D'Ewes, SIR SIMONDS

D'Ewes, SIR SIMONDS, antiquary, was born in 1602 at Coxden, near Chard, of Suffolk and Dorset parentage, and was educated under four masters in those two counties and in London, till in 1618 he entered St John's College, Cambridge. In 1623 he was called to the bar, but three years afterwards threw up his practice, married the rich child-heiress Anne Clopton (1613–41), and received the honour of knighthood. He now devoted himself to his darling pursuits, numismatics and historical manuscripts, whence in 1640 he was called away to the Long Parliament as member for Sudbury. A Puritan but a moderate, he accepted a baronetcy (1641), sided with the parliament on the outbreak of the Civil War, was expelled by Pride (1648), and, withdrawing to Suffolk, died at Stowlangtoft Hall, 8th April 1650. He published little, but his transcripts of manuscripts, which else had perished, possess high value, as also do his Diaries, especially the portions relating to the Long Parliament, which have been utilised by Mr Forster. His monumental Journals of Queen Elizabeth's Parliaments appeared in 1682; and his Correspondence, with an incomplete Autobiography, was edited in 1845 by Mr Halliwell (Halliwell-Phillipps).