Edmund Doubleday

Who is Edmund Doubleday?

Edmund Doubleday was an English vintner, lawyer, office-holder and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1614. He was jointly responsible for the capture of Guy Fawkes in the Gunpowder Plot.

Doubleday was acting as a scrivener and public notary by 1587 and then studied law at Middle Temple. He was active at the parish of St Margaret's, Westminster where he signed parish accounts from 1590. He was overseer of the poor in 1590. By the 1590s he had acquired leases of several properties from Westminster Abbey and marriages to wealthy widows brought him various property in Westminster which included the Saracens Head on King Street. In 1591 he was assigned half the lease of Ebury Manor by Thomas Knyvet with whom he was subsequently involved in various activities. From 1592 to 1595 he was High Constable of Westminster. Doubleday was built for law enforcement, being described in Anglorum Speculumas as "a man of great stature, valour, gravity and activity". He was given a position in the mint office in 1601. In 1604 Doubleday and Andrew Bright were granted the offices of distilling herbs and sweet waters at the palace of Whitehall and keeping the library there.