Michael Biddulph d.1657

Michael BIDDULPH -1657

Biographical Note

Born in or near Lichfield, son of Simon Biddulph of Elmhurst, a member of an established gentry family there. Matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford 1598, but did not graduate; entered at the Middle Temple, 1599. A parliamentarian supporter during the Civil War, he was MP for Lichfield 1646-48 and was a member of the county committee set up in 1643 to raise money for the parliamentary forces.

Books

Biddulph had two houses, one in Lichfield, and one at Elmhurst two miles outside the city. His probate inventory records “his library at Lichfield and Elmehurst” valued at £20 (from a total valuation of both estates of £876). The library entry is made under the Elmhurst property, “in the study chamber” there, where there was also a bed, chairs, a table and other furniture. Biddulph’s will includes no mention of books, which would have passed with the residue of his estate and household goods to his son Michael (1610-66).

Characteristic Markings

None of Biddulph’s books have been identified.

Sources

• Ebdon, H. ‘Michael Biddulph of Lichfield and Elmhurst’, Transactions Of the Lichfield and South Staffordshire Archaeological and Historical Society. 4 (1962/3), 23-26.
• Foster, J. Alumni Oxonienses. London, 1888.
• Henning, B. The House of Commons 1660-1690, London, 1983.
• Vaisey, D. (ed), Probate inventories of Lichfield and district, 1568-1680, 1969, no.45.