MRP: Edward Kelke

=Edward Kelke=
b.ca.1620, d.ca.1659
Father: Edward Kelke, of Sandwich, gent.
Uncle: Robert Kelk(e), of Barnetby, Lincolnshire
Unmarried

Edward Kelke was son and heir of Edward Kelke (b.?, d. before 1630) of Sandwich, gent., who was a brother of Robert Kelk(e) (b.?, d. ca. 1653) of Barnetby (in-the-wold), Lincolnshire. The Kelk(e) family was present in Lincolnshire from at least the early sixteenth century, with a Dr. Roger Kelke (b.?, d. 1575/76), son of Christopher Kelke of Barnetby, Lincolnshire, appointed to a fellowship of St John's, Cambridge (1545) and to the Mastership of Magdalene College, Cambridge (1559-1576).

Edward (senior) appears in the records of the town of Sandwich in the early seventeenth century as its legally trained town clerk. A number of letters survive involving Edward Kelke (senior). These include a correspondence involving both Edward Kelke (senior) and Francis Raworth (senior), town clerks of Sandwich and Dover respectively, regarding the rights of the Cinque Ports to representation at the coronation of James I in 1603. The Kelke/Raworth commercial and probably social contact of the early seventeenth century extended to the next generation, with Edward Kelke (junior) befriending Robert Raworth, who was a practicing Gray's Inn lawyer, and who was the youngest son of Francis Raworth (senior). There is also a surviving letter from Edward Kelke (senior) to Lord Zouch, dated Feb. 3, 1620/1.

The widow of Edward Kelke (senior) married Edward Boys of Bettishanger, esquire, July 2nd 1630, at St. Mary’s, Sandwich.

Edward Kelke (junior) was schooled first with Mr Cholfin(e) of Sandwich and later with Mr Coleby of nearby Tilmanstone. Admitted to Sidney (Sussex) College, Cambridge in 1637, he transferred to Emmanuel two years later, in 1639. In that same year he was admitted to Grays Inn ( November 2nd 1639). He died young, in 1659, having made Elizabeth Dallison his sole executrix.

Edward (junior) was called to the Bar in 1650/51. There are no records of him practising law in the 1650s, but he refers in his will to other former students of Grays Inn, such as Maximilian Dalison, who had been admitted to Gray's Inn in 16XX

Born in ca. 1620 Edward (junior) he was close to Sir George Oxenden in age, and was part of a social group centred on Gray's Inn, which included Sir George Oxenden, Christopher Oxinden, Elizabeth Dallison, Robert Raworth, Francis Raworth (junior), Maximilian Dalison, and others. He made Elizabeth Dallison the residual beneficiary of his will, the language of which revealing both trust and affection in the widowed Elizabeth, who was ten years older than him.

The will of Edward Kelke (junior) was unusual in that its principal beneficiaries were friends rather than family. He made bequests to only two family members - Mr. Kelke, brasier (who was almost certainly Thomas Kelke, brasier, of the parish of St. Michael's, Corrnhill in London), and John Skepper, whose wife Elizabeth Kelke, who lived in St, Michael's, Cornhill, at the time of their marriage in 1657.[[FootNote(Joseph Lemuel Chester (ed.), The parish registers of St. Michael Cornhill (London, 1882), p. 37

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Primary sources

Letter from Edward Kelk (sic) to Lord Zouch, Feb. 3, 1620/21, printed in Commons Debates 1621, VII, 571-572, cited in Robert E. Ruigh, The Parliament of 1624: politics and foreign policy (Harvard, 1971), p. 133
Cowper, J.M., Canterbury marriage licences, vol. 2 (XXXX, 1894), p. 15

See will of Edward Kelke
See will of Robert Kelke

TNA, C 22/52/40

Secondary sources

Larken, Arthur Staunton, Lincolnshire pedigrees, vol. 4 (?London, 1906), p. 1214
Venn, John, & J.A. Venn (eds.), Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol. 3, pt. 1 (Cambridge, 1924), p. 3

Additional information

“[1657] Publication, 3, 10, & 17 June 1657, of a Marriage betw. John Skipper, tallowchandler, & Elizabeth Kelke, sp:r, both of this par.
June 18 [1657] They were marr:d by Ald. Andrewes.”

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Alexander Emerson

Alexander Emerson (b.?, d.?1667) married, firstly, Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Alexander Emerson of Glamford, and, secondly, Frances, daughter and coheir of Robert Kelke of Barnetby, by Dorothy Metham his wife.

Alexander Emerson was the main force behind the challenge to Elizabeth Dallison's administration of Edward Kelke's will. Emerson

Alexander Emerson’s will was dated 12th September 1666 and it was proved 7th August 1667. He was the son of Robert Emerson of Cadney, and of Ellen Lightley (alt. Wainwright).

For background on the Emerson family see Peter Henry Emerson, The English Emersons: a genealogical historical sketch of the family from the earliest times to the end of the seventeenth century, including various modern pedigrees, with an appendix of authorities (XXXX, 1898)

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