Nicholas Hare

Who was Nicholas Hare?

Sir Nicholas Hare of Bruisyard, Suffolk was Speaker of the House of Commons of England between 1539 and 1540.

He was born the eldest son of John Hare of Homersfield, Suffolk, educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and admitted to the Inner Temple in 1515. He had three sisters, who were married to MPs, and a brother, John Hare of Stow Bardolph.

He was MP for Downton, Wiltshire in 1529 and possibly Wiltshire in 1539, Lancaster in 1545 and Taunton in 1547. In 1539 the nunnery of Bruisyard was dissolved and assigned by Henry VIII to Sir Nicholas. He was knighted in May 1539 and eventually became Master of the Rolls.

In 1554 he presided at the trial of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, who had been accused of involvement in Wyatt's rebellion against the marriage of Queen Mary to Felipe of Spain.

Sir Nicholas died in Chancery Lane in 1557 and was buried in nearby Temple Church, commemorated in the south bay window of the new Inner Temple Hall. He had married Catherine, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Bassingbourne of Woodhall nr. Hatfield, Hertfordshire. They had three sons and three daughters.