CLINTON, alias FIENNES, Edward, Lord Clinton (1624-57), of Tattershall Castle, Lincs.

Edward Lord Clinton was the son and heir of the prominent parliamentarian peer, Theophilus, 4th earl of Lincoln, and his political career was influenced by that of his father. Lincoln had been an opponent of the crown since the 1620s, when he worked closely with his brother-in-law and cousin, Viscount Saye and Sele, and had allied himself with another oppositionist nobleman, John Holles, 1st earl of Clare. During the 1640s, Lincoln again stood against the king, but he did not share Saye’s religiously-inspired antagonism towards Charles I, and sided instead with the more moderate Presbyterian interest associated with Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex, and commons men such as Denzil Holles*.4A. Austin, History of the Clinton Barony (1999), 67, 70. As a result, he was impeached by the Independents in September 1647, following the abortive Presbyterian coup earlier in the summer, and retired from politics altogether after the execution of the king.5CSP Dom. 1645-7, p. 570.

The parliamentary activities of Lincoln’s eldest son, Edward, who enjoyed the courtesy title of Lord Clinton, were limited in scope even when his father was in favour at Westminster. He was elected, late in 1646 or early in 1647, at the age of 21, to the Cornish borough of Callington on the interest of his sister’s husband, Robert Rolle* of Satchville, Devon.6Austin, Clinton Barony, 70 He took the Covenant on 1 February 1647, but played no further part in proceedings in the Commons. On 29 July 1648 he was granted leave to ‘go into the country’, and he was resident at Nottingham in September of that year.7CJ v. 69a, 651b; vi. 18a. On 26 September Clinton was absent at the call of the House, but on 20 October his fine was remitted, as his excuse for absence had been accepted.8CJ vi. 34a, 56b. Although apparently in good standing with the Commons at this time, Clinton’s position as the son of a Presbyterian peer ensured that he was secluded by the army at Pride’s Purge on 6 December 1648.9A List of the Imprisoned and Secluded Members (1648, 669.f.13.62); A Vindication (1649), 29 (E.539.5); Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 370.

In 1648, Lord Clinton married a daughter of the 2nd earl of Clare, thus cementing Lincoln’s former alliance with the 1st earl and also his association with Denzil Holles, who was the bride’s uncle. The marriage probably took place in or around January 1648, as on 18th of that month the two earls exchanged bonds for £8,000, preparatory to signing a marriage settlement.10LC4/203, f.21v. In September, when Lincoln, backed by the House of Lords, challenged the placing of a garrison in the family castle at Tattershall, he included among his reasons that ‘the Lord Clinton … now at Nottingham with his wife, hath no other house furnished to carry her into’.11CJ vi. 18a. There are signs that the marriage settlement was not entirely to Lincoln’s liking, however. The final agreement was not signed until March 1652, and in the 1660s the widowed Lady Clinton sought redress through chancery against her father-in-law, who had set about spoiling part of the land at Tattershall and Folkingham, assigned to the Clintons in reversion, possibly in retaliation for the Clares not honouring their side of the bargain.12CSP Dom. 1665-6, p. 177.

There were other complications surrounding Clinton’s marriage, as it drew him into the murky world of the Irish land settlement. His wife’s aunt Eleanor Holles was the wife of an Irish Catholic landowner and former confederate officer, Oliver Fitzwilliam of Merrion, who had naturally lost his lands after the Cromwellian invasion. These lands, in co. Dublin, were no longer in the possession of the Fitzwilliams, however, as they had been mortgaged to Richard Boyle, 1st earl of Cork, in the 1630s, and had then passed to Cork’s youngest son, the natural philosopher Robert Boyle. In early 1653 the 2nd earl of Clare put forward money to buy back the lands on behalf of Lady Fitzwilliam (as part of her jointure), but with a consortium, headed by Clinton, making the purchase and acting as trustees thereafter.13Bodl. Firth c.5, ff. 122, 128v-129, 151v, 153v, 155, 161v. In June 1653 the parliamentary commissioners in Ireland discovered that Clinton’s purchase was a front, as he was buying them ‘in trust’ for the Fitzwilliams, and complained to London that a ‘popish recusant’ and rebel stood to gain from the deal.14Eg. 1762, f. 98v. On 16 February 1654 Oliver Cromwell* wrote in support of Clinton, and despite protests from the Dublin government, no further action was taken.15Bodl. Firth c.5, f. 151v; Ire. under the Commonwealth, ii. 419-21. Cromwell’s intervention was presumably prompted by Boyle’s brother, Lord Broghill (Roger Boyle*), but it might also reflect the protector’s personal respect for the Clintons: it may not have been a coincidence that plans to demolish Lincoln’s house at Tattershall were also shelved in 1654.16Austin, Clinton Barony, 69-70.

Lord Clinton died at Covent Garden in the spring of 1657, some months before his 33rd birthday. He left a son, Edward, who was known as Lord Clinton until his grandfather’s death in 1667, when he succeeded as 5th earl of Lincoln.17CP.