Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Wikipedia
Sir Edward Nicholas (4 April 1593 – 1669), English statesman, was the eldest son of John Nicholas, a member of an old Wiltshire family.
He was educated at Salisbury grammar school, Winchester College and Queens College, Oxford. After studying law at the Middle Temple, Nicholas became secretary to Lord Zouch, warden, and admiral of the Cinque Ports, in 1618, and continued in a similar employment under the Duke of Buckingham. In 1625 he became secretary to the admiralty; shortly afterwards he was appointed an extra clerk of the privy council with duties relating to admiralty business, and from 1635 to 1641 he was one of the clerks in ordinary to the council. In this situation Nicholas had much business to transact in connection with the levy of ship-money; and in 1641, when Charles I went to Scotland, a heavy responsibility rested on the secretary who remained in London to keep the king informed of the proceedings of the parliament. On the return of Charles to the capital Nicholas was knighted, and appointed a privy councillor and a Secretary of State, in which capacity he attended the king while the court was at Oxford, and carried out the business of the Treaty of Uxbridge.
Throughout this troubled period he was one of Charles's wisest and most loyal advisers; he it was who arranged the details of the king's surrender to the Scots, though he does not appear to have advised or even to have approved of the step; and to him also fell the duty of treating for the capitulation of Oxford, which included permission for Nicholas himself to retire abroad with his family. He went to France, being recommended by the king to the confidence of the Prince of Wales.
After the king's death Nicholas remained on the continent concerting measures on behalf of the exiled Charles II with Hyde and other royalists, but the hostility of Queen Henrietta Maria deprived him of any real influence in the counsels of the young sovereign. He lived at The Hague and elsewhere in a state of poverty which hampered his power to serve Charles, but which the latter did nothing to relieve.
He returned to England at the Restoration; Charles had appointed him secretary of state while in exile in 1654, and upon the restoration, Nicholas duly took office as Secretary of State along with William Morice, a former parliamentary supporter. Nicholas was soon retired in favor of Charles's favorite Henry Bennet, however, and he had to content himself with a grant of money and the offer of a peerage, which his poverty compelled him to decline. He retired to a country seat in Surrey which he purchased from a son of Sir Walter Raleigh, and here he lived till his death in 1669.
By his wife Jane, a daughter of Henry Jay, an alderman of London, he had several sons and daughters; his younger brother Matthew Nicholas (1594–1661) was successively dean of Bristol, canon of Westminster and dean of St Paul's.
| Preceded by The Viscount Falkland |
Lord Privy Seal 1643–1644 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Bath |
| Preceded by Sir Peter Wyche |
Custos Rotulorum of Middlesex 1643–1646 |
Succeeded by Interregnum |
| Preceded by Interregnum |
Custos Rotulorum of Middlesex 1660–1669 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Craven |
| Preceded by — |
Secretary of State for the Southern Department 1660–1662 |
Succeeded by The Lord Arlington |
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
1893 text
Sir Edward Nicholas, Secretary of State to Charles I. and II. He was dismissed from his office through the intrigues of Lady Castlemaine in 1663. He died 1669, aged seventy-seven.
Annotations
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Lady Castlemaine, who would later be created Duchess of Cleveland, was a homely trollop who manipulated King Charles II, gentlemen.
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Nicholas.
The Secretary of State was present at the public marriage of Charles in Portsmouth. He read aloud the marriage contract, before the marriage took place.
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from L&M Companion
Kt 1641, bt 1653 (1593-1669). Secretary of State to Charles I (1641-9) and to Charles II (1654-62). A protege of the 1st Duke of Buckingham and secretary to the Admiralty Commissioners 1628-38. A strong Anglican and a man of high principles, his replacement in 1662 by Arlington was a blow to the Clarendonian old guard. His younger brother Matthew was Dean of St Paul’s, 1660-d.61. -
Both my grandfather and my uncle are Edward Nicholas. It is good to see that our family namesakes carry on!
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That, in Pursuance of that traiterous Intent, he hath, to several Persons of His Majesty’s Privy Council, held Discourses to this Effect: “That His Majesty was dangerously corrupted in His Religion, and inclined to Popery; that Persons of that Religion had such Access and such Credit with Him, that, unless there were a careful Eye had unto it, (fn. *) Protestant Religion would be overthrown in this Kingdom.” And, in Pursuance of the said wicked and traiterous Intent, upon His Majesty’s admitting Sir Henry Bennett to be Principal Secretary of State in the Place of Mr. Secretary Nicholas, he hath said these Words, or Words to this Effect, “That His Majesty had given Ten Thousand Pounds to remove a zealous Protestant, that He might bring into that Place of high Trust a concealed Papist;” notwithstanding that the said Sir Henry Bennett is known to have ever been, both in his Profession and Practice, constant to the Protestant Religion.
From: ‘House of Lords Journal Volume 11: 10 July 1663’, Journal of the House of Lords: volume 11: 1660-1666, pp. 554-57. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=14361&strquery=Secretary%20of%20State. Date accessed: 13 February 2006.
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Nicholas, Sir Edward, kt. Secretary of State (South) May 1660-c. 15 Oct. 1662.
-, Took oath 27 Feb. 1659 (PC 2/54, pt. ii, 42); assumed functions at Restoration May 1660. Left office by 15 Oct. 1662 (PC 2/56 p. 174).From: ‘Alphabetical lists of officials: K-Z’, Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 2: Officials of the Secretaries of State 1660-1782 (1973), pp. 85-119. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=16623&strquery=Secretary%20of%20State.. Date accessed: 13 February 2006.