John Edward Underhill

Who was John Edward Underhill?

John Edward Underhill was the son of Thomas Underhill and grandson of Sir Hugh Underhill, two figures favored under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I. He would later have to emigrate to Holland to escape persecution.

John Edward Underhill was born in 1574 at Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England, the son of Thomas Underhill and Magdalen Amyas. He first married Mary Moseley who lived at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England. Following her death he married his second wife Leonora Honor Pawley in 1595 at the age of 21. Pawley had been born in 1575 at Uny Lelant, Cornwall, England.

Of their three children, two daughters - Petronella and Lettice, are both recorded to have been born in 1593. Their son, the future Captain John Underhill, was born 7 October 1597 in Baginton, Warwickshire, England.

John Underhill was a friend and companion to the Earls of Leicester and Essex, and while a youth held a commission in the Earl of Leicester's own Troop of Guards, that was sent to the assistance of the Dutch by Queen Elizabeth I. When the Netherlands offered their sovereignty to the Earl of Leicester, John Edward Underhill was the bearer of confidential dispatches to Lord Burleigh, the Queen's Minister.