Sir Andrew Corbet (1 November 1522 – 16 August 1578) was an English Protestant politician of the mid-Tudor and early Elizabethan periods: a member of the powerful Council in the Marches of Wales for a quarter of a century. Drawn from the landed gentry of Shropshire and Buckinghamshire, he was twice a member of the Parliament of England for Shropshire.
Background and early life
Andrew Corbet was the eldest son of
Roger Corbet of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire and Linslade, Buckinghamshire. Anne Windsor, daughter of Andrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor
The Corbets had been important landholders in the Welsh Marches, particularly in Shropshire, since the Norman Conquest and many had represented their county or other constituencies in parliament. They evolved in the Tudor period into an upper gentry family, well-connected and with substantial estates, but not ennobled. Roger Corbet's father had died when he was only about twelve years of age and his wardship was purchased by Sir Andrew Windsor, who married him to his daughter. Their sons included Andrew and Jerome Corbet, both to be MPs.
Andrew was not a common given name in Tudor England. Andrew Corbet was named after Sir Andrew Windsor, his maternal grandfather, whose given name was derived from the surname of his mother, Elizabeth Andrews. The Windsors remained important and useful contacts for the Corbets. Andrew Windsor had made a vast fortune from his royal court contacts and posts. As Keeper of the Great Wardrobe to Henry VII of England, he had responsibility for an annual budget running into thousands of pounds and was an important part of the network of his cousin, the notorious Edmund Dudley. Surviving Dudley's fall, he continued in high office under Henry VIII.
Roger Corbet died on 20 December 1538. He had made his will on 27 November 1538, having already fallen sick. Andrew was still only 16, and Roger, considering his own long wardship, wrote: "I require and humbly beseech my supervisors and my executrix, tenderly lamenting the captive bondage of wardship, to consult together, pondering the readiest ways how to redeem my heir out of the thraldom and bondage of wardship, for whose marriage I was offered one thousand marks"
Despite Roger's hopes, Andrew too was forced into wardship, as his mother's will attests. However, his uncle Richard Corbet, Roger's younger brother, had been making some headway as a courtier and was able to use his contacts to obtain the wardship. The grant was confirmed in July 1539. and allowed Richard an annuity of £40 from Andrew's Shropshire estates, a relatively light imposition. It was presumably Richard who arranged his nephew's marriage to Jane Needham, daughter of Sir Robert Needham of Shavington Hall, Shropshire, which had taken place by 1542. The process seems to have passed amicably and Andrew was often to work alongside his uncle, finally inheriting most of his property when Richard died sine prole in 1566.
In 1543 Andrew Corbet obtained livery, i.e. took full possession, of his inheritance. The paperwork was signed as part of a batch at St Albans on 26 November by William, Lord St. John, the Lord Chamberlain, John Hynde, the surveyor of wardships and liveries, and John Sewster.
Landowner
By the end of his life, in 1578, Andrew Corbet owned property in 40 parishes of Shropshire, making him one of the most important landowners in the county. He also held manors and various lands in many other counties – principally Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cornwall, Herefordshire, Essex, and Hertfordshire.
The Corbets were strong in Buckinghamshire partly because of the dominant position in the county of their allies, the Windsors. However, their holdings went back several generations to land acquired through Andrew's great-grandmother, Elizabeth Lucy. These included the manors of Cublington and Linslade, (now in Bedfordshire). The Lucy inheritance extended to Wigginton, Hertfordshire. The Cornish lands were inherited from the now extinct Arcedekne family and included an estate near Truro. In Warwickshire there was the manor of Harborough Magna, which had already been held by four generations of Corbets.
In 1546, Andrew Corbet paid over £550 to acquire from the Crown the manor of Redcastle, in north Shropshire, together with other lands in the county. He extended his Shropshire holdings under Mary by leasing estates and also acquired houses in Shrewsbury. However, in 1561 he disposed of much of his property in Essex, including the manor of Woodham Mortimer.