FLINT, Robert.

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The identity of the ‘Robert Flint gentleman’ who appears as one of the Members for the newly enfranchised borough of Thirsk in the Parliament of 1547 has not been established. Several men bearing the name can be traced, including some Yorkshiremen whose insignificance seems to rule them out of consideration. Greater interest attaches to the Robert Flint who lived at Lakeham outside Norwich and died late in 1559, leaving as his heir another Robert. Flint owned property in the city and was evidently of some standing there: sometimes called esquire, he was probably the student admitted to Gray’s Inn in 1531, since Henry Ward, another Gray’s Inn man living near Norwich, named his ‘gentle gossip’ Robert Flint supervisor of his will. If his domicile suggests a link between this Robert Flint and the senior Member for Thirsk Sir William Cavendish, a connexion with Gray’s Inn would imply his association with Thomas Gargrave, almost certainly his fellow at that inn and a member of the council in the north, which seems to have nominated most of the early Members for Thirsk. Another possible patron, assuming that Flint was returned before the Parliament opened even though his name is known only from the list of Members as revised for the last session, was the 9th Lord Clinton, who was in the north in 1547 and who was connected with Ward: Flint himself may have served under Clinton in 1544. He may also have been ‘one Flynt’ who in 1549 received 40s. for war-time expenses and is likely to have been the Robert Flint who in 1553 joined Mary at Framlingham and was rewarded with an annuity of £20. Finally, there was a goldsmith of East Anglian stock living in Westminster during Elizabeth’s reign, but as his only known marriage took place in 1576 he was presumably too young to have sat in the Parliament of 1547.2

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard


  • 1. Hatfield 207.
  • 2. York wills 21, f. 455; Norf. Arch. xxi. 26-27; C142/233/77; PCC 12 Wrastley, 14 Harrington, 3 Mellershe; Norwich consist. ct. 447 Colman; CPR, 1547-8, p. 60; 1550-3, p. 240; LP Hen. VIII, xix; APC, ii. 305; Vis. Norf. (Norf. Arch.), ii. 465; Lansd. 106(28), ff. 90-94.