Sir Hamon le Strange (c. 1583 – 31 May 1654) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1626. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. His family were Norfolk gentry long based at their manor of Hunstanton.

Life and career

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Le Strange was the son of Sir Nicholas le Strange of Hunstanton and his wife Mary Bell, and a great-grandson of the MP Sir Nicholas L'Estrange.[1] He was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge on 26 July 1601 and knighted on 13 March 1604. From 1608 to 1609 he was the High Sheriff of Norfolk.[2]

In 1614 and again in 1625 Le Strange was elected MP for Norfolk. In 1625 and 1626 he was also elected MP for Castle Rising.[3]

In 1616 a priest, Thomas Tunstal, escaped from Wisbech Castle to Norfolk. L'Estrange had him pursued and apprehended. He was tried at Norwich and condemned and executed.[4]

During the English Civil War, Le Strange served as the Royalist Governor of King's Lynn in 1643.[2] The honour was short-lived, as the town was besieged by Parliamentarians. When it surrendered, Hamon's family had to pay over £1000 in compensation. Other bills accrued and enemies arranged for its lands to be forfeited in 1649–1651.[5]

Family

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Le Strange married Alice Stubbe in 1602,[6] daughter of the family's lawyer, Richard Stubbe, of Sedgeford, Norfolk.[7] They are known to have had four children.

Le Strange died in 1654 aged 71.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Accessed: 18 June 2014 "Smethdon Hundred: Hunstanton Lordship", An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 10" (1809), pp. 312–328.
  2. ^ a b c "le Strange, Hamon (LSTN601H)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ Browne Willis Notitia parliamentaria, or, An history of the counties, cities, and boroughs in England and Wales.... The whole extracted from mss. and printed evidences (1750), pp. 176–239.
  4. ^ Ketton-Cremer, R.W. (1969). Norfolk in the civil war. Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571091300.
  5. ^ "L'ESTRANGE, Sir Hamon (1583-1654), of Hunstanton, Norf". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  6. ^ le Strange Papers in the Norfolk Record Office – refs: AA5; A66 & A73
  7. ^ "L'Estrange [née Stubbe], Alice, Lady L'Estrange (1585–1656), keeper of household and estate accounts | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68097. Retrieved 4 July 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  8. ^   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain"L'Estrange, Hamon (1605–1660)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Norfolk
1614–1622
With: Sir Henry Bedingfield 1614
Drue Drury 1621–1622
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Castle Rising
1625–1626
With: Sir Thomas Bancroft
Succeeded by
  NODES
Note 1