Edward Vaux, 4th Baron Vaux of Harrowden

Edward Vaux, 4th Baron Vaux of Harrowden (13 September 1588 – 8 September 1661) was an English peer. He was the son of George Vaux (1564–1594) and his wife Elizabeth Roper (daughter of John Roper, 1st Baron Teynham, born about 1564), and the grandson and heir of William Vaux, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden. He succeeded his grandfather as Baron Vaux of Harrowden in August 1595, just before his seventh birthday.

Early life and religion The Vaux and Roper families were Catholics, and the third Baron Vaux was convicted of recusancy several times during the reign of Elizabeth I. Her activities were closely watched by the authorities, and both Edward and his mother were investigated in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Edward felt it prudent to go abroad for some years. For refusing to take the 1606 Oath of Allegiance to James I, entailing a denial of the pope's authority over the king, Edward was committed to the Fleet prison. He was sentenced in the Kings Bench to perpetual imprisonment and loss of property on 1 March 1612, but he was transferred to the custody of the Dean of Westminster and had a grant of his forfeited lands in October 1612. He had already saved some of the family estates by conveying them in trust to five of his Protestant neighbours, even though such a transaction was strictly forbidden by law. and suspended the statute that required volunteers in foreign service to take the Oath of Allegiance before leaving the country. In 1622 Edward Vaux was licensed to raise a regiment of English Catholics for the Spanish service, but at the Siege of Bergen op Zoom, he was dismayed to find his regiment facing English Protestant troops despite Spanish promises to the contrary, and many of his men deserted rather than engage their fellow-countrymen.

Vaux paid £300 to purge his personal attendance on Charles I at York in March 1639 Nevertheless, Edward and Elizabeth Howard seem to have fallen in love, for they were married in June 1632

In 1632, he added to his property in the area by purchasing the Manor of Little Harrowden from John Sanderson, his wife Cecily and John Sanderson junior.