SYNGE, Richard (c.1567-1632), of Bridgnorth, Salop

Synge made no claim to kinship with the prominent Irish family of that name, tracing his ancestry instead to a clergyman called John Millington alias Synge, a prebendary in the collegiate church of St. Mary Magdalen, Bridgnorth at its dissolution in 1548. Vis. Salop, 449; Bodl. Blakeway 18, f. 109. The family ran a tannery at Bridgnorth, clearly a prosperous concern, as Synge was described as ‘tanner and gentleman’ at his marriage in 1594 and worked his way up the hierarchy of municipal offices until he became bailiff in 1605. Thereafter his local standing was enhanced by his role as steward to the wealthy newcomer William Whitmore, and by the fact that in 1613 he himself purchased property in Bridgnorth worth £55 a year. Salop RO, 5586/5/5/1; C142/499/11; C2/Chas.I/H43/61; 2/Chas.I/S37/9. The key factor in Synge’s return to Parliament for Bridgnorth in 1614, though, was probably not his improved social status but the fortunate coincidence that his cousin Humphrey Synge was one of the borough’s two bailiffs at the time of the election. Relationship explained in STAC 8/166/5, f. 7.

Although the corporation sent Synge to Westminster with £10 for expenses, he left no mark on the records of his only Parliament. Immediately upon his return home he was involved in a lawsuit in which the bailiffs and recorder, Sir Henry Townshend*, were accused of perverting the course of justice in a debt case before the borough court. Salop RO, BB/D1/2/1/32; STAC 8/56/3. In 1621 Whitmore succeeded Synge as MP, who served as bailiff twice more, dying in office in March 1632. His eldest son George, a minister for whom he had purchased the rectory of Birmingham, Warwickshire, became chancellor of Armagh diocese, while one of his younger sons, Richard, served as bailiff of Bridgnorth in the 1650s. C142/499/11; C2/Chas.I/D15/13; Salop RO, Bridgnorth, St. Mary Magdalen par. reg. transcript. None of his descendants sat in Parliament.