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Sir Lewis Dyve | |
|---|---|
 Lewis Dyve Frontispiece to the Bedfordshire Historical Record. | |
| Member of Parliament forWeymouth & Melcombe Regis | |
| In office 1628–1629 | |
| Member of Parliament forBridport | |
| In office 1625–1626 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1599-11-03)3 November 1599 |
| Died | 1669 (aged 69–70) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | George Digby (half-brother) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Royalists |
| Wars | English Civil War |
Sir Lewis Dyve (3 November 1599 – 1669) was an EnglishMember of Parliament and aRoyalist adherent during theEnglish Civil War. His surname is sometimes also speltDive orDives.[1]
Dyve was born on 3 November 1599.[2] He was the son of Sir John Dyve and Beatrix Walcot, who married secondlyJohn Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol.
Dyve, who had an estate atBromham inBedfordshire, was knighted in 1620 and was one of the attendants ofPrince Charles during his time atMadrid. He was elected MP forBridport in the Parliaments of 1625 and 1626, andWeymouth in 1628. Some sources record him as having been once more chosen to represent Bridport in December 1640, but in fact, he seems to have been the defeated candidate petitioning the House of Commons against the result of the election; as he was the first disputed election to be heard in theLong Parliament, the committee which subsequently heard other election petitions was referred to asThe Committee on Sir Lewis Dive for several years.[citation needed]
Dyve was concerned about printing and publishing his half-brotherLord Digby's speech on the attainder of theEarl of Strafford, for which the House of Commons resolved on 13 July 1641 that the books should be burned and ordered that Dyve should be arrested. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was concerned with a plan to admit the Royal forces toHull, for which the Parliamentary governor,Sir John Hotham, ordered his arrest. Escaping the troops sent to seize him, he fled toHolland, but returned to England later the same year and was wounded at theBattle of Powick Bridge nearWorcester. In 1643, the House of Commons voted for his impeachment for High Treason for raising money for the King and for referring to Parliament as "The Pretended Parliament";Roger Hill, the Bridport MP whom he had tried to unseat in 1640, brought in the motion.[citation needed]
He served withPrince Rupert at therelief of Newark in 1644, and was then appointed sergeant-major-general in Dorset. In 1645 he succeeded in stormingWeymouth, but could not take neighbouringMelcombe Regis, and when the Parliamentary garrison in Melcombe succeeded in seizing the baggage train thatGoring had sent to Dyve they were able to recapture Weymouth.[citation needed]
Dyve was captured at thesiege of Sherborne, and imprisoned in theTower of London from 1645 to 1647. Being moved to theKing's Bench, he escaped, but was recaptured atPreston. Imprisoned inWhitehall he escaped once more, according to his own account on the very day he was to have been executed;John Evelyn records in hisDiary on 6 September 1651 that Dyve dined with him and related the story of his "leaping down out of ajakes two stories high into theThames at high water, in the coldest of winter, and at night; so as by swimming he got to a boat that attended for him, though six musketeers guarded him."[3] Dyve then went toIreland where he once more served with the Royal forces; in 1650 he published an account of events in that country during the previous two years. He lost much of his fortune through his loyalty to the Crown, but also in part due to heavy gambling: in 1668, the year before he died,Samuel Pepys called him disapprovingly "a great gamester".[4]
He married in 1624 Howarda, daughter of SirJohn Strangways ofMelbury House, Melbury Sampford,Dorset, and his first wife Grace Trenchard, and widow of Edward Rogers, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. His youngest son migrated to the English colony ofVirginia. His descendants included the artistGiles Hussey and the courtierCharlotte Clayton Sundon.[5]
| Parliament of England | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forBridport 1625–1626 With:Sir John Strode 1625 Sir Richard Strode 1625–1626 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forWeymouth & Melcombe Regis 1628–1629 With:Hugh Pyne Sir Robert Napier Henry Waltham | Parliament suspended until 1640 |
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