Sir Richard Berkeley

Sir Richard Berkeley (1531 – 1604) of Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire was MP for Gloucestershire in 1604. He had previously served as Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1564, and as Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1568. In 1595 he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London. In 1599 he was appointed custodian of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (d. 1601), who was kept under house arrest at Essex House in London. He died in 1604, whilst serving as MP, and was buried in The Gaunts Chapel, Bristol, where exists an effigy of him, which chapel had been founded in 1220 by Maurice de Gaunt (d. 1230), a member of the Berkeley family.

He was born in 1531, the eldest son of Sir John Berkeley (d. 1546) of Stoke Gifford, Gloucestershire by Isabel Denys, a daughter of Sir William Denys (d. 1535) of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, by Anne Berkeley, daughter of Maurice Berkeley, de jure 3rd Baron Berkeley (1436–1506). As well as his mother's descent from the Barons Berkeley he was on the paternal side 7th in descent from Maurice de Berkeley (d. 1347, killed at the Siege of Calais), who had acquired the manor of Stoke Gifford in 1337, the second son of Maurice de Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley (1271–1326). In 1545/6, when Richard was aged 14, his father died from splinter wounds whilst on board a ship at Portsmouth, and by an addition to his father's will Richard was given in wardship to King Henry VIII (1509–1547). His mother Isabel married secondly, as his second wife, Arthur Porter (c.1505–1559) of Newent and Alvington, MP for Gloucestershire in November 1554, for the City of Gloucester in 1555 and for Aylesbury in 1559.