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320 BRISTOL BRISTOL (City and County) (=>) EARLDOM. I. John Digby, 4th and yst. s. of Sir George D., of , , Colshill, CO. Warwick, by Abigail, da. of Sir Arthur Heveningham, of Ketteringham, Norfolk, was b. Feb. 1586, and is said to have been ed. at Magd. Coll. Oxford, of which Univ. he was cr. M.A., 30 Aug. i6o5.() In 1605 he was Gent, of the Privy Chamber, and soon afterwards Carver to the King. Knighted at Whitehall 14 May i6o6.(') M.P. for Hedon, 1610-11. From Apr. 1 6 10 to early in 1614, from Sep. 16 14 to Mar. 16 16/7, and from Apr. 1 6 1 7 to Apr. 1 6 1 8, he was Ambassador to Spain. Gent, of the Bedchamber to Charles, Prince of Wales; Vice Chamberlain of the Household, 1616-25; P.C. 3 Apr. 1616 to Mar. 1625, resworn 19 Feb. 1640/1. On 25 Nov. 1 6 1 8 he was cr. BARON DIGBY OF SHERBORNE, co. Dorset, an estate which had been granted to him by the King on his return from Spain, where he had been treating for an alliance between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta Maria. In Jan. 1619 he was on an embassy to Holland; in Jan. 1621 to Brussels, and in Nov. 1621 to Vienna. From Mar. 1622 to May 1624 he was again Ambassador to Spain, with instructions to conclude the treaty for the said marriage. On 15 Sep. 1622, he was cr. EARL OF BRISTOL.(^) On 6 Feb. 1626 he was committed to the Tower, having impeached the Duke of Buckingham (then high in Court favour), and, though soon re- leased, continued many years in retirement. He was one of the 16 popular peers who treated with the Scots at Ripon, Sep. i640.(*) Gent, of the Bedchamber 1642. In the civil war he sided first with the Pari, and afterwards with the King, whom he attended at Edgehill and at Oxford. On 14 Mar. 1648 [? 1648/9], the House of Commons resolved that he (with several others, including his son) be proscribed and put to death. (*) He m., 31 May 1609, at St. James's, Clerkenwell,(8) Beatrice, widow of Sir John (^) This title was, in early times, used indiscriminately for that of Gloucester; thus, William, Earl of Bristol [better known as Earl of Gloucester], is witness to a charter to Shrewsbury Abbey, 29 Sep. 1155. See Salop Cartulary, No. 43, quoted in Itinerary of Henry II, p. 12; so also "Comes Bryestowensis" occurs in the Con- tinuator of " Florence of Worcester." {ex inform. J. Horace Round). () For a list of Peers cr. M.A. on this occasion, see note sub William, Baron Howard of Effingham [1603]. (■=) In Shaw's Knights the date is given as 8 Mar. 1 605/6, the date in the text being appended within brackets, with a note of interrogation. V.G. {^) He is styled, in this patent of creation, " John Digby, Knight, Baron Digby of Sherborne." (") For a list of these see note sub Robert, Earl of Essex [1604]. (') Those included in this resolution were, the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Bristol, the Earl of Newcastle, Sir William Widdrington [Lord Widdrington], George, Lord Digby, and others. V.G. (8) The entry there is " Sir John Digby Knt. and Dyane Betiredge [Dame Beatrice ?]." V.G.