Mark Steward (1524 - 1604)

Born 1524 in Lakenheath, Suffolk, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died Mar 1604 at about age 80 in Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England

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Biography

Sir Mark Steward was a member of the aristocracy in England.

Sir Mark Steward was the (1524-1603) was the 3rd s. of Simeon Steward of Lakenheath, Suff. and Stuntney by Joan, da. and h. of Edward Besteney of Soham, Cambs. He matriculated St. John’s, Camb. in 1544 but did not take a degree. He was MP for St. Ives in 1589 and Stockbridge in 1597; Sheriff of Hampshire 1597-8; Knighted July 1603.

The family was convinced that they descended from the Stewart royal house, via Sir John Steward, the so-called Scotangle, who moved to England in the service of Henry V. In 1511 the heralds prepared a full, if questionable, genealogy for them, and this became a document of obsessive importance for the family. Their surname is often spelled as a variation of the Scottish surname Stewart/Stuart/Steuart etc.

In the early days of the Reformation Mark's grandfather had secured from his own brother Robert Steward, who was the last prior of Ely and first Dean of Ely, long leases of abbey (later dean and chapter) lands. ^[1]

He m. Anna, da. of Robert Huicke, physician to Queen Elizabeth, 1s. Simon, 1da. Mary.

He d. March 1604 and was buried in Ely Cathedral.

Research Notes

The executor was his son Simeon, who received his estates free of encumbrance. Stuntney passed to his cousin Elizabeth and her son, Oliver Cromwell.^[2]

A da. Mary of Sir Mark Steward of the Isle of Ely m. Sir William Forster KB according to the Visitation of Berkshire in 1665/6.^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Felicity Heal, ‘Steward , Robert (d. 1557)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
2. ↑ City of Ely: Manors BHO
3. ↑ Visitation of Berkshire 1665-66 Forster of Aldermaston p.208

• STEWARD, Mark (1524-1604), of Heckfield, Hants; later of Stuntney, Cambs. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981

• Monument https://www.flickr.com/photos/30120216@N07/50924125771/in/photostream/