Symonds D'Ewes

Sir Simonds d'Ewes, 1st Baronet (18 December 1602 in Milden, Suffolk, England – 18 April 1650) was an antiquary and politician. He was bred for the bar, was a member of the Long Parliament and left notes on its transactions. d'Ewes took the Puritan side in the Civil War. His Journal of all the Parliaments of Elizabeth is of value; he left an Autobiography and Correspondence.

Simonds d'Ewes was born the eldest son of Paul d'Ewes, of Milden, Suffolk, and Cecelia, the heiress of Sir Richard Simonds. He inherited a fortune from his maternal grandfather while still young; his other grandfather was the printer Gerard D'Ewes. After some early private teaching, including time at the school of Henry Reynolds (father of Bathsua Makin, who impressed D'Ewes much more), he was sent to the grammar school at Bury St. Edmunds. At Bury St. Edmunds, he wrote 2,850 verses of poetry in Greek and Latin. D'Ewes then went to St. John's College, Cambridge, and studied under Richard Holdsworth. At St. John's, he was exposed to and influenced by a strong college tradition of Puritanism.

He was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1611, and in 1623 was called to the Bar. He did not pursue a legal career, preferring instead to follow up antiquarian interests, which took him to the records in the Tower of London. He met Sir Robert Cotton, who introduced him to John Selden, the outstanding lawyer-scholar of the time; but D'Ewes found him conceited.

His marriage, in 1626, to Anne Clopton, heiress to Sir William Clopton, of Luton's Hall (also known as Kentwell) near Long Melford in Suffolk, brought him a considerable addition to his wealth. He was knighted by Charles I on 6 December.

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