MRP: Francis Coventry

= Francis Coventry =
(b. ca.1612, d. 1699)

THIS ENTRY REQUIRES STYLISTIC IMPROVEMENT AND CLEARER LINKAGE TO THE HOSKINS FAMILY AND TO THE OXENDEN FAMILY

Thomas, first Baron Coventry

Francis father, Thomas, 1st Baron Coventry (1578-1640), was a prominent lawyer of the Inner Temple. After entering Balliol in 1592, Thomas entered the Inner Temple in 1594, being appointed bencher in 1615, reader in 1616, and treasurer in 1617. He was appointed recorder of London in 1616 and solicitor-general in 1617, when he was knighted. He was MP for Droitwich 1626 and appointed attorney-general in the same year. He was lord keeper of the Great Seal from 1625 till his death. He accumulated considerable wealth during his life. His legal contemporaries were largely favourable as to his abilities and impact. Clarendon thought well of his abilities and noted that he spoke largely on legal matters, rather than politics.

Engraving of Thomas, first Baron Coventry

Francis Coventry's career

Francis Coventry was the third son of Thomas, 1st Baron Coventry, but the second son by his father's second marriage to Elizabeth Aldersley, daughter of John Aldersley of Spurstow, Cheshire. He was thus a cousin of Sir Edmund (Edmond) Hoskins, whose widow he married, since the mother of Sir Edmond was Dorothy Aldersley of Cheshire.

Francis Coventry was specially admitted to the Inner Temple in 1628 and called to the Bar in 1635. He joined a strong family legal tradition. Both his father and grandfather had been distinguished lawyers attached to the Inner Temple. His eldest brother Thomas Coventry (by his father's first marriage) was specially admitted in 1623, his brother John Coventry (by his father's second marriage) was specially admitted in 1626. His brother Henry (by his father's second marriage) was specially admitted in 1633, becoming Secretary of State (1672-1679). Only William Coventry, his youngest brother, was not admitted to Inner Temple. It is not clear how actively Francis Coventry senior practised law. However, he retained his affiliation with the Inner Temple, appearing in Inner Temple records as an officer "for the Grand Christmas" in 1662 and 1663.

By his father's second marriage his elder brother, the Honourable Henry Coventry, predeceased him (1619-1686), as did his younger brother, John Coventry (?-1652), and his youngest brother Sir William Coventry (ca. 1628-1686). Francis Coventry (senior) had a son and heir, Francis Coventry, referred to sometimes as Francis Coventry junior, who predeceased him (CHECK).

Francis was resident in Carshalton during the 1660s, and married the widowed Lady Hoskins (nee Elizabeth Harby) in January 1665/66, when he was ca. fifty-four and she was ca. forty-six. He was thus just slightly younger than Elizabeth Dallison. Francis' first wife was the widow Elizabeth Manning of London & Warbleton, Sussex, whose husband Robert Casar, Esq., one of the Six Clerks, had predeceased her. Elizabeth Manning was one of two daughtes of John Manning, citizen and skinner of London. Francis appears to have have married a third time, after the death of Elizabeth Hoskins/Harby, to a Margaret XXXX, who subsequently married Sir John Thorold of Marston, Lincolnshire.

Francis Coventry's memorial is at Mortlake, Surrey, designed and executed by the sculptor Kidwell. The inscription records his birth at Croome, Worcestershire, and that he was eighty-seven years of age at his death in 1699. A similar design was used for the memorial to his elder brother, Henry Coventry (d. 1686), which is in Croome, Worcestershire. A further monument, that to an apparent third brother, William Coventry (d. 1686) is at Penhurst, Kent

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Primary sources

Letter from Elizabeth Hoskins to Sir GO, ?April 1667, ff. 91-92
Letter from Francis Coventry to Sir GO, April 10th 1667, ff. 95-96
Letter from Elizabeth Hoskins to Sir GO, October 13th 1667, ff. 52-53
Letter from Sir George Smith to Sir GO, ?November 1667, ff. 47-51

Will of Sir Edmund Hoskins, Serjeant at Law 07 February 1665 PROB 11/316 Hyde 1 - 56

Somerset Archive and Record Service: Papers of the Combe Family of Earnshill, Curry Rivel: - (14/1) BUCKLAND ST MARY, CHURCHSTANTON, UPOTTERY deeds DD\CM/173 1634-1799: Content: ...Sir John Thorold of Marston (co. Lincoln), bart., and wife Dame Margaret (widow of Hon. Francis Coventry of Mortlake, co.Surrey), 1703...

PROB 4/20624 Coventry, Francis, of St. Andrew, Holborne, Mdx., ob. at Healing, Lincs, esq. 1688 27 Mar. (1687)

C 142/594/68 Coventry, Thomas, lord: Worcester 16 Charles I.

C 5/81/81 Coventry v. Hoskins: Surrey 1689

Secondary sources

- Anderson, John Eustace, History of the parish of Mortlake, in the county of Surrey, p. 89
The Burlington Magazine: Vol. 114, No. 837, Dec., 1972, p. 867 AUTHOR?
- Inderwick, F.A. (ed.), A calendar of the Inner Temple Records, vol. 3 (London, 1901), p. 10
- MacKinnon, Frank Douglas, Inner Temple papers (London, XXXX), pp. 142-143
- 'Thomas, 1st Baron Coventry' - wikipedia entry
- 'Henry Coventry' - wikipedia entry
- 'Sir William Coventry' - wikipedia entry

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Potential primary sources

Longleat House: The Coventry Papers: [no title] - CO/VOL. CXVI 1657: Contents:
Common place-book of Francis Coventry, third son of Lord Keeper Coventry, containing "Notes taken out of a booke called A little Touchstone of ye Covenant" and (f.36) "out of a booke called Presbyteryes Tryall", arranged under subject-heads. Both tracts were printed together at Paris, 1657, 8vo, the latter having the author's initials. F.W.S. Ff.76. Sm. octavo.

Longleat House: The Coventry Papers: - (no title) CO/VOL. CV 1672-1686: Contents: Family and private correspondence of Sir William Coventry (continued), 6 July, 1672-12 June, 1686; including letters of his brothers Henry and Francis, his nephew Sir John Coventry, Thomas Thynne, Henry Savile, John Pakington, Lord Windsor, and others, with drafts of his own letters. Among other subjects treated are the negotiations for the purchase of Williamstrip from H. Powle in 1676-77, the domestic troubles of Francis Coventry, the death of John Coventry, son of Francis, in Jamaica in 1672 and of Henry Bond Coventry in 1677.
Ff.273.

Longleat House: The Coventry Papers: - (no title) CO/VOL. CIV 1657-1681: Contents: Family and private correspondence of Henry Coventry, 1663-1681, and of Sir William Coventry, 1657-1672; including letters of each to the other, 'of Francis Coventry their brother, Dorothy, Lady Pakington, their sister, Sir John Coventry their nephew, Thomas Thynne, Thomas, Lord Windsor, and others.
Ff.338.

Longleat House: The Coventry Papers: - (no title) CO/VOL. CIII 1660-1662: Contents: Register of the Council for Trade, 13 Nov., 1660 - 12 Mar., 1662; containing copies of petitions, etc., presented to the Council, with references, reports and orders on the same, including matter relating to the East India Company, Merchant Adventurers, Eastland Merchants, Merchants trading to Portugal and Spain, Clothworkers, Framework-knitters, Sugar-refiners, price of coal, making of tapestry, insurance, etc.
Ff.iv, 113.

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Coventry family in Sir George Oxenden correspondence

Francis Coventry impinges ever so slightly in the correspondence of Sir George Oxenden. Shortly after marrying the widowed Lady Hoskins he wrote to Sir George to introduce himself and to ask for Sir George's continued favour to his now son, Thomas Coventry, whose mother has his letter of attorney.

James Oxenden, Sir George's nephew, commented on the fall of Sir William Coventry in 1667, interpreting it together with the fall of Clarendon, as a sign of "many mutations at Court". Writing from Deane James noted: "S:r Will:m Coventry is also discharged fron his secretaryship to y:e Duke of York & one Mr Wren instated in his Office."

Sir William Ryder informed Oxenden of the commissioners chosen to attend treaty negotiations with the Dutch: "“our Comissioners are M:r Deputy Jolliffe M:r Tho: Papillion, & Majer Rob: Tomson, to attend his Ma:ties Commissioners Lord Hollis, & Henry Coventry Esq”

Sir Henry Oxenden thought that Sir William Coventry had contributed to the downfall of the Lord Chancellor: "The great L: Chanceller is in disfavoure w:th ye King & he hath taken ye seale from him & given it to S:r Orlando Bridgman, his great ennemys were S:r W:m Coventry & my Lord Arlington secretary of state"

Thomas Foy and Samuell Barnardiston both mention in their letters around the same time that Henry Coventry is a commissioner to Breda to negotiate peace with the Dutch.

Sources:

BL, MS. XXXXX, Letter from Francis Coventry to Sir George Oxenden, April 10th 1667, ff. 95-96
BL, MS. XXXXX, Letter from James Oxenden to Sir George Oxenden, September 30th 1667, ff.15-18 CHECK DATE
BL, MS. XXXXX, Letter from Sir William Ryder to Sir George Oxenden, October 1667, ff. 27-29
BL, MS. XXXXX, Letter from Sir Henry Oxenden to Sir George Oxenden, ff. 47-51

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