis. of London’, 471-4. The acquisition of the Bardfield estate coincided with the marriage of his only son, Martin junior, and it was probably with his future in mind that the purchase had been made. Martin junior soon established himself as a fully-fledged member of the local community. By 1628 he was an active member of the Essex commission of the peace.29Maynard Lieut. Bk. 225, 253, 260, 280, 281-2.

Sir Martin Lumley died in July 1634 and was buried a month later in the family vault in St Helen’s Bishopgate.30CB; Regs. of St Helen’s Bishopgate, 289. In his will he endowed a lectureship to the parish, to which his son and his heirs were to have the right of nomination.31‘Additions to vis. of London’, 470-1. Among the properties inherited by his son was a house in Wood Street, which was used as accommodation for the Moroccan ambassador in the winter of 1637-8.32CSP Dom. 1637-8, p. 476. The Huntingdonshire estates were sold to Abraham Burrell*.33PROB11/218/557; VCH Hunts. ii. 319. In 1638 Lumley received permission to receive communion in a private chapel he had recently built at Great Bardfield.34Coventry Docquets, 287.

By the late 1630s Lumley was among Essex gentlemen closely associated with the most prominent peer within the county, the 2nd earl of Warwick (Sir Robert Rich†).35Keeler, Long Parliament, 262. In 1636 he initially refused to pay his Ship Money and so was temporarily removed from the commission of the peace. His appointment as sheriff in 1639, which required him to organise its collection, may have been a further form of punishment.36List of Sheriffs, 46; Coventry Docquets, 369. As sheriff he collected less than £350 of the £8,000 due from the county. This resulted in his imprisonment in the Fleet in June 1640.37CSP Dom. 1640, p. 126; Add. 25277, ff. 21-48; Bodl. Tanner 65, f. 89; HMC 4th Rep. 30; Keeler, Long Parliament, 262. His other major duty as sheriff was to preside over the parliamentary elections of that year.38Essex RO, D/Y 2/4, p. 43. In the case of the two county elections, Lumley helped ensure that candidates acceptable to Warwick were returned. His acquisition of a baronetcy and a knighthood in January 1641, which almost coincided with the summons of Warwick’s eldest son, Lord Rich (Robert Rich*), to the House of Lords, was probably intended as a good-will gesture from the king to the earl during the difficult opening weeks of the Long Parliament.39CB, ii. 80; Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 208. The elevation of Rich to the Lords also created an unexpected vacancy as a knight of the shire for Essex. At the by-election on 16 February, Lumley was chosen in his place.

As soon as he took his seat in the Commons, Lumley sided with those most critical of the king’s policies. His earliest committee appointments included those which were organising proceedings against the 1st earl of Strafford (Sir Thomas Wentworth†), the Catholic hierarchy in England and members of Convocation.40CJ ii. 98a, 105b, 129a; Harl. 477, f. 12. He took the Protestation on 3 May 1641.41CJ ii. 133a. His membership of the committees for scandalous ministers and for recusants also fit this pattern.42CJ ii. 184b, 238b.

Lumley soon participated in some important Commons business. As early as 24 June 1641 he was one of the messengers sent to the Lords to request a conference on the safety of the kingdom in view of the king’s wish to travel to Scotland and he took part in the conferences on this subject over the next two days.43CJ ii. 185b, 187b, 189b; Harl. 478, f. 116v; Harl. 479, f. 2. Later that year he actively supported the Grand Remonstrance. On 16 November he and his fellow Essex MP, Sir Thomas Barrington*, acted as tellers for those who got the allegation that the bishops had introduced ‘idolatrous and popish ceremonies’ confirmed as part of the Remonstrance.44CJ ii. 317b; D’Ewes (C), 152. Eight days later he was again a teller with Barrington, this time advocating the punishment of Geoffrey Palmer* for seeking the right to enter a protest against the Remonstrance.45CJ ii. 324b; D’Ewes (C), 195.

Lumley seems to have shown a particular interest relating to the raising of money, first to pay off the existing armies and later to suppress the rebellion in Ireland.46CJ ii. 107a, 152a; Eg. 2651, ff. 146v-147. On 4 March he was among those MPs who each agreed to lend £1,000.47Procs. LP ii. 628, 629. By July 1641 he personally held £1,000 of the money raised by the poll tax and he then offered a further loan of £1,000.48CJ ii. 228b, 229a; Harl. 479, ff. 106, 109. The following month he was a teller opposing early payment of arrears to some army officers, while simultaneously backing moves to secure the payments due to the Scots.49CJ ii. 237b, 239a. When news of the Irish rebellion reached London in November 1641, he helped raise a loan from the City and supported the legislation to raise a force to be sent to restore order in Ireland.50CJ ii. 302a, 305b. As the son of a prominent London merchant, he had probably retained many connections within the City. This may also explain his recurring interest in the affairs of the London vintners and the Merchant Adventurers.51CJ ii. 157a, 210b, 414b. As an ex-sheriff, Lumley had an obvious interest in the question of how much Ship Money remained in the hands of the sheriffs, as well as in the bill to reduce the fees charged by them.52CJ ii. 200a, 357b.

Throughout the first half of 1642 Lumley continued to back Parliament as its relations with the king worsened further. He was included on the committee to draft the Commons’ declaration on the king’s attempted arrest of the Five Members, as well as on the committees for naval and Irish affairs.53CJ ii. 372a, 378b, 391a. On 21 February he was chosen as the messenger to request a joint conference with the Lords to prepare a declaration of grievances but requested that Sir Anthony Irby* be sent instead.54PJ i. 434; CJ ii. 448a. He also backed the bills to suppress innovations in religion and to reduce the rebellion in Ireland.55CJ ii. 438a, 468b. He probably spent much of May 1642 helping to negotiate the new loans from the corporation of London, the London livery companies and the Merchant Adventurers.56CJ ii. 558b, 570b, 580b. Only his efforts to block the appointment of Stephen Marshall as lecturer of St Margaret’s Westminster might be thought to be out of step with this record, but even that simply confirms his godliness. The objection to Marshall’s appointment had been made by Lumley’s neighbour, Sir Robert King, the patron of Marshall’s existing living at Finchingfield, and both King and Lumley wanted him to continue serving his parishioners.57CJ ii. 497b; PJ ii. 85-7. When Lumley informed the Commons on 30 April of a report he had received from another Essex justices of the peace regarding seditious words blaming Parliament for the political crisis which had brought the country to the brink of civil war, he doubtless expected most of his colleagues would share his disapprobation.58PJ ii. 248.

That summer Lumley played an enthusiastic part in Parliament’s military preparations. On 4 June 1642 he was among MPs delegated to ensure that the Militia Ordinance was implemented in Essex. Six days later he personally promised to provide four horses for the forces to be raised by Parliament. He may well have been part of the delegation sent to the City to justify the raising of 10,000 volunteers from London. When anti-Catholic riots broke out at Colchester on 23 August, he and Sir William Masham* were sent to consult with the new lord general, Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex.59CJ ii. 605b, 663b, 736a; PJ iii. 476. That October he and the other deputy lieutenants were instructed by Parliament to enforce the Militia Ordinance in Essex.60LJ v. 382b-384b; Instructions agreed upon by the Lords and Commons (1642, E.121.1).

This flurry of activity continued throughout the winter. In November Lumley was among the Essex parliamentarians authorised to raise forces in Essex to meet the threat of the king’s advance towards London in the absence of the lord lieutenant, the earl of Warwick. He was also among those appointed to investigate the facilities to treat wounded soldiers at the major London hospitals and he helped liaise with the City during the crisis.61CJ ii. 832a, 848b, 849b, 862a, 863b, 876b, 884b; A True Relation of the Army set out by the County of Essex (1642), 4 (E.126.16); Eg. 2648, f. 26. On 31 December he offered to lend Parliament further unspecified sums and was then sent to Essex to make sure that the military preparations were progressing smoothly.62Add. 18777, f. 109v; CJ ii. 910a. Less than a month later he was again offering loans to support the war effort.63Add. 18777, f. 137. In the spring of 1643 he was repeatedly included on the committees which raised more money from the common council of London. The task of persuading the court of aldermen to advance a loan against the money due from the assessment revenues for two months in early April 1643 was specifically assigned to Lumley and Sir Robert Harley*.64CJ ii. 971a, 995b, iii. 25b, 59b, 62a, 84a. Later that month he was sent with Barrington and Masham to raise additional forces in Essex, and then on to Reading to discourage these forces from deserting.65CJ iii. 45a, 64a. But he was not uncritical of certain aspects of the war effort. In March 1643 he informed the Commons of complaints against Walter Long* over the requisitioning of horses in Essex.66Harl. 164, f. 336v.

Throughout the second half of 1643, Lumley seems to have been absent from the Commons, probably because he was thought to be more useful in Essex. This absence, rather than any ideological objection, explains why he did not take the Solemn League and Covenant until 31 January 1644.67CJ iii. 383b; Harl. 165, f. 288. His temporary addition to the Committee of Navy and Customs on 14 February followed the decision to refer the bill concerning the supply of timber for shipbuilding (for which the forests of south-west Essex were an important source) to that body.68CJ iii. 399b. Previous preoccupations continued. The need to raise more money was always pressing.69CJ iii. 418b, 457a, 489b, 507b, 510b. Lumley was among MPs who each lent £50 as an immediate payment in April 1644 to allow the train of artillery to march.70CJ iii. 464a. In October 1644 the Commons ordered that he be paid £176, presumably as repayment for some of the sums he had advanced to them.71CJ iii. 665b, 662a, 664a; A. and O. The following year he was used to encourage Essex to speed up its payments of money due to the Scots and to obtain an advance payment of assessments from the county to allow some of the army officers who had been dismissed under the New Model to be paid off.72CJ iv. 41a, 106a. In the meantime, Lumley continued to act as an intermediary between the Commons and London.73CJ iii. 493b, iv. 71a.

Throughout 1645 military affairs remained Lumley’s predominant concern. Of committees on such matters to which he was named, those relating to the raising of taxes in London and on the London militia are especially noteworthy, confirming his close interest in the affairs of the capital.74CJ iv. 146a, 164a, 203a, 365a. In July 1645 he was asked to inform Masham of the latest demands for military recruitment within Essex.75CJ iv. 192b. Moreover, as the prospect of an eventual parliamentarian victory increased, the potential religious settlement resumed its former importance. Lumley probably favoured some form of Presbyterian settlement. On 25 July 1645 he was included on the Commons’ committee appointed to consider who should sit on the committee which would choose all the London elders. In January 1646 he seems to have supported the bill for the better observance of the sabbath and in June 1646 he was appointed as a commissioner for the enumeration of scandalous offences.76CJ iv. 218a, 411b, 562b. He also sat on the committees which paved the way for the purges of the universities and of Westminster School.77CJ iv. 198b, 312a, 595b.

As royalist resistance finally disintegrated in the summer of 1646, Lumley seems to have taken a keen interest in the punishment of those who had supported the king, sitting on committees addressing delinquency fines for former royalists or gathering information on those accused of opposition to Parliament.78CJ iv. 613a, 625a; v. 8b, 205a. He still had a role in seeking money from the City as the army arrears had still to be paid off.79CJ iv. 738a. He was probably sympathetic to reform of the law courts.80CJ iv. 701a-b. On 20 October 1646 he was teller for those who opposed the decision to permit MPs and peers to serve on the commission of the great seal.81CJ iv. 700b.

No record survives to indicate whether Lumley was present at Westminster between 1 July and 15 September 1647, and thus on his stance in relation to the Presbyterian coup and its overturning by the army.82CJ v. 229a-301b. However, he was a regular presence in the House throughout the latter months of 1647. There are hints that he was prepared to back the efforts by the Independents to negotiate a treaty with the king.83CJ v. 346b, 376b. Several of the other committees on which he was included during those months were concerned with soldiers’ welfare.84CJ v. 347b, 356a, 396a. His attendance probably fell off sharply during the early months of 1648, but he was present at one of the meetings of the Eastern Association committee at Westminster in March 1648.85SP28/251, warrant, 16 Mar. 1648.

The uprising in Essex in the summer of 1648 restored Lumley’s prominence at Westminster, as he played a leading part in Parliament’s efforts to suppress it. On 5 June Lumley was sent to request the Lords that they remain in session to pass without delay a bill granting indemnity to inhabitants of Essex if the county standing committee, seized as hostages the day before, were released; he was then among Essex MPs sent to publicise the ordinance throughout the county.86CJ v. 585b, 586a. With (Sir) Harbottle Grimston* and Charles Rich*, he travelled to Chelmsford to negotiate with the rebels, but they had to return empty-handed.87A. Wilson, The Inconstant Lady (Oxford, 1814), 145. Later that month, by which time the royalist forces were holed up in Colchester, the Commons asked that some of the Essex MPs leave to make sure that order was maintained throughout the rest of the county.88CJ v. 608b. However, Lumley probably remained at Westminster, where he and Grimston prepared the emergency bills which raised the money to pay for the Colchester siege, and he was among those authorised to seize 20 hostages to be used to bargain for the release of the county committee.89CJ v. 616b, 618a, 620a, 620b, 625b. He was also nominated to committees investigating the uprising in Surrey and preparing the bill to regulate the sequestration of delinquents’ estates, both matters tangentially connected to the Essex uprising.90CJ v. 631b, 641b. In November 1648 Lumley sat on the committee which considered the bill to sequester the estates of those in Essex who had supported the uprising.91CJ vi. 67a.

That autumn Lumley supported the attempts to negotiate a treaty with the king. In a last effort to save the negotiations, he was a teller in the division on 18 October, in which it was agreed that the Commons would join with the Lords in writing to the commissioners at Newport.92CJ vi. 55b. His stance was soon to cost him his seat. On 6 December he was among the MPs prevented from taking their places in the chamber. The following day he signed the letter of complaint objecting to the purge.93A List of the Imprisoned and Secluded Members (1648, 669.f.13.62); A Vindication (1649), 29 (irregular pagination) (E.539.5); CJ vi. 94b. He refused to disown the vote of 5 December and so remained secluded from Parliament. He withdrew from public life and there is little likelihood that he supported the regicide.

Lumley lived to see the marriage of his eldest son, Martin, in July 1650. His new daughter-in-law, Anne, was the daughter of John Langham* and a granddaughter of James Bunce†.94London Mar. Lics. ed. Foster, 869; Regs. of St Helen’s Bishopgate, 140; CB. He died in October 1651 and his lands passed to Martin.95PROB11/218/557; Morant, Essex, ii. 520. The baronetcy died out with the male line of the family on the demise of Sir Martin’s great-grandson, Sir James, in 1771.96Burke Dorm. and Extinct Baronetcies, 330.