SHERWYN, Richard (d. 1675), of New Palace Yard and Covent Garden, Westminster.

Sherwyn’s parentage is obscure, but he seems to have originated in the west country. In his will be left a gift of gold to his ‘cousin’ Mr John Pitt, and this suggests that the ‘Richard Sherwyn’ mentioned in April 1638 as an associate (perhaps the legal attorney) of Richard Pitt of Kemble, Wiltshire, in the purchase of lands from Sir Neville Poole*, is indeed the MP.20PROB11/348/273; Coventry Docquets, 722. A year before, Sherwyn had written with legal advice to Sir Robert Phelipps† of Montacute in Somerset, and later he would provide money for the poor of the same parish.21Som. RO, DD/PH/219/71; PROB11/348/273; VCH Som. iii. 224. It was perhaps this connection that first brought Sherwyn into contact with the auditor of the exchequer, Sir Robert Pye I*, whose son had married into the Phelipps family in the early 1630s. In 1641 Sherwyn was living as a member of Pye’s household in Westminster, and it may have been at this time that he began his administrative career, as Pye’s clerk.22Dale, Inhabitants of Westminster, 4. Sherwyn continued to be involved in the south west during the 1640s, acquiring the mortgage of Somerset lands previously held by Christopher Doddington of Lincoln’s Inn in 1646, and then assigning his interest to the Bristol merchant, Francis Charlton, on payment of £880 in January 1649.23Bristol RO, AC/D/10/33, 38, 39/a-b.

During the early 1650s, Sherwyn rose through the ranks of the commonwealth administration. His first appointment was as auditor at Goldsmith’s Hall in June 1650, with an annual salary of £350.24CCC 233, 343, 363. Sherwyn had relinquished his position at Goldsmiths’ Hall by July 1653, but by that time he was already acting as co-treasurer for compounding (with John Leech) – a position confirmed in February 1654; and he also served as clerk to the assistants of the revenue committee until September 1654.25CCC 824; CCAM 110; CSP Dom. 1652-3, pp. 355, 454; 1654, p. 455; Aylmer, State’s Servants, 253-4. In July 1655 Sherwyn was again promoted, as secretary to the treasury commissioners, where he attracted the attention of Bulstrode Whitelocke*, who referred to him as ‘an able man in that business’.26Whitelocke, Diary, 410. Other friends in the financial administration included the auditor of the receipt of exchequer, Thomas Fauconberge*, who left £10 to his ‘old friend’ on his death in September 1655.27PROB11/246/69.

Whitelocke joined the councillor, Nathaniel Fiennes I*, in recommending Sherwyn for election at Ludgershall in Wiltshire on 13 January 1659. His candidacy was opposed by a faction led by the high sheriff, Isaac Burges of Marlborough, and the indenture was signed by only ten of the electors.28Whitelocke, Diary, 503; C219/48. At the end of January the dispute was still not resolved, with supporters of Sherwyn and his fellow MP, James Dewey II, enlisting the support of the secretary of state, John Thurloe*.29TSP vii. 601. As Sherwyn was returned for Westminster as well as Ludgershall, he was able to take his seat in the Commons. There is no record of Sherwyn having made a choice between the two constituencies or of the issue of writs for a new election for Ludgershall.

On 26 January, the day before the opening of the second session, Sherwyn was named a commissioner to administer to MPs the oath of loyalty to the protector, and he was appointed to the committee of privileges on 28 January.30CJ vii. 593a, 594b. Sherwyn’s activity during the session was confined to administrative and local business. On 5 February he was named with the other Westminster MP, Edward Gravener*, to oversee charitable gifts from the Commons to the poor of St Margaret’s, Westminster, and St Martin-in-the-Fields.31CJ vii. 600a. On 16 February he was ordered to deliver papers from the treasury commissioners, and he reported the matter to the House on 17 February.32CJ vii. 604a-b; Burton’s Diary iii. 307; Whitelocke, Diary, 507. On the same day, during a debate on the composition of the Army Committee, he gave a hint of his political views, by opposing the nomination of John Lambert’s* ally, Captain Adam Baynes*, as he was already a salaried official.33Burton’s Diary iii. 311. Sherwyn was named to committees on a petition for payment of pensions to wounded soldiers and war widows on 7 April, and to draft a declaration to compel the farmers of the beer excise to pay their arrears on 13 April.34CJ vii. 639a. His final appointment, on 15 April, was to take care of an order for recording deaths in Middlesex and Surrey, using the system already operating in the City of London.35CJ, vii. 640a.

Sherwyn probably survived in office after the Restoration through the intercession of Sir Robert Pye, who appointed Sherwyn as his deputy on his return to office at the exchequer in 1660.36CTB vii. 1630. The personal links between the two men were strong as ever. The Pye manuscripts include reference to small sums being owed by Sherwyn to his patron, and a volume of sermons given to the family by their ‘friend’, Richard Sherwyn.37Sheffield Archives, EM1483, EM1287(c). Sherwyn was not dependent on the Pye connection, however. He was appointed secretary to Lord Ashley (Anthony Ashley Cooper*) as chancellor of the exchequer in November 1661, and in the early 1670s was employed as a tax agent and as secretary to the customs commissioners.38CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 165; Baxter, Treasury, 146-9. In January 1665, while Sherwyn was acting as secretary to the chancellor of the exchequer, Samuel Pepys reflected on the decline in status of one whom he had previously served as a clerk, but Sherwyn had managed his own affairs as well as those of the state, and was a relatively wealthy man on his death in 1675.39Pepys’s Diary vi. 14. Among those he remembered in his will were his ‘good friend’ John Leech, his ‘ancient acquaintance and friend’, Arthur Squibb*, and the widow of Thomas Fauconberge.40PROB11/348/273. A decade and more after Sir Robert Pye I’s death, Sherwyn was still attached to the Pye family, for whom he may have acted as trustee.41Aylmer, State’s Servants, 253-4. This explains the bequest of £1,000 to members of the Pye and Phelipps families, to be paid when the lands in Middlesex and Wiltshire, settled by earlier indentures with Sir John Pye, finally came into the latter’s possession. Sherwyn bequeathed an impressive £3,000 to his daughter Julianna, while his son Richard, at that time overseas, received £100 and household goods from his house in Wiltshire. In an indication of Sherwyn’s religious sympathies, £100 was bequeathed to ministers of the gospel and their dependants who suffered for their non-conformity. Sherwyn was buried beside his wife at St Paul’s Covent Garden.42PROB11/348/273.