Edward Barrett, 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh

Sir Edward Barrett, 1st Lord Barrett of Newburgh, PC, Bt, (21 June 1581 – buried 2 January 1645) was an English politician.

Jane Carey, Edward Barrett's first wife, by Cornelius Johnson

Life

Barrett was the son of Charles Barrett of Belhouse, Essex and his wife Christian Mildmay (a daughter of Sir Walter Mildmay). He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford on 17 March 1597 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1600. He was knighted on 17 April 1608.[1]

In 1614 Barrett was elected Member of Parliament for Whitchurch. He was elected MP for Newport in 1621.[1] In 1625, he was Ambassador to France.

Barret was created Lord Barrett of Newburgh in Scotland on 17 October 1627 and was made a baronet a year later (a unique occurrence of someone being made a baronet after being made peer). In 1628, he was invested as member of the Privy Council. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1628 to 1629, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1629 to 1644. He was a Lord of the Treasury from 1641 to 1643.[1]

In August 1637 he wrote to the Earl of Middlesex that Henrietta Maria was unwell at Oatlands and was drinking asses milk, thought to be a remedy for consumption.[2] He wrote to Middlesex about the Earl of Arundel who had fallen from his horse at Tart Hall. The Countess of Arundel was "pained by his obstinate, as some think ridiculous, resolution to go to Madagascar.[3]

Barret died at the age of 63 and was buried at Aveley on 2 January 1645.[1]

Barret married Jane Carey (d. 1633), daughter of Sir Edward Carey of Aldenham, Master of the Jewel House. He married secondly, Catherine Fenn, daughter of Hugh Fenn of Wotton-under-Edge, and widow of Hugh Perry alias Hunter, a London mercer.[4]

Barrett was married twice but had no heirs, so that upon his death in 1645, his titles became extinct. He left his papers to Edward Perry, his widow's grandson.

References

1. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Baal-Barrow', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 51-78. Date accessed: 19 November 2011
2. HMC 4th Report: Earl de la Warr (London, 1874), p. 293.
3. HMC 4th Report: Earl de la Warr (London, 1874), p. 294.
4. Virginia C.D. Moseley & Rosemary Sgroi, 'BARRETT, Sir Edward (1581-1644), of Belhus, Aveley, Essex and Smithfield, London', The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010