SIR RICHARD SOUTHWELL (1504-1564), courtier and official, born in 1504, was descended from a family long settled
in the east of England. His grandfather, Sir Richard Southwell of Barham Hall, Suffolk, acquired Woodrising in Norfolk
by his marriage with Amy, daughter and coheiress of Sir Edmund Wichingham.1 He left two sons; the elder,
Sir Robert (d. 1514?), was a friend of Henry VII, seneschal of the estates forfeited by the Poles,
and chief butler.2 He was twice married, but left no children by either wife. His younger brother, Francis,
auditor of the exchequer, married Dorothy, daughter of William Tendring, and by her left two sons, Richard, the subject
of the present notice, and Robert. Francis died before 1 Feb. 1515.
Richard, owing to the deaths of his father and uncle, was heir to great wealth. His wardship was given to his uncle's widow,
Elizabeth, and to William Wootton, but on 27 June 1519 he was handed over to Sir Thomas Wyndham. He was apparently brought
up with Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, and was thenceforth intimate
with the family of the Duke of Norfolk. On 12 July 1525 he had livery of his lands. In 1531
he had pardon for being concerned in a murder, but had to pay £1,000. He was none the less trusted by the authorities,
and was made sheriff of Norfolk in 1534-5. Early in 1535 Gregory Cromwell [son of Thomas Cromwell]
was living with him in Norfolk as his pupil. 'The hours of his study for the French tongue, writing, playing at weapons,
casting accounts, pastimes of instruments, have been devised by Mr. Southwell, who spares no pains, daily hearing him read
in the English tongue, advertising him of their true pronunciation, explaining the etymology of those words we have borrowed
from the French or the Latin, not even so commonly used in our quotidian speech.'
From 1535 onwards Southwell took an active part in the proceeding against the monasteries [see
Dissolution of the Monasteries]. He interceded for Pentney in 1536, but had no scruples about
making profit out of the surrenders. In January 1536 he took charge of Bishop Nix's effects. In the days of
the pilgrimage of grace he was loyal and helped to suppress sedition in Norfolk. Finally,
on 24 April 1538, he was made a receiver to the court of augmentations. In 1538 he was also engaged in surveying the lands
of the Duke of Suffolk, and in 1539 he was in attendance on the
Duke of Norfolk at the reception of Anne of Cleves.
Southwell was doubtless a tool of the court. He was chosen, by court influence, M.P. for Norfolk in 1539. He was one of the
king's council, and was knighted in 1542. In June 1542 he was a commissioner at Berwick, and in January 1542-3 was concerned
in the release of the Scottish prisoners then in England, taking an important part in the negotiations with them. He seems
to have been kind to John Louth the reformer, who lived in his house,3 though he hardly shared his beliefs. At
the close of 1546, with, as it seems, the basest motives, he came forward as the accuser of Surrey [see under
Howard, Henry, Earl or Surrey, 1517?-1547]. A poem by Surrey,
the paraphrase of Psalm LV., is supposed to contain a reference to this ingratitude.
Though not one of [King] Henry's executors, he was one of the twelve appointed to assist them, and was a member of the
privy council, and a very regular attendant at its meetings throughout Edward's reign. In
September 1549 he was at Boulogne on a commission of inquiry. A month later Southwell took the side opposed to
Somerset, and was at the meetings in London in October when Somerset's fall was effected.
None the less, doubtless as a Roman catholic, he was imprisoned in January 1549-50 in the Fleet,
where, according to Pouet, 'he confessed enough to be hanged for.' He was released on 9 March. He did not sign the limitation
of the crown in Lady Jane Grey's favour, but afterwards agreed to it. But he enjoyed the royal
favour in Mary's time. On 4 Dec. 1553 he had a pension of £100 for services against
Suffolk.
Southwell took an active part against Wyatt, and was one of those who escorted
Elizabeth to the court when she was under suspicion of complicity
with Wyatt. On 11 May 1554 he became master of the ordnance, holding the office till 12 April 1560, when
Ambrose Dudley (afterwards earl of Warwick) succeeded
him. It is said that he announced the queen's pregnancy to the lords in 1554 [see under Mary I].
On Elizabeth's accession Southwell lost his seat on the council,
and on 5 Dec. 1558 he was ordered to give an account of the ordnance to the lords. He died on 11 Jan. 1563-4.4
He was very rich, and an account of his property in 1545-6 is preserved in the Bodleian Library.
He married, first, Thomasine, daughter of Sir Robert Darcy of Danbury, Essex, by whom he had a daughter Elizabeth, who
married George Heneage; secondly, Mary, daughter of Thomas Darcy, also of Danbury, Essex, by whom he had had two illegitimate
sons in the lifetime of his first wife, namely, Richard Southwell of Horsham St. Faith's, Norfolk, and Thomas Southwell of
Monton. Richard Southwell of Horsham St. Faith's was the father of
Robert Southwell the jesuit.
1. cf. Paston Letters.
2. cf. Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, ii. 29, cf. p. 96.
3. Strype, Memorials, I. i. 596.
4. Inquisitio p. m. 6 Eliz. No. 142.
Source:
Archbold, W. A. J. "Sir Richard Southwell."
Dictionary of National Biography. Vol LIII. Sidney Lee, Ed.
New York: The Macmillan Co., 1898. 292-293.
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