Francis Stuart (sailor)

Sir Francis Stuart or Frank Stewart (1589–1635), sailor, aristocrat, Member of Parliament and courtier

Born at Donibristle in Fife, Scotland, the son of James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray and Elizabeth Stuart, 2nd Countess of Moray. Francis Stuart was educated at Christ Church, Oxford with an annuity of £200 from King James.[1]

At Oxford he was involved in the investigation of Anne Gunter's accusations of witchcraft against Elizabeth Gregory. He gave evidence in February 1606 in the Star Chamber of witnessing Anne loosen her clothing for dramatic effect.[2] Stuart was asked if Gunter's breath smelled unusual, and he answered that "he did always observe in her fits that her breath had a very strange smell, as if she had taken compound drinks."[3]

At the funeral of Anne of Denmark in May 1619 Stuart carried the banner of the Goths.[4]

In 1603 his sister Margaret married the Admiral Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham. Francis was knighted in 1610, at the creation of Prince Henry as Prince of Wales,[5] and joined the navy. In 1614 William Cavendish recommended his full naturalization in Parliament.

He was sent to Spain in May 1623 during the Spanish Match to carry the patent to make George Villiers Duke of Buckingham and Earl of Coventry.[6] Stuart received £200 for this voyage.[7] He brought a parcel of jewels for Charles I of England, many of which had belonged to Anne of Denmark.[8] These included; the jewelled sword given to Prince Henry during the masque Tethys' Festival; the "Portugal diamond"; the "Cobham pearl"; jewelled head attires; and a ring with a diamond frog and a ruby set in its head.[9] King James had second thoughts about sending this jewellery. He wrote to Buckingham that Stuart was bringing a box of jewels including a pearl necklace that he had given to "poor fool Kaite". Four head dresses brought by "Franke Stewarte" were too precious and "not fit for a subject", and they should give one to the Queen of Spain, or bring all of these pieces "hoame again".[10] The "Portugal diamond" was returned to England.[11]

In July 1625 he sailed to the Mediterranean with the Lion and Rainbow to combat Turkish pirates. On 2 July 1625 he wrote to Sir John Coke to address the problem of deserters. It was a risk to send men ashore for fresh water. Sir James Bagg of Saltram House, an admiralty official at Plymouth resented his apparent influence at court, and said he was a "demi-god" aboard the Lion.[12]

An incident in July 1627 near the Azores where Francis avoided a Spanish fleet in conditions of poor visibility was widely reported.[13]

In April 1626 Charles I discharged Francis from court. The Earl of Pembroke was asked to give him the news but spoke in his favour to the king, saying that King James had loved him as well as any in the court of England.[14]

There is evidence of his interest in science. According to John Aubrey, Sir Robert Moray presented observations on comets to the Royal Society made by Thomas Harriot, which he had heard from Sir Francis.[15]

John Cleland dedicated a section of his conduct book Ero-paideia (1607) to Francis and John Stuart, a son of the Duke of Lennox.

Ben Jonson dedicated the 1619 edition of the play Epicœne, or The silent woman to Francis, who had defended the play from charges of libel brought by Arbella Stuart in 1610. It had been suggested that a reference to a Prince of Moldavia in the play reflected on her plans for marriage to an imposter.[16]

Francis Stuart died unmarried in Chelsea in 1635. His house was leased from his sister, the Countess of Nottingham. He had borrowed £600 from Agrippina Gilborne, the wife of Sir Richard Bingley (d. 1626), Surveyor of the King's Ships.

He had a daughter, Frances, with Mrs Cecily Reyman. She was probably Cecily, daughter of Devinish Rayman or Ryman of Apuldram and his wife Anne Cox, who was the daughter of John Cox, a steward to the Earl of Nottingham. Cecily Ryman later married Bryan Bickley of Chidham, Sussex.[17]

References
  1. Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer during the Reign of James I (London, 1836), p. 39.
  2. James Sharpe, 'To Craft a Witch', Times Higher Education, 5 November 1999: James Sharpe, The Bewitching of Anne Gunter: A Horrible and True Story of Deception, Witchcraft, Murder, and the King of England (Routledge, 2001), pp. 113, 160-1, 172, 199-200: S. Amussen & D. Underdown, Gender, Culture and Politics in England, 1560-1640 Turning the World Upside Down (Bloomsbury, 2017).
  3. HMC 11th Report Part VIII: Bridgewater MSS (London, 1888), p. 135.
  4. The National Archives, SP14/109/34.
  5. John Nichols, The Progresses Processions, and Magnificient Festivities of King James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1828), p. 343.
  6. Norman Egbert McClure, Letters of John Chamberlain, vol.2 (Philadelphia, 1932), 491, 497: HMC Mar & Kellie, 2 (London, 1930), p. 162.
  7. Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer during the Reign of James I (London, 1836), p. 269.
  8. Roy Strong, 'Three Royal Jewels: The Three Brothers, the Mirror of Great Britain and the Feather', The Burlington Magazine, 108:760 (July 1966), pp. 350-353: HMC Mar & Kellie, 2 (London, 1930), pp. 167, 171.
  9. Thomas Rymer, Foedera, vol. 7 part 4 (Hague, 1739), pp. 75-6.
  10. John Nichols, The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities, of King James the First, vol. 4 (London, 1828), pp. 848-9.
  11. Diana Scarisbrick, 'Anne of Denmark's Jewellery Inventory', Archaeologia, 109 (1991), p. 223.
  12. HMC 12th Report Earl Cowper, Coke MSS, vol. 1 (London, 1888), pp. 206, 222.
  13. Calendar State Papers Domestic 1625, 1626 (1858), p.49: Thomas Birch, Court and Times of Charles the First, vol.1 (London 1849), 266.
  14. Martin Butler, 'Sir Francis Stewart: Jonson's Overlooked Patron', Ben Jonson Journal, 2 (1995), pp. 101-27, 112, 124: Thomas Birch, Court and Times of Charles the First, vol.1 (London 1849), pp. 97-98.
  15. John Aubrey on Thomas Harriot, Brief Lives, (ed. R. Barber, Boydell Press, 1982).
  16. Martin Butler, 'Sir Francis Stewart: Jonson's Overlooked Patron', Ben Jonson Journal, 2 (1995), pp.101-27, 116,126: M. Butler, 'Stewart, Sir Francis (1588/1589-1634/1635), courtier and naval officer', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/70624 subscription required
  17. William Berry, Pedigrees of Families in Sussex (London, 1830), p. 57.
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