Edward Nicholas - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sir Edward Nicholas was an English statesman.

Life

He was the eldest son of John Nicholas, a member of an old Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

family.

He was educated at Salisbury grammar school, Winchester College

Winchester College

Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...

and Queen's College, Oxford. After studying law at the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

, Nicholas became secretary to Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche

Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche

Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, 12th Baron St Maur was an English diplomat.-Early Life:Zouche was the son of George la Zouche, 10th Baron Zouche and his wife Margaret, née Welby....

, warden, and admiral of the Cinque Ports

Cinque Ports

The Confederation of Cinque Ports is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex. It was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial. It lies at the eastern end of the English Channel, where the crossing to the continent is narrowest...

, in 1618, and continued in a similar employment under the Duke of Buckingham

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...

. In 1625 he became secretary to the admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

; shortly afterwards he was appointed an extra clerk of the privy council

Privy Council of England

The Privy Council of England, also known as His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England...

with duties relating to admiralty business, and from 1635 to 1641 he was one of the clerks in ordinary to the council. In this situation Nicholas had much business to transact in connection with the levy of ship-money; and in 1641, when Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

went to Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, a heavy responsibility rested on the secretary who remained in London to keep the king informed of the proceedings of the parliament. On the return of Charles to the capital Nicholas was knighted, and appointed a privy councillor

Privy Council of England

The Privy Council of England, also known as His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, was a body of advisers to the sovereign of the Kingdom of England...

and a Secretary of State

Secretary of State (England)

In the Kingdom of England, the title of Secretary of State came into being near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I , the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary....

, in which capacity he attended the king while the court was at Oxford, and carried out the business of the Treaty of Uxbridge

Treaty of Uxbridge

The Treaty of Uxbridge of early 1645 was a significant but abortive negotiation to try to end the First English Civil War.-Background:Parliament drew up 27 articles in November 1644 and presented them to Charles I of England at Oxford. Much input into these Propositions of Uxbridge was from...

.

Throughout this troubled period he was one of Charles's wisest and most loyal advisers; he it was who arranged the details of the king's surrender to the Scots, though he does not appear to have advised or even to have approved of the step; and to him also fell the duty of treating for the capitulation of Oxford, which included permission for Nicholas himself to retire abroad with his family. He went to France, being recommended by the king to the confidence of the Prince of Wales

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

.

After the king's death Nicholas remained on the continent concerting measures on behalf of the exiled Charles II with Hyde

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon

Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon was an English historian and statesman, and grandfather of two English monarchs, Mary II and Queen Anne.-Early life:...

and other royalists, but the hostility of Queen Henrietta Maria

Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...

deprived him of any real influence in the counsels of the young sovereign. He lived at The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

and elsewhere in a state of poverty which hampered his power to serve Charles, but which the latter did nothing to relieve.

As an enthusiastic Royalist, in a letter dated 10 September 1657 and directed toward Sir Edward Hyde, Nicholas speaks of Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

;

... I conceive his Majesty should do well to set a good price on his head and all the heads of the chief commanders in Ireland and also in Scotland...

He returned to England at the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

; Charles had appointed him secretary of state

Secretary of State (England)

while in exile in 1654, and upon the restoration, Nicholas duly took office as Secretary of State along with William Morice

William Morice

Sir William Morice, 1st Baronet , of Werrington , was an English Member of Parliament....

, a former parliamentary supporter. Nicholas was soon retired in favor of Charles's favorite Henry Bennet

Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington

Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington KG, PC was an English statesman.- Background and early life :He was the son of Sir John Bennet of Dawley, Middlesex, and of Dorothy Crofts. He was the younger brother of John Bennet, 1st Baron Ossulston; his sister was Elizabeth Bennet who married Robert Kerr,...

, however, and he had to content himself with a grant of money and the offer of a peerage, which his poverty compelled him to decline. He retired to a country seat in Surrey which he purchased from Carew Raleigh, son of Sir Walter Raleigh

Walter Raleigh

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....

, and here he lived till his death in 1669.

Family

By his wife Jane, a daughter of Henry Jay, an alderman of London, he had several sons and daughters; his younger brother Matthew Nicholas

Matthew Nicholas

-Life:He was a younger brother of Sir Edward Nicholas, born on 26 September 1594. He was elected scholar of Winchester College in 1607. He matriculated as scholar of New College, Oxford, on 18 February 1614, graduated B.C.L. on 30 June 1620, and D.C.L. on 30 June 1627.He became rector of Westden,...

(1594–1661) was successively dean of Bristol, canon of Westminster and dean of St Paul's

Dean of St Paul's

The Dean of St Paul's is the head of the Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in London, England in the Church of England. The most recent Dean, Graeme Knowles, formerly Bishop of Sodor and Man, was installed on 1 October 2007 and resigned on 31 October 2011...

. His country seat was at Sunninghill

Sunninghill

Sunninghill may refer to:*Sunninghill, Berkshire, England*Sunninghill, Gauteng, South Africa...

in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

Correspondence

The collected correspondences of Nicholas were published in three volumes by the Royal Historical Society in 1920.

Life

Family

Correspondence

Further reading