Hamon le Strange


Sir Hamon le Strange was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1626. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. His family were Norfolk gentry long based at their manor of Hunstanton.

Life and career

Le Strange was the son of Sir Nicholas le Strange of Hunstanton and his wife Mary Bell, and a great-grandson of the MP Sir Nicholas L'Estrange. He was admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge on 26 July 1601 and knighted on 13 March 1604. From 1608 to 1609 he was the High Sheriff of Norfolk.
In 1614 and again in 1625 Le Strange was elected MP for Norfolk. In 1625 and 1626 he was also elected MP for Castle Rising.
During the English Civil War, Le Strange served as the Royalist Governor of King's Lynn in 1643. The honour was short-lived, as the town was besieged by Parliamentarians. When it surrendered, Hamon's family had to pay over £1000 in compensation. Other bills accrued and enemies arranged for its lands to be forfeited in 1649–1651.

Personal

Le Strange married Alice Stubbe in 1602 daughter of the family's lawyer, Richard Stubbe, of Sedgeford, Norfolk. Their son Hamon was a writer on history, theology and liturgy. Another son, Roger, was a religious pamphleteer, while a third, Nicholas, became a baronet. His daughter, Elizabeth, married the Parliamentarian politician Sir William Spring. Le Strange died in 1654 aged 71.