Maurice Berkeley

Who is Maurice Berkeley?

Sir Maurice Berkeley, was an English politician.

He was a younger son of Richard Berkeley of Stoke and was knighted in 1544.

He was a servant of Thomas Cromwell c.1537 and a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber from 1539 to 1553. He was appointed constable of Berkeley Castle in 1544 and chief banner bearer of England in 1545. He was a Justice of the Peace in 1559 and appointed High Sheriff of Dorset and Somerset for 1567–68.

He was a Member of the Parliament of England for Somerset in 1547, 1563 and 1572 and Bletchingley in March 1553.

Berkeley married twice: firstly Catherine Blount, widow of John Champernown of Modbury, Devon, and daughter of William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, by his third wife, Alice Keble, daughter of Henry Keble, Lord Mayor of London, by whom he had 3 sons and 5 daughters, and secondly Elizabeth, the daughter of Anthony Sands of Throwley, Kent, by whom he had 2 sons and a daughter. Most of his estate passed to his son Henry, who was also an MP.