LEWKENOR, Christopher (b. 1598), of the Middle Temple, London, and Grey Friars, Chichester.

The Lewkenors were among the most prominent and ancient of Sussex families, and traced their lineage back to Nicholas Lewkenor (d. 1268) of Rayne Hall, Essex, a keeper of the wardrobe to Henry III. Their long history of parliamentary service began in the fourteenth century, and they regularly held local office, particularly the shrievalty, and on occasion married into the peerage.30Comber, Suss. Genealogies Lewes, 148–55; W.D. Cooper, ‘Pedigree of the Lewknor family’, Suss. Arch. Coll. iii. 92-102. Christopher Lewkenor was a younger son of a cadet branch of the family which, while predominantly Catholic, was prominent in Sussex and beyond. His grandfather, Sir Richard Lewkenor† (d. 1616), was chief justice of Chester, and Sir Lewis Lewkenor†, one of his godfathers and a cousin from the senior branch, served as master of ceremonies to James I. Such well-placed connections probably became more important after the death of Lewkenor’s father in 1602, while Christopher was still a minor.31Vis. Suss. (Harl. Soc. lxxxix), 723; Add. 39481, ff. 435-6. He and his brothers were brought up by their step-father, Sir William Oglander.32A Royalist’s Notebook ed. F. Bamford (1936), 173; Berry, Pedigrees of Hants, 130-2; PROB11/127/687 (Sir Richard Lewkenor).

Lewkenor followed family tradition in November 1617 by entering the Middle Temple, where he was admitted to his elder brothers’ chamber.33M. Temple Bench Bk. 160; MTR i. 101, 128, 137, 210, 229, 264, 282, 336; ii. 483, 488, 502, 546. He was bound with William Smyth – whose widow he would later marry – and Richard Seaborne*, with whom he shared chambers from 1619.34MTR ii. 622, 637. Initially part of a group of lawyers reputed to be ‘exceedingly riotous and dissolute swaggerers, and professed duellists’, in October 1620 he was fined for not attending the autumn reading, while the following February a complaint was made in star chamber that Lewkenor and other Middle Templars had been responsible for ‘reviling and opprobrious speeches of purpose to draw and provoke ... a private quarrel and single fight’. Lewkenor denied all the charges and evaded punishment, largely through the skills of his lawyer, Thomas Whatman†, recorder of Chichester and one of the counsellors retained by Henry Percy, 3rd earl of Northumberland.35MTR ii. 656; STAC8/130/16.

Lewkenor subsequently applied himself more seriously to the law, and the following May was called to the bar.36MTR ii. 695, 700, 711. Many of his legal clients were drawn from his native area. In 1627 he was working for Henry Peckham of Easthampnett, and the same year first appeared as retained counsel to Northumberland, following in his grandfather’s footsteps.37  C3/412/65; Household Pprs. of Henry Percy ed. G. Batho (Cam. Soc. 3rd ser. xciii), 34, 99; HMC 6th Rep. 222. As a retained counsellor, he remained in the service of the Northumberland family until 1641.38Alnwick, Northumberland MSS, U.I.4, U.I.5., U.I.6. The 9th earl’s influence is not immediately apparent in Lewkenor’s return for Midhurst in the Parliament of 1628, which was secured on his family’s interest, yet he still worked as Northumberland’s ‘eyes and ears’ in the Commons, sending detailed accounts of proceedings and revealing his support for the assertion of Parliament’s power to adjourn the House and for the Commons’ resolve to discuss grievances before supply.39HMC 3rd Rep. 69-70; Proc. Parl. 1628, vi. 177-181; Alnwick, Northumberland MS 13, ff. 22-23v. In June he confessed to having spread rumours of an alleged comment by George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham regarding his power over the Parliament, but refused to name his source; no further action was taken.40Procs. Parl. 1628, iv. 346, v. 646, 649, 653-6; Rushworth, Hist. Collns. i. 627; LJ iii. 857, 860. His activity at Westminster was otherwise slight, but he was present on momentous last day of the Parliament (2 Mar. 1629), and took notes of proceedings which were used in 1640.41CD 1628 iv. 347, 350, 353, 355; CJ ii. 7a.

Shortly after the dissolution, Lewkenor married Mary Smyth, widow of his former colleague William Smyth. She came from another prominent west Sussex family, and was a sister of both Thomas May* (who would take Lewkenor’s place at Midhurst in both the Short and Long Parliaments) and of Richard May, with whom he shared chambers at the Middle Temple from January 1631.42MTR ii. 790. With the latter, Lewkenor oversaw the admissions of William Cox of Chichester (1635), Thomas Leedes*, son of Sir John Leedes* of Wappingthorne (1637), and also Lewkenor’s nephew and ward, John Lewknor I† (1638).43MTR ii. 838, 857, 873, 892; Vis. Suss. (Harl. Soc. lxxxix), 72-3; WARD9/163, f. 65.

Following the dissolution of Parliament, the patronage of the 3rd earl of Northumberland secured for Lewkenor a place on the county bench, and the recordership of Chichester. An active justice of the peace, sending regular reports to London in accordance with the Book of Orders and attending the quarter sessions at Chichester assiduously, Lewkenor assumed a prominent position among the local gentry.44ASSI35/73/7; SP16/191, f. 100; SP16/202, f. 86; SP16/210, f. 115; SP16/233, f. 14; SP16/262, f. 27; SP16/314, f. 98; W. Suss. RO, QR/W25; CSP Dom. 1631-3, pp. 39, 555; 1636-7, p. 382; APC 1630-1, p. 371; Rymer, Foedera, ix (2), 44. When the 4th earl of Northumberland (Algernon Percy†), succeeded his father in November 1632, Lewkenor retained his position as counsel. As an ally of the most powerful man in Sussex during the years before the civil wars, he gained employment with Thomas Howard, 14th or 21st earl of Arundel (to whom he was steward by 1634).45W. Suss. RO, Add. MS 1230.

As recorder of Chichester, Lewkenor became embroiled in the bitter dispute between the corporation and the cathedral’s dean and chapter, relating to jurisdiction over the cathedral close, which the church argued was outside the city. Despite an apparent conflict of interest, in 1630 Lewkenor was appointed counsel to the dean and chapter, as well as surveyor of the episcopal manors.46Acts Dean and Chapter Chichester, 1545-1642, 241, 243. Richard Mountague, the controversial Arminian who, thanks to Buckingham, had held the bishopric since 1628, was perhaps an unlikely patron, but he too had a connection with Petworth, the Percys’ principal local seat, having been rector there since 1623.47IND1/17004, p. 23; ‘Richard Mountague’, Oxford DNB. As legal adviser to both parties in the controversy between the corporation and the cathedral, Lewkenor evidently took the side of the former, and of Northumberland, in a dispute which extended to the very heart of the debate on the Caroline church. It erupted in 1635, when the church complained of having received Ship Money assessments from both the sheriff of Sussex and the town’s corporation. On 17 January 1636 the privy council responded by ordering that the close, as part of the county, should pay the sheriff, and not the city, whereupon the corporation challenged this decision, relying on Lewkenor to draw up their case.48Bodl. Tanner 148, ff. 12-12v; 149, f. 21; SP16/311, f. 158; W. Suss. RO, Chichester J/3.

The Ship Money dispute was only a symptom of the wider jurisdictional controversy, and the council ordered Lewkenor to attend a hearing before the attorney general, Sir John Bankes†, on 12 April 1636.49Bodl. Tanner 149, ff. 21-2. When Bankes ruled against the corporation, the council ordered (1 June) the city to surrender its charter for a new one, which would make clear that the close belonged to the county.50Bodl. Tanner 148, ff. 12v-13, 18-19; 149, f. 20; SP16/325, ff. 171-4. Lewkenor countered by requesting that the church should therefore be made to pay for it.51CSP Dom. 1635-6, p. 542; SP16/325, f. 198. He also delayed surrendering the charter, and then allegedly submitted only the confirmation of the town’s charter (granted in 1621), and not the original ‘great charter’ of 1617. The dean and chapter complained that Lewkenor’s delays (undertaken ‘for private ends’), and his and the mayor’s ‘unfair and deceitful dealing’, enabled the corporation to ‘encroach upon the rights and privileges of the church more than before’. Even after the town was ordered to surrender its original charter, the church claimed that ‘by using all manner of delays till the troubles occasioned by the Scottish rebellion came on’, they name‘deferred it, and then absolutely refused to do it’.52CSP Dom. 1636-7, pp. 215-16; Bodl. Tanner 148, ff. 13, 25-26v. Called to the privy council again in December 1639, Lewkenor claimed that the town could not afford the charge for drawing up a new charter. The council ordered the immediate surrender of the old one, and that the charges for the new one be divided between the church and corporation.53Bodl. Tanner 148, f. 67; PC2/51, ff. 92v-93v.

Lewkenor’s stance on this matter did not represent a wider hostility to the crown. In 1636 he was appointed one of the two chamberlains of the controversial new corporation of London suburbs, of which all tradesmen had to be made free, upon payment of a fine to the crown.54CSP Dom. 1635-6, pp. 359-60; Rymer, Foedera, ix, pt. ii, 78. It was deeply unpopular with the king’s opponents, and Lewkenor’s zealous advocacy of its interests was later seized upon by his enemies in a bid to discredit him. In the face of accusations levelled by the City of London (Mar. 1637), Lewkenor persuaded the privy council not to impose restrictions on the corporation’s activities, and issued a plea (July 1637) for additional powers.55PC2/47, ff. 116v, 122v; SP16/363, f. 173; CSP Dom. 1637, p. 303. As he continued to lobby the council throughout 1637 and 1638, he met with support for his efforts, but reluctance to strengthen the corporation.56PC2/48, p. 346; PC2/49, pp. 137, 211, 251; PC2/50, p. 173.

Congruity between the views of Northumberland and Lewkenor emerges most clearly in the late 1630s over relations with the Presbyterian Scots, to whom both men were implacably hostile. In August 1638 Lewkenor examined a Reading clothier who had been detained at Chichester for his pro-Scottish speeches.57CSP Dom. 1637-8, p. 595. Lewkenor’s friendships during this period were confined almost exclusively to the county gentry who were most loyal to the crown, like his brother-in-law, Thomas May, William Forde, and Sir William Morley*.58SP16/395, f. 228. After 1638 Lewkenor also served with the Catholic Sir Henry Compton* as trustee for George Goring*, who was appointed governor of Portsmouth in 1639, and who like Northumberland, then lord admiral, played a prominent part in the first bishops’ war. 59Suss. Manors, ii. 500.

In spring 1640 Lewkenor was elected to Parliament for Chichester.60C219/42ii/28. As recorder, he was probably returned on his own interest, but doubtless with Northumberland’s approval: the earl had represented the city himself in 1625 and 1626, and his immense influence there now secured the other seat for another of his servants, Edward Dowse*. Lewkenor was named to only two committees during the short session: the committee of privileges (16 Apr.) and a committee investigating the tumultuous events on the last day of Parliament in 1629.61CJ ii. 4a, 6b. To the latter Lewkenor was able to contribute not merely his recollections but the notes which he had made of that day’s proceedings, in a speech made on 18 April.62CJ ii. 7a. He advised the House on more than one occasion to proceed cautiously in challenging the powers of the king, to act with gravity and moderation, and not to vote on key issues like Ship Money without lengthy debate.63Procs. SP 160-1; Aston’s Diary, 15-16, 18, 21, 35, 53, 140. Such caution was consistent with the line followed by the earl of Northumberland.

Following the dissolution of the Parliament, Lewkenor returned to the business of the new corporation, and to his own estate, which he had recently supplemented with the purchase of Liss manor in Hampshire.64C54/3240/24. Such deals were not indicative of Lewkenor’s wealth, since he was forced to borrow heavily to finance them.65CCC 2574. That he had not grown rich on the back of his legal work during the 1630s is evident from the petition of his colleague at the new corporation, John Reading, who claimed (June 1640) that the profits had been overestimated, and that the pair had spent hundreds of pounds of their own money for a meagre return. In an attempt to remedy this situation, the same month Lewkenor exchanged his post as chamberlain for that of counsel to the corporation.66CSP Dom. 1640, pp. 289-90.

During the second bishops’ war that summer, when Northumberland was captain-general, Lewkenor maintained his hostility towards the Covenanters and served as a captain in the regiment of Sir Thomas Culpeper†.67E351/293. In August he arrested one Mr Spier, who had been ‘liberal in his language in matters above him’ (namely in expressing support for the Scots), and sought direction from Northumberland, as lord lieutenant of Sussex, as to ‘how to proceed against this dangerous fellow’.68CSP Dom. 1640, pp. 575, 583; SP16/463, f. 29.

In the autumn Lewkenor was re-elected for Chichester, alongside fellow justice of the peace Sir William Morley*. Like Northumberland, whom he still served as counsel, Lewkenor was far less active in Parliament than he had been in April. 69Alnwick, Northumberland MSS, U.I.6. After his nomination to the committee for privileges on 6 November Lewkenor made no further recorded appearances.70CJ ii. 21a. He remained active in the county, however, attending the quarter sessions in January 1641 and at Chichester on 19 April 1642.71E. Suss. RO, QR/E51; Suss. QSOB 1642-1649, 1. But his name last appeared in Northumberland’s accounts in 1641, as when both men re-appeared from obscurity their contacts appeared to have been severed and they pursued different paths. While in 1641 Northumberland chose to expose the first army plot, and, after wavering, in 1643 expressed zealous support for Parliament, in the summer of 1642 Lewkenor sided with the king. By 29 July his name had been removed from the lists of JPs eligible to attend the assizes.72ASSI35/84/8.

Although not named to the commission of array, Lewkenor was working with old friends such as Thomas May, William Forde, and Sir William Morley, who by August formed the royalist leadership in Sussex.73Northants. RO, FH133. On 19 August Lewkenor joined Morley, Sir Thomas Bowyer and Sir William Goring in summoning the Chichester garrison for the king; he and his friends among the cathedral clergy also made overtures to Lord Goring, the governor of Portsmouth. One newspaper sought to discredit Lewkenor by pointing out that he was ‘thoroughly known for the new corporation’.74Exact Relation from Portsmouth (1642), sig. Av (E.112.34). Thwarted at Chichester, Lewkenor fled to join Goring at Portsmouth, but he arrived shortly before the town was besieged by parliamentary forces and during the negotiations which led to its surrender, was among the hostages sent out by Goring. When Sir William Lewis*, one of the leaders of the parliamentarian force, reported to the Commons (2 Sept. 1642) that Lewkenor was at Portsmouth, the House resolved to expel him from Parliament, and to issue a writ to elect a replacement at Chichester (although this was not finally ordered until 3 September 1645).75CJ ii. 750a; iv. 262b; C231/6, p. 19. When Portsmouth surrendered, on 7 September, Lewkenor was allowed to go free.76  A Declaration of all the Passages at the Taking of Portsmouth (1642, E.117.10). Returning to Chichester, he was involved in a second attempt to seize the garrison, but it fell to Sir William Waller*, whereupon he was sent to London as a prisoner.77A True Relation of the Fortunate Sir William Waller (1643), sig. A4 (E.84.22). On 2 January 1643 the Commons ordered that he should be kept close prisoner and denied visitors, except in the presence of his keeper, and on the 11th, with William May, he was among royalists despatched for confinement in Windsor Castle.78CJ ii. 910b; LJ v. 590a.

For his services to his king, Lewkenor had been awarded an honorary doctorate of civil law at Oxford university (1 Nov. 1642).79Al. Ox. Parliament, on the other hand, initiated sequestration proceedings. On 19 May 1643 the Committee for Sequestrations decided to allow him to purchase back his collection of books, seized at Chichester after the town fell to Waller.80SP20/1, p. 46. Lewkenor was ejected from his post as recorder of Chichester, and from his chambers at the Middle Temple.81CJ ii. 100b; M. Temple Bench Bk. 77; MTR ii. 1005. However, the absence of further evidence of sequestration at this point raises the possibility that Lewkenor’s estate was initially protected by his old employer, Northumberland.

Following his release from prison Lewkenor remained active in the royalist war effort, receiving a commission from the king to raise 500 horse and 1,200 foot in November 1643.82Docquets of Letters Patent ed. Black, 96; Northants. RO, FH133. His troop served under Sir Ralph Hopton*, and later in the month were encamped at Winchester.83Harl. 6852, f. 243. Thereafter, Lewkenor appears to have retired: the parliamentary historian, John Vicars, cited Lewkenor as being typical of Sussex royalists, particularly the lawyers, whose support for the king wavered in the face of the victories achieved by parliamentarian forces.84Godwin, Civil War in Hants (1904), 40. However, this comment was wide of the mark: Lewkenor did not defect to Parliament. He attended the Oxford Parliament in January 1644, and was knighted by the king on 18 December that year.85Rushworth, Hist. Collns. iv. 573-4; Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 219. Lewkenor was evidently still at Oxford in January 1645, when the royalist council of war ordered him to raise £50 in Oxfordshire.86Harl. 6852, f. 254.

Lewkenor’s movements thereafter are unclear, but at the end of January 1646 he was reported to be at Charles Fort, Salcombe, Devon, where in siege conditions and under threat from clubmen, ‘Kit Lukener the great trencher man’ was supposedly ‘afraid he shall be starved’.87Perfect Occurences no. 6 (30 Jan.-6 Feb. 1646, E.320.18). He was there with Sir Edmund Fortescue when on 17 May 1646 it was the penultimate royalist garrison in the west to surrender to Parliament; the articles allowed him to return home.88Articles of Agreement for the Surrender of Charles Fort (1646), 1-3 (E.339.18). By 1650 Lewkenor was living at a house called Grey Friars in Chichester, leased from the corporation for a rent of £6 a year, his manor at Liss having been sequestered.89CCC 216. Attempts to resolve conflicting claims on his estate went on for three years. In late 1650 and early 1651, Lewkenor’s children sought to have an earlier order for an allowance of one fifth of his estate renewed, since the county committee was refusing to cooperate. The Committee for Compounding initially declared in their favour, but in October 1650 John Hooke claimed that he was still owed £2,000 by a deed of 1641, under the terms of Lewkenor’s purchase of the manor of Liss.90CCC 2573-4. Lewkenor was named in the act for the sale of lands forfeited for treason in July 1651, and consequently Liss was sold to Hooke by the treason trustees, but in November 1652 the Commons rejected a move to include Lewkenor’s name in another bill for the sale of estates forfeited for treason.91A. and O.; CCC 2574; CJ vii. 205b.

The final outcome is unclear, but Lewkenor was evidently in a poor financial position when he drew up his will on 1 July 1653. He described himself as ‘sick’, which might give some credence to a comment by Edward Hyde* on 5 September that year that he had been ‘dead many months’, but that it would in any case have been an exaggeration.92CCSP ii. 248. Hyde, at a distance, may have been misinformed. The former MP might have been the ‘Mr Lewkenor’ suspected of involvement in the royalist plot organised by John Stapley* in 1658, but if he outlived the Restoration which Stapley sought, then it was not for long.93TSP vii. 81, 110. Lewkenor’s will was proved on 19 November 1660.94PROB11/302/176. Lewkenor had no direct male heirs, although his nephew, John Lewknor, to whom he had been guardian, sat for Midhurst in the Cavalier Parliament (1661) and left descendants who continued the family’s representation at Westminster into the eighteenth century. Christopher Lewkenor’s grandsons Christopher Knight† (formerly Martin) and William Knight† (formerly Woodward) of West Dean sat respectively for Arundel in 1698 and for Midhurst in 1713.95HP Commons 1660-1690; HP Commons 1690-1715.