IRBY

Sir Anthony Irby (c. 1605 – 2 January 1682) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1682.

Irby was the eldest son of Sir Anthony Irby and his wife Elizabeth Peyton, third daughter of Sir John Peyton, 1st Baronet,^[1] and was born before 17 January 1605. He was admitted as a fellow-commoner at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1620.^[2] He was knighted on 2 June 1624. In 1628, Irby was elected Member of Parliament for Boston and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1637.^[3]

In April 1640, Irby was elected MP for Boston again in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Boston for the Long Parliament in November 1640. He sat until 1648 when he was excluded under Pride’s Purge.^[3]

Irby was re-elected MP for Boston in 1656 for the Second Protectorate Parliament and elected for the seat again in 1659 for the Third Protectorate Parliament. In April 1660 he was re-elected MP for Boston for the Convention Parliament and was elected again in 1661 for the Cavalier Parliament. He was elected again in the second election of 1679 for the Second Exclusion Parliament and in 1681.^[3]

Irby married firstly, in 1623, Frances Wray, daughter of Sir William Wray, 1st Baronet, and had by her an only daughter, Elizabeth, who married Hon. George Montagu.^[4] He married secondly Margaret Smyth, daughter of Sir Richard Smythe, 2nd Baronet and after her death in 1631, next Margaret Barkham, daughter of Sir Edward Barkham, 1st Baronet, who died in 1640.^[5] By his second and third wife, Irby had no surviving children, three daughters having died as infants.^[5] On 19 August 1641, he married finally Catharine Paget, third daughter of William Paget, 4th Baron Paget, and had by her a son and five daughters.^[6]

References

1.  Thompson, Pishey (1856). The History and Antiquities of Boston. London: Longman and Co. pp. 393.
2.  “Irby, Anthony (IRBY620A)”. A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3.  History of Parliament Online – Irby, Anthony
4.  Collins, Arthur (1812). Sir Egerton Brydges (ed.). Collin’s Peerage of England. Vol. VII. London: T. Bensley. p. 304.
5.  Thompson, Pishey (1856). The History and Antiquities of Boston. London: Longman and Co. pp. 394–396.
6.  Burke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 131.

Anthony Irby (1547 – 6 October 1625) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1622.

Background

Irby was the only son of Thomas Irby of Whaplode and his wife Isabel Serjeant, daughter of Thomas Serjeant.^[1] He matriculated from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1559 and was called to the bar by Lincoln’s Inn in 1569.^[2] His uncle was Leonard Irby.^[3] He was commissioner for sewers in Lincolnshire in 1564.^[4]

Career

Irby became recorder and town clerk of Stamford, Lincolnshire. In 1588 some of the burgesses of Stamford terminated his appointment as recorder and possibly as a result, when he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) that year, it was for Boston. After making enquiries in January 1589, the Privy Council ordered in March that Irby, “a gentleman of good discretion, credit and learning”, should be reinstated as recorder of Stamford, although this only happened after the burgesses were given two warnings. He became a bencher of his Inn in 1591 and Autumn Reader a year later. He was re-elected MP for Boston in 1592, and again in 1597 and 1601 during the rule of Elizabeth I of England. He was re-elected MP for Boston in 1604 after James I of England had become King. He was appointed recorder of Boston in 1613, a post he held until his death in 1625. In 1614 he was elected MP for Boston again in the Addled Parliament and was re-elected in 1621. He became a Master in Chancery in about 1621.

Family

On 22 December 1575, he married the widow Alice Tash, daughter of Thomas Welbye.^[1] They had five sons and two daughters.^[1] Irby was buried at Whapload.^[4]

Anthony (1577–1610)

His oldest surviving son Anthony (1577–1610) sat also in the Parliament of England.^[3] Irby was knighted by James I on 23 July 1603. Anthony was also an investor in the Virginia Company. Some sources^[which?] state he was a Member of Parliament for Boston in 1604, but that was probably his father.^[5]

In February 1603, he married Elizabeth Peyton, third daughter of Sir John Peyton, 1st Baronet.^[6] They had three sons and two daughters.^[7] His oldest son Anthony was Sheriff of Lincolnshire and represented Boston in the Parliament of England.^[7]

According to Collins, Anthony died aged 32 in 1610, and is buried in Whaplode Church, where he has a 10-poster tomb.^[7] The inscription on the tomb reads: “Heere lieth buried Sr Anthonie Irby Knight sonne of Anthonie Irby esquire and Alice his wife daughter of Thomas Welbie esquire which Sr Anthonie tooke to wife, Elizabeth daughter of Sr John Peyton of Iselham in the countie of Cambridge knight and baronet of the noble race of the Uffordes sometimes Earls of Suffolk by whome he had issue Sr Anthonie Irby knight Edward Thomas Alice and Elizabeth who died an infant; Sr Anthonie the eldest married his first wife Fraunces daughter of Sir William Wray knight and baronet and Fraunces bis wife daughter and coheire to Sir William Drury of Halsted in Suffolk; his second Margaret daughter of Sr Richard Smith of the countie of Kent knight.”

References

1.  Thompson, Pishey (1856). The History and Antiquities of Boston. London: Longman and Co. pp. 392–393.
2.  “Anthony Irby (IRBY559A)”. A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3.  Collins, Arthur (1812). Sir Egerton Brydges (ed.). Collin’s Peerage of England. Vol. VII. London: T. Bensley. pp. 302–303.
4.  History of Parliament Online – Anthony Irby
5.  e.g. Genealogical memoirs of the extinct family of Chester of Chicheley, p.222
6.  Thompson, Pishey (1856). The History and Antiquities of Boston. London: Longman and Co. pp. 393.
7.  Collins, Arthur (1741). Richard Johnson (ed.). The English Baronetage: Containing a Genealogical and Historical Account of All the English Baronets. Vol. IV. London: Thomas Wotton. pp. 100–101.