A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 



Woburn Abbey,"* but neither he nor his son Francis, the second earl, was 

 closely associated with the county. 



Nothing of political importance is recorded as occurring in the- 

 county in Mary's reign, or in the early years of Elizabeth. In 1575, 

 however, the connexion between Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, which 

 had existed for at least 450 years, was broken by the appointment of separate 

 sheriffs."' 



When the threats of Spanish invasion culminated in 1588 in the coming i 

 of the Armada, the force contributed to the defence of the country by Bed- ' 

 fordshire consisted of seventeen lances, forty light horse, and 500 foot,"* and a 

 list of some who furnished money is extant, containing thirty-three names. 

 The contributions are all of ^25 with the exception of seven, George 

 Keaynsham, esq., and William Stone, esq., giving ^^50 each, and John Bur- 

 goyne, esq., Richard Charnock, esq., William Duncombe, esq., Philip Johns, 

 gentleman, and Thomas Cheyney, gentleman, ^^40 each. Of those who gave 

 £2^, Walter Luke, William Adams, Thomas Parratt, Francis Farrer, Henry 

 Edwards, William Gierke, John Davie, and Oliver Scroggs, are entered with 

 the addition gen. (gentleman) ; Humphrey Fitzwilliam, Richard Harding, and 

 John Catesbie are called esq. Thomas Hawes is described as a tanner, and 

 Richard Crawley as a yeoman, while the names of John Gierke, Henry 

 Fairie, William Audley, Thomas Ympie, Ghristopher Estwick, Henry Lodge, 

 Nicholas Denton, Thomas Spicer alias Alder, John Grawley, Matthew Hans- 

 combe, George Butler, George Smythe, and Robert Bellamy the elder, appear 

 without addition.'" 



In connexion with the Gunpowder Plot John Story, a servant of Percy, 

 was under examination at HocklifFe on 8 November 1605 ; Percy and 

 Wright had passed in haste through HocklifFe on 5 November, where Story 

 was awaiting them with a relay of horses. "' But this is a mere chance 

 connexion arising from the fact that Hockliffe lies on Watling Street between 

 Dunstable and Brickhill. There was one village in Bedfordshire in which, if 

 anywhere, complicity with the plot might be suspected. The Mordaunts 

 of Turvey were true to the old religion, and Henry Lord Mordaunt fell 

 under suspicion, and was committed to the Tower ; he was brought before 

 the Star Ghamber, fined, and released from custody 3 June 1606.'" 



James I frequently hunted in Bedfordshire, for not only was a warrant 

 issued on 4 October 1603 for Sir Robert Dormer, Master of the Hawks, 

 to preserve the king's game in the county and to punish ofFenders,^^" but 

 thirteen years later, 5 August 1616, the king requested Lord St. John and 

 other knights and gentlemen of the county 'to remedy the decay of game in 

 those parts on penalty of his heavy displeasure, and of his withholding his 

 presence from those parts, which he has usually visited every second year, for 

 sporting.''" In July 1608, Alexander St. John was knighted at Bletsoe ; 

 William Grayford at Ampthill, 21 July 1621 ; Francis Stanton at Bletsoe, 



"* Diet. Nat. Biog. 



"' P.R.O. List. The last sheriff of the two counties was Ralph Astrey, who was appointed 15 Nov. 1574, 

 and George Rotherham became Sheriff of Bedfordshire 15 Nov. 1575. 

 ^'^ y^ctsofP.C. xvi, 169, 171. 



'" Names of the Nobilit-^, Gentry, and others who contributed . . . ja 1588 (1798), 3-+. 

 "» Ca/. S.P. Dom. 1663-10, p. 245. 



"° Collins, Peerage. He w is the father of the first Earl of Peterborough. 

 "" Ca/. S.P. Dom. 1603-10, p. 43. »' Ibid. 161 1-18, p. 389. 



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