LYFFE (LIFE), Richard (c.1531-1605), of Hastings, Suss.; formerly of London

Lyffe’s name (uncommon in any of its variant spellings) and the London connections of at least two of his wives suggest a possible kinship with the Hampshire-born civilian John Lyff or Leffe (c.1491-1557), sometime vicar-general to Archbishop Warham and prebendary of St. Paul’s. Al. Ox. 896; Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, i. 29. The origin of Lyffe’s connection with Hastings is not known, but he seems to have become a prosperous fishmonger, attending Queen Elizabeth’s funeral as purveyor of the sea-coast. He was also one of those appointed to carry the canopy at the coronation in 1603 and ‘to press a suit to His Majesty for a new confirmation of the general charters’ of the Cinque Ports.LC2/4/4; HMC 13th Rep. IV, 359; Cal. of White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports, 376.

Lyffe was serving as mayor of Hastings in 1604 when he was elected to Westminster for the eighth time. Shortly after the Parliament opened, however, the Commons suspended the Member for Wallingford, Griffith Payne, on the grounds that mayors were barred from serving in Parliament, and in June the Commons reiterated the rule prohibiting mayors from sitting. Although there were several others mayors serving in the Commons at the time, and he himself had committed the same offence in 1597 without comment, Lyffe may have feared that he would soon receive the same treatment as Payne. Like Payne he was a purveyor, and it was Payne’s activities as a purveyor that were the true cause of his suspension. In the event, there were no further expulsions, but Lyffe kept a low profile nevertheless: he made no recorded speeches, and his only appointment was to attend the initial conference with the Lords on the proposed Union with Scotland (14 April).CJ, i. 172a. For the Commons’ attack on mayors, see ibid. 162b, 226a, 245-6, 997b.

During the recess the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports approved a payment to him of 24s. for fish presented to the Speaker, and the corporation of Hastings ‘of their own free gift’ awarded him £5 ‘in regards of his service and pains’ as one of the barons of the Parliament ‘and in full payment for all fees and riding charges by him disbursed’.Cal. of the White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports, 379; Baines, 41. Lyffe drew up his will on 15 Oct. acknowledging his happiness in all three of his marriages, and declaring that he hoped that his goods would be used by those who inherited them ‘to the comfort of his Elect and chosen first’. To 77 poor people of Hastings (the number presumably reflecting the age that he believed he had attained) he bequeathed a groat apiece and a penny loaf, and to the same number of children 1d. The corporation was to pay £4 to two poor fishermen who were ‘good pliers and painstakers’ and not idle tavern-hunters. Each member of the corporation was to receive a pair of gloves and a nosegay of flowers ‘for their pains and good remembrance’ on the bench. His books included Chaucer, The Mirror of Magistrates, and ‘a great black book partly gilded’ of the siege of Troy.PROB 11/106, f. 133r-v, printed Baines, 41-3. Active to the last, Lyffe presented the new charters to the Brotherhood of the Cinque Ports on 23 July 1605. He was buried in All Saints, Hastings on 3 Sept., the parish register recording that he had been ‘47 years a jurat, eight times mayor and head officer, four times bailiff to Yarmouth, nine [sic] times burgess in the Parliament, and had carried the canopies at two coronations’. Even at Westminster, ‘old Liefe of Hastings’ was such an institution that his death was reported to Sir Thomas Edmondes* at the Brussels embassy.T. Birch, Ct. and Times of Jas. I, i. 35. His son Martin, succeeding to a debt-free estate, served as mayor of Hastings and Speaker of the Brotherhood; but no other member of the family sat in Parliament.Cal. of White and Black Bks. of Cinque Ports, 394.