William Tyrwhitt

William Tyrwhitt (died 1591) was an English landowner and politician who sat as Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon in March 1553 but took no further part in public life under Queen Elizabeth I because of his Roman Catholicism, for which he underwent spells of imprisonment.

Origins Born by 1531, he was the eldest son of the MP Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, of Kettleby in Lincolnshire, and his wife Elizabeth (died 1590), daughter of Sir Thomas Oxenbridge, of Etchingham in Sussex. With centuries of service in local and national government, his family was long established in Lincolnshire and well connected,

Life Reaching majority by 1552, he was party to a legal dispute over lands he bought in Lincolnshire, being described as “William Tyrwhitt esquire, a young gentleman, son and heir apparent of Sir Robert Tyrwhitt of Lincolnshire, a man of great power in those parts”. In 1553 he was selected as MP for the borough of Huntingdon, his father being in the same Parliament for the seat of Lincolnshire. made two months earlier, asked for his body to be buried beside his father in All Saints church at Bigby and for lands to be sold, including the manor of Fillingham, in order to provide legacies for his children. and his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of the MP Sir Gervase Clifton, of Clifton. Her sister Frances was the wife of Sir Gervase Holles and her half-brother was the MP Sir Peter Frescheville.

With Elizabeth, he is recorded as having five sons and four daughters.

Some records show a fifth daughter Elizabeth, who married Ambrose Rookwood, executed in 1606 for his part in the Gunpowder Plot. Other sources say his widow Elizabeth married Edward Rookwood (born 1554), of Rookwood.