PEYTON, Sir Samuel, 1st Bt. (c.1591-1623), of Knowlton, Kent

The Kentish branch of the Peyton family was established by Peyton’s grandfather, John, who inherited Knowlton in 1544 and represented Winchelsea in 1555. In May 1608, soon after he completed his education at Oxford, Peyton was knighted at Whitehall, and was granted permission to travel abroad. He had returned to England by 25 Jan. 1609, when he entered Gray’s Inn. Peyton missed the first batch of baronets in May 1611, probably because he was in mourning for his father, who had died in April, describing him as a ‘good and obedient son’. PROB 11/117, f. 232v. However, he was one of the seven Kentish gentlemen created in June. In 1614 he was elected to Parliament as junior burgess for Sandwich, where he owned property and which lay four-and-a-half miles from Knowlton. He presumably wished to defend the order of baronets from attack, but in the event left no trace on the parliamentary records. E. Kent Archives Cent. Sa/AC7, f. 32; Sa/LC9, f. 70v. Following the dissolution, he contributed £20 to the Benevolence. E351/1950, unfol. He and another Kent baronet also complained to the Privy Council after Sir John Scott* omitted their title from a letter and described one of them as ‘esquire’. APC, 1613-14, p. 651.

By March 1620 Peyton was in charge of a hare warren on behalf of the lord warden of the Cinque Ports, Lord Zouche. CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 133. Later that year Zouche promised him a seat in the Cinque Ports if he failed to get elected elsewhere. SP16/118/26. He was subsequently defeated at Sandwich, CD 1628, vii. 768. and never sat in the third Jacobean Parliament. In January 1622 Peyton complained to Zouche after Dover’s inhabitants refused to permit him to exercise his office as the town’s bailiff. CSP Dom. 1619-23, p. 332. ‘Sick of body’, he made out his will on 10 Sept. 1623, to which he appended a codicil nine days later in which he arranged for the sale of some marshland to pay off his debts. WARD 7/68/8. He died on 23 Sept. and was succeeded by his son, Thomas, who sat for Sandwich in the Long Parliament until disabled for royalism, and represented the county in the Cavalier Parliament. Cent. Kent. Stud. PRC 32/46/88.