Edward Norris

Arms of Norris of Speke, blazoned: Quarterly argent and gules, in the second and third quarters a fret or, over all a fess azure. Edward Norris, (bapt. 19 April 1665 – 22 July 1726) was an English physician and parliamentarian. He was the secretary of an embassy from the East India Company to the Mogul Empire in 1701, and an MP for Liverpool from 1715 to 1722.

Life

Origins Edward Norris was descended from a distinguished family, who had represented Liverpool in Parliament almost continuously since the Revolution. Some sources say he was born in 1663, though he was baptised at Childwall, Lancashire on 19 April 1665. He was the fifth son of Thomas Norris (–1686) of Speke, Lancashire, and his wife, Katherine (born 1632), daughter of Sir Henry Garway (Garraway). He was the younger brother of Thomas Norris and Sir William Norris.

Edward graduated BA from Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1686, and proceeded MA in 1689, MB in 1691, and MD in 1695. He practised medicine at Chester; his scientific reputation is attested by the fact that he was a Fellow of the Royal Society as early 1698

India In 1699, he was chosen by the new East India Company to accompany his brother, Sir William Norris, as secretary of his embassy to the Mogul Emperor. He visited the camp of Aurangazíb in the Deccan from April to November 1701.

Marriage and issue In 1705, he married Ann (1675/6–1729), daughter of William Cleveland of Liverpool, by whom he left one son, with whose death, some time before 1736, the family of the Norrises of Speke in the male line became extinct. Crest: as allowed in 1664, on a wreath a mount vert, an erne or eagle, wings elevated, proper.