Lewis Dyve

Who was Lewis Dyve?

Sir Lewis Dyve was an English Member of Parliament and a Royalist adherent during the English Civil War. His surname is sometimes also spelt Dive or Dives. He was the son of Sir John Dyve and Beatrice Walcott, who married secondly John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol.

Dyve, who had an estate at Bromham in Bedfordshire, was knighted in 1620 and was one of the attendants of Prince Charles during his time at Madrid. He was elected MP for Bridport in the Parliaments of 1625 and 1626, and for Weymouth in that of 1628. Some sources record him as having been once more chosen to represent Bridport in December 1640, but in fact he seems to have been the defeated candidate petitioning the House of Commons against the result of the election; as his was the first disputed election to be heard in the Long Parliament, the committee which subsequently heard other election petitions was referred to as The Committee on Sir Lewis Dive for several years.