Suckling, John, Sir (1569 -1627)

Sir John Suckling, of Rous Hall, Beules, and Barsham Hall, in Suffolk, was the fourth and youngest son of Robert Suckling of Norwich, and his first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of William Barwick, of Great Bergholt in Suffolk. He entered Gray's Inn in May 1590. He was Member of Parliament for Dunwich in 1601, and held several political posts. He purchased Barsham Hall in 1613, and was knighted by James I in January 1616. He was Master of Requests 1620, Comptroller of the Royal Household 1622, Secretary of State the same year, and a member of the Privy Council. He married, firstly, Martha, daughter of Thomas Cranfield, and sister of Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex. The poet Sir John Suckling was their son. She died 29 October 1613, and Sir John married secondly, 2 March 1616, Jane, daughter of John Reve, of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, and widow of Charles Hawkins. The stamp was cut to mark the books bought with the fifty pounds that he gave to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1618.