TYRELL, Sir Edward (1551-1606), of The Toy, Thornton, Bucks.

The Tyrells of Thornton rose through a combination of careful estate management and marriages. By the mid-sixteenth century, a compact estate situated north-east of Buckingham covering Leckhampstead, Oakley and Thornton, had been assembled. George Tyrell, this Member’s father, was apparently an enclosing landlord and, despite later claims, consolidated his estate before he died on 10 May 1571.Brown, 138-40; Lipscomb, i. 352. Tyrell himself was twice married, and fathered 12 children. His second marriage, to the daughter of Thomas Aston, made him a kinsman to (Sir) Roger Aston*, master huntsman to James VI.

Tyrell was a politically significant figure in Buckinghamshire by the 1590s,L. Levy Peck, Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart Eng. 75, 83. and wealthy enough to have spent about £3,000 on building a house called ‘The Toy’ at Thornton by 1603.Brown, 140. He served as the county sheriff in 1594-5 and was knighted by James, now king of England, at the Charterhouse in May 1603. His estate’s closeness to Buckingham probably explains his appointment as a magistrate for the borough in 1603 and its decision to choose him as one of its Members in 1604.

Tyrell is not recorded as having spoken in the Commons. He was appointed on 27 Mar. to help draft the House’s explanation to the king of its decision in the Buckinghamshire election dispute, and was among those deputed the next day to accompany the Speaker to a meeting with James.CJ, i. 156b, 157a. On 24 Apr. he and several other Buckinghamshire gentlemen were ordered by the earl of Northampton on behalf of James to conduct further inquiries into Goodwin’s conduct, even though a compromise had by then been reached.Bodl. Rawl. D918, f. 35. Cf. W. Notestein, The House of Commons 1604-10, p. 512 n. 71; L. Levy Peck, ‘Goodwin v. Fortescue: the Local Context of Parliamentary Controversy’, PH, iii. 49. On 21 Apr. Tyrell was appointed to help confer with the Lords about the proposed Union with Scotland.CJ, i. 180a. One month later, on 22 May, he was named to the committee that was to confer with the Upper House on wardship.Ibid. 222b.

Tyrell’s appointment to the committee for a bill sponsored by the king to ensure the enforcement of the laws against shooting with guns and the preservation of game (25 Apr.) may have reflected his continuing association with Aston, the master huntsman, who like him held a Commons’ seat.Ibid. 184a, 214b. Tyrell was subsequently nominated to consider a bill to prevent outlaws, recusants, perjurers and forgers from sitting in the Commons (26 Apr.), a measure which grew out of the Buckinghamshire election dispute. His other appointments were for bills to prevent stewards of courts leet and baron from overcharging (7 May); to take away secret outlawries (17 May); to confirm Bridewell hospital’s charter (9 June); to prevent married men residing in colleges with their families (14 June); to ensure the continued observance of certain orders in the Exchequer (14 June); to assign money to meet the charges of James’s Household (18 June); and to reform abuses in starch-making (20 June).Ibid. 185a, 200b, 213a, 235b, 238b, 241b, 243a.

Tyrell died on 29 Jan. 1606 and was buried in Thornton church four days later.Cent. Bucks. Stud. PR 206/1/1. No will survives, but Tyrell had already made provision for his widow and three younger sons.C142/294/92. His third son, Thomas, represented Aylesbury in 1659 and Buckinghamshire in 1660.