WHITTON, Edward (d. by 1593), of Limpsfield, Surr.

A younger son with small expectations, Whitton sought his fortune in London, and, presumably, was the Edward Whitton ‘late of Woodstock’ who was imprisoned in the Fleet on account of a £4 debt to a London haberdasher. Perhaps in London, perhaps through a branch of her family seated near Woodstock, he soon afterwards made a fortunate second marriage and thenceforward resided on his wife’s property at Limpsfield, where he was assessed for a corselet and a pike at the musters of 1569. Limpsfield is ten miles from Gatton and, in the absence abroad of the Catholic owner of the borough, Thomas Copley, Whitton presumably had enough local influence to secure his return to the Parliament of 1571. He was dead by 1593.1Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. lxxv), 117; Vis. Surr. (Harl. Soc. xliii), 12, 93; Harl. 1097, ff. 8, 27; W. D. Gainsford, House of Gainsford, 44, 54-5, 62; CPR, 1563-6, p. 288; Surr. Musters (Surr. Rec. Soc. iii), 141; Surr. Arch. Colls. ix. 166.