View source for Nicholas Lechmere (politician, died 1701)

{{Short description|English politician (1613–1701)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
[[File:Sir Nicholas Lechmere.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Sir Nicholas Lechmere]]
'''Sir Nicholas Lechmere''' (1613–1701), of [[Hanley Castle]] in [[Worcestershire]], was an English judge and [[Member of Parliament]].
==Life==
A nephew of [[Thomas Overbury|Sir Thomas Overbury]], Lechmere was educated at [[Wadham College, Oxford]], and called to the bar as a member of [[Middle Temple]] in 1641. On the outbreak of the [[English Civil War|Civil War]], he sided with [[Roundhead|Parliament]], and in 1648 was elected MP for [[Bewdley (UK Parliament constituency)|Bewdley]]. He was present at the [[Battle of Worcester]] in 1651. After the expulsion of the [[Long Parliament]] he represented [[Worcestershire (UK Parliament constituency)|Worcestershire]] in all three elected parliaments of the [[The Protectorate|Protectorate]], and resumed his seat for Bewdley in the brief resurrection of the [[Rump Parliament|Rump]].
After the [[English Restoration|Restoration]] of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]], Lechmere did not return to Parliament, but continued his legal career. He had already served as [[Attorney general|Attorney General]] to the [[Duchy of Lancaster]] from 1654, and had become a [[bencher]] of his inn in 1655. He became a Reader of the Middle Temple in 1669. In 1689, he was made a [[serjeant-at-law]], knighted and raised to the bench as a [[Baron of the Exchequer]], in which role he continued until 1700.
He died at Hanley Castle on 30 April 1701.{{sfn|Rigg|1892}}
==Family==
In 1642, he married Penelope Sandys, daughter of [[Edwin Sandys (died 1629)|Sir Edwin Sandys]], of Northbourne, Kent, by his fourth wife, Catherine, fourth daughter of Sir Richard Bulkeley of Beaumaris, father of Thomas, viscount Bulkeley of Cashel.
By her he had two sons, Edmund and Sandys.{{sfn|Rigg|1892}}
His grandson, [[Nicholas Lechmere, 1st Baron Lechmere|Nicholas]], also a lawyer, served as both [[Solicitor General for England and Wales|Solicitor-General]] and [[Attorney-General for England and Wales|Attorney-General]], and was raised to the peerage as Baron Lechmere in 1721.
==References==
{{reflist}}
;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle= Lechmere, Nicholas (1613-1701)|first=James McMullen |last=Rigg|volume=32}}
==External links==
*''Burke’s Landed Gentry'' (London: Henry Colburn, 1847) [https://books.google.com/books?id=YdIKAAAAYAAJ&dq=nicholas+lechmere&pg=PP7]
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[[Category:1613 births]]
[[Category:1701 deaths]]
[[Category:English MPs 1648–1653]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of England for Worcestershire]]
[[Category:English MPs 1654–1655]]
[[Category:English MPs 1656–1658]]
[[Category:English MPs 1659]]
[[Category:Serjeants-at-law (England)]]
[[Category:Barons of the Exchequer]]
[[Category:Lechmere family|Nicholas]]
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