{{short description|Member of the Parliament of England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}} {{Use British English|date=March 2018}}
Sir '''Edward Wynter''' or '''Wintour''' (born 1560, died 1619) was an English mariner and landowner who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1587 and 1601.<ref name=HOP>M.R.P., 'Wynter, Edward (c.1560-1619), of Lydney, Glos.', in P.W. Hasler (ed.), ''The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603'' (from Boydell and Brewer 1981), [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/wynter-edward-1560-1619 History of Parliament online].</ref> He developed the iron workings around the family estates at Lydney in the Forest of Dean, which in his son's time were of importance to the Royalist cause. His marriage to Lady Anne Somerset produced a strongly Roman Catholic allegiance among his children.
==Life== Wynter was the eldest son of Admiral Sir William Wynter of Lydney, Gloucestershire<ref>A.P. Baggs and A.R.J. Jurica, 'Lydney: Manors and other estates', in ''A History of the County of Gloucester'', Volume 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, the Forest of Dean, ed. C.R.J. Currie and N.M. Herbert (V.C.H., London 1996), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp46-84 pp. 46-84] (British History Online, accessed 21 April 2021).</ref> (died 1589) and his wife Mary Langton.<ref name=VisG>'Wynter. Pedigree No. 1 and No. 2', in J. Macleane and W.C. Heane (eds), ''The Visitation of the County of Gloucester taken in the year 1623,'' (&c.), Harleian Society XXI (1885), pp. 271-78, [https://archive.org/details/visitationofcoun00inchit/page/272/mode/2up?view=theater at p. 273] (Internet Archive).</ref> He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 20 December 1577, aged 17 and was awarded BA on 28 January 1579. He was a student of the Inner Temple in 1579.<ref>'Winter, (Sir) Edward (Wynter)', in J. Foster (ed.), ''Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714'' (Oxford 1891), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp1654-1674 pp. 1654-74] (British History Online, accessed 19 June 2023).</ref> In 1587, he was elected Member of Parliament for Newport.<ref name=Williams>W.R. Williams, ''Parliamentary History of the County of Gloucester'' (Author, Hereford 1898), [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924030494953#page/n57/mode/2up pp. 47-48] (Internet Archive).</ref> Wynter sailed to the Caribbean with Sir Francis Drake, setting out as Captain of the ''Aid'' in the voyage of 1585-1586, during which his brother Nicholas Wynter was lost.<ref>M.F. Keeler (ed.), ''Sir Francis Drake's West Indian Voyage, 1585-86'', The Hakluyt Society (London 1981), [https://books.google.com/books?id=DhWfsDLFC34C&pg=PA280 p. 280], [https://books.google.com/books?id=DhWfsDLFC34C&pg=PA299 p. 299-300], and ''passim'' (Google Preview).</ref> In August 1588, Wynter served on board his father's ship against the Spanish Armada.<ref>'Letter from Edward Wynter to Sir Francis Walsyngham. 24 August 1588', in 'Proceedings of the Central Committee, September 10, 1845', ''Journal of the British Archaeological Association'' I (London 1846), pp. 309-46, [https://books.google.com/books?id=zA8rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA321 at pp. 321-23] (Google).</ref> In February 1589 his father died, and in that month Edward took his seat as MP for Gloucestershire. His father's will, naming Edward sole executor, was proved on 15 March 1588/89 by oath of his attorney.<ref>Will of Sir William Wynter of Lydney, Gloucestershire (P.C.C. 1589, Leicester quire).</ref> He succeeded his father to the estate which Sir William had built up since c.1560 around the manors and dependencies of Lydney.<ref>Baggs and Jurica, 'Lydney: Manors and other estates', V.C.H. Gloucester V (1996), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp46-84#anchorn355 pp. 46-84, at note 355] (British History Online), citing The National Archives (UK), 'Inquisitions post mortem (Chancery), Gloucestershire: Winter, Sir William (17 November 1589-16 November 1590),' [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7835262 ref. C 142/227/204] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref> At about this time, Wynter killed Henry Walsh of Little Sodbury in a duel in Marylebone, for which he was granted a royal pardon.<ref name=Kauf /> Soon afterwards, having resolved to journey abroad, he was captured in 1589 and was sold as a prisoner to the Spanish ambassador in France, Bernardino de Mendoza. He was at first held in Amiens, but was soon afterwards transferred to the castle of Antwerp, for almost four years.<ref name=HOP /> During this period lawsuits were brought against him in England which he was unable to defend, except through appeal to members of the Council. He became a hostage against the release of Don Pedro de Valdes, General of the Andalusian squadron, who had been captured by the English at the time of the armada. Upon his release Wynter found he was expected to pay a large ransom for the release of Valdes, owing to the inequality of their condition.<ref name=HOP /><ref>'Sir Robert Cecil and Sir John Wolley to Edward Wynter. 22 April 1593', and 'Edward Wynter to Sir Robert Cecil and Sir John Wolley. 14 May 1593', in ''Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Most Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury, at Hatfield House'', Part IV (Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, HMSO 1892), [https://books.google.com/books?id=OggRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA302 pp. 302-03], [https://books.google.com/books?id=OggRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA313 pp. 313-14] (Google).</ref><ref>J. Strype, ''Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion'', New Edition (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1824), III Part 2, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_XRKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA38 pp. 38-40] (Google). Letter misdated 1588, ''recte'' 8 July 1592.</ref>
As patron of Lydney church he presented Antony Stirrey, or Sterry, as vicar in 1594,<ref>J. James, 'DCCCLXXXVI. Notes on Lydney and its dependencies', ''Gloucestershire Notes and Queries: An Illustrated Quarterly'' II (Wm. Kent & Co., London 1884), pp. 493-505, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iUcQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA501 at p. 501] (Google).</ref> who was instituted in August 1595 and remained in that living (as rector from 1603) until at least 1623.<ref>Clergy of the Church of England database, ref CCEd [https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/locations/DisplayLocation.jsp?locKey=9418 Location display 9418].</ref> Stirrey, who had been rector of Abenhall since 1568, was also curate of Aylburton chapel at Lydney from 1612.<ref>Clergy of the Church of England database, ref CCEd [https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?PersonID=134377 Person ID 134377].</ref> Wynter was knighted in 1595, and on 11 August in that year he married Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester.<ref name=VisG /><ref name=Williams/>
An insight into Sir Edward's household at Lydney arises from an event which led to legal proceedings in Star Chamber in 1597. A young African man called Edward, Wynter's godson, referred to as "Swarthye" (i.e., black), held the relatively senior office of porter, with authority over many of the junior servants: he is one of a number of examples of Africans holding status in late Tudor English households. It is thought most likely that he was brought to England by Sir Edward from the expedition with Drake in 1585-86. In 1596, in the great hall of White Cross Manor at Lydney, at Wynter's instruction, he administered a whipping to an Englishman John Guye (who had been Wynter's steward and was thereupon discharged from service). Swarthye, who died in 1627, remained attached to the household.<ref name=Kauf>'4. Edward Swarthye, the Porter', in M. Kaufmann, ''Black Tudors: The Untold Story'' (Simon and Schuster, 2017), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7D-9DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT79 pp. 90 ff] (Google Preview).</ref>
Wynter was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire from November 1598 to December 1599.<ref>C. Elrington, 'List of Sheriffs of Gloucestershire', in ''Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society'' 128 (2010), [https://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas_bg/v128/bg128207.pdf pp. 207–227] (Society's pdf), at p. 216.</ref> On 19 January 1601, he became Constable of St Briavels Castle and Keeper of the Forest of Dean<ref>Baggs and Jurica, 'Lydney: Manors and other estates', V.C.H. Gloucester V (1996), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp46-84#anchorn357 pp. 46-84, at note 357] (British History Online), citing Gloucester Record Office D 421/E 3, and C.E. Hart, ''Royal Forest. A History of Deans Woods As Producers of Timber'' (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1966), p. 86.</ref> on the death of the 2nd Earl of Pembroke. In letter in the Cecil Papers, Wynter refers to the Earl's demands that he should pay sureties for his own behaviour in this office.<ref>'Sir Edward Wynter to the Lord Admiral and Sir Robert Cecil. 6 February' (attributed date 1595/96), in 'Cecil Papers: February 1596, 1-15', in R.A. Roberts (ed.), ''Calendar of the Cecil Papers in Hatfield House'', Vol. VI: 1596 (HMSO, London 1895), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-cecil-papers/vol6/pp43-58 pp. 43-58] (British History Online, accessed 18 June 2023). ?Date endorsement possibly incorrect.</ref> He was elected MP for Gloucestershire again in 1601. On 10 January 1609, he surrendered his posts as constable and keeper to the 3rd Earl of Pembroke.
Wynter's iron production in the Forest of Dean involved the felling of coppices and development of charcoal pits for fuel for smelting, in addition to open-cast quarrying or levelling for iron ore and for outcrops of coal.<ref>A.P. Baggs and A.R.J. Jurica, 'Forest of Dean: Industry', in C.R.J. Currie and N.M. Herbert (eds), ''A History of the County of Gloucester'', Vol. 5: Bledisloe Hundred, St. Briavels Hundred, the Forest of Dean (V.C.H., London 1996), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp326-354 pp. 326-354] (British History Online, accessed 22 June 2023).</ref> Wynter built his furnaces for the extraction of metal from ore (which required water-power to drive bellows) beside the stream that crosses the Lydney vale.<ref name=Nicholls /> In all these respects he met with the protests and reprisals of the Freeminers and Commoners of the Forest, who thought their customary rights were being taken away and the benefits redirected to private interest. In 1606/07 Wynter brought proceedings against a group of Commoners in Star Chamber,<ref>cf. The National Archives (UK), ''Wyntour v Cachmay'' [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5576131 ref. STAC 8/303/7] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref> claiming that he had been the victim of malicious hostility whipped up against him.<ref>S. Sandall, '"They call their neighbours cowards for not assisting them": Custom, neighbourliness and popular resistance in early modern England', in B.C. Kane and S. Sandall (eds), ''The Experience of Neighbourhood in Medieval and Early Modern Europe'', Studies in Medieval History and Culture (Routledge, Abingdon/New York 2022), [https://books.google.com/books?id=l4FGEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 pp. 88-104] (Google preview).</ref><ref>See also S. Sandall, ''Custom and Popular Memory in the Forest of Dean, c.1550-1832'' (Scholars' Press, 2013).</ref> He purchased rights to timber from the Crown in 1611, but this led to several further disputes with the Commoners, who were concerned that they would have no wood left for their own use:<ref name=Williams /><ref name=Nicholls>'Winter', in H.G. Nicholls, ''The Personalities of the Forest of Dean'' (John Murray, London 1863), pp. 112-27, at [https://books.google.com/books?id=II8xAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA113 pp. 113-17] (Google): citing [https://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=IAMS_VU2&docid=IAMS041-002072795&lang=en_US&fromRedirectFilter=true Lansdowne MSS, No. 166/94] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230621215435/https://searcharchives.bl.uk/primo-explore/fulldisplay?vid=IAMS_VU2&docid=IAMS041-002072795&lang=en_US&fromRedirectFilter=true |date=21 June 2023 }} (British Library Archive search), fols. 340, 344, 346.</ref> he surrendered these rights in 1616.<ref>The National Archives (UK), Exchequer: Surrender by Sir Edward Wyntour of Lydney, [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4484134 ref. E 214/809] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref>
==Death and issue== Wynter died on 3 March 1619.<ref name=HOP /><ref>Baggs and Jurica, 'Lydney: Manors and other estates', V.C.H. Gloucester V (1996), [https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol5/pp46-84#anchorn358 pp. 46-84, at note 358] (British History Online), citing The National Archives (UK), 'Inquisitions post mortem (Chancery), Gloucestershire: Winter, Sir Edward (24 March 1619-23 March 1620),' [https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7846850 ref. C 142/378/147] (Discovery Catalogue).</ref>
Wynter married Anne Somerset, a daughter of Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester. She danced in masques at court, including ''The Masque of Queens'' and the ''The Masque of Beauty''.<ref>Kristen McDermott, ''Masques of Difference: Four Court Masques by Ben Jonson'' (Manchester University Press, 2007), pp. 208–209.</ref> Their children included:<ref name=vg1682>'Winter of Lidney', in T.F.P. Fenwick and W.C. Metcalfe (eds), ''The Visitation of the County of Gloucester, begun by Thomas May, Chester, and Gregory King, Rouge Dragon, in Trinity Vacacon 1682, and finished by Henry Dethick'' (for Mr. Fenwick, Exeter 1884), [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucbk.ark:/28722/h2ds15&view=1up&seq=217&q1=Winter at pp. 205-06] (HathiTrust).</ref>
* Edward Wynter (died in childhood) * Sir John Wynter (c.1600-1676), ironmaster. An ardent catholic and royalist. On 15 March 1627 he paid for 4000 cords of wood to be felled in the Forest of Dean.<ref name=Williams/> * Robert Wynter * William Wynter * Edward Wynter. Edward Wintour and Frederick Wintour were said in 1635 to have gone in person as gentleman adventurers to Lord Baltimore's plantation of Maryland,<ref>(T. Cecil, engraver), ''A Relation of Maryland together with a map of the countrey, the conditions of plantation, his Majesties charter to the Lord Baltemore, translated into English'' (William Peasley, London 1635), [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A07165.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext at p. 56] (Umich/eebo).</ref> a haven for English Roman Catholics of which they were among the original founders.<ref>E.D. Neill, ''The Founders of Maryland as Portrayed in Manuscripts, Provincial Records and Early Documents'' (J. Munsell, Albany 1876), at [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AAW1054.0001.001/51?rgn=full+text;view=image p. 49] and [https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AAW1054.0001.001/66?rgn=full+text;view=image p. 64] (Umich/eebo).</ref> * Henry Frederick Wynter * Elizabeth Wynter, married Richard Monington of Sarnesfield, Herefordshire.<ref name=vg1682 /> * Anne Wynter (1597-1676), married Benedict Hall (c. 1582-1660) of High Meadow, Newland, Gloucestershire:<ref>For Hall's monumental inscription, see J. Fendley (ed.), ''Notes on the Diocese of Gloucester by Chancellor Richard Parsons'', Gloucestershire Records Series 19 (Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=buAWAQAAIAAJ&q=Wintour at p. 179] (Google snippett).</ref> among their daughters were ** Cecilia Hall (1625-1651)<ref name=Cambrai>C. Heywood, ed. J. Gillow, 'Records of the Abbey of Our Lady of Consolation at Cambrai, 1620-1793', ''Catholic Records Society'' Vol. 13: Miscellanea VIII (London 1913), pp. 1-85, at p. 47, p. 80 and p. 84. Reader at [https://issuu.com/tcrs/docs/volume13/1 issuu.com].</ref> and ** Catherine Hall (1634-1692, abbess 1673-77) who together entered the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Consolation at Cambrai (Artois) in 1646. Their mother also retired there in 1675 and is buried with them there.<ref name=Cambrai /> * Marie Winter (1604-1630) was received into the English Monastery of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, in Brussels, as a Benedictine nun on 15 August 1618.<ref>J.S. Hansom (ed.), 'III. The Register Book of Professions, etc., of the English Benedictine nuns at Brussels and Winchester, now at East Bergholt, 1598-1856', ''Catholic Record Society'', Vol. 14: Miscellanea IX (London 1914), pp. 174-203, at p. 184. Reader at [https://issuu.com/tcrs/docs/volume14 issuu.com].</ref>
It was a younger Sir Edward Winter (1621/22-1686) who became an administrator for the East India Company.<ref>I.B. Watson, 'Winter, Sir Edward (1621/2–1686)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (OUP 2004). Online edition 2008.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|en}} {{succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Newport | before= Robert Mordaunt | before2= Walter Covert | with= John Osborne | years=1587 | after= William Cavendish | after2= Daniel Rogers }} {{succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire | before= William Bridges | before2= Sir William Wynter | with=Sir Thomas Throckmorton | years=1589 | after= Sir Henry Poole | after2= Sir John Pointz }} {{succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire | before= Sir John Tracy | before2= Sir John Hungerford | with= John Throckmorton | years=1601 | after= Hon. Sir Thomas Berkeley | after2=Sir Richard Berkeley }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynter, Edward}} Category:1560 births Category:Year of death missing Category:Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:High sheriffs of Gloucestershire Category:English MPs 1586–1587 Category:English MPs 1589 Category:English MPs 1601