Arthur Atye

Sir Arthur Atye or Atey (died 1604) was an English academic and politician.^[1]

Life

Atye graduated B.A. at Christ Church, Oxford in 1560, and M.A. in 1564.^[2] A fellow of Merton College, Oxford, he became Principal of St Alban Hall in 1572.^[3] Between 1566 and 1568 he went with John Man on a diplomatic mission in Spain.^[4] He was six times a Member of Parliament: for Liverpool in 1572 and 1584; for Fowey in 1589; for Shaftesbury in 1593; for Dunwich in 1597; and for Bere Alston (1604).^[1]

He acted as secretary to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.^[5] Later he worked for Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and translated political works from Spanish.^[6] He was knighted in 1603.^[1]

Atye was also one of the trading group in Leicester's circle involved in commerce with Morocco, with Alexander Avenon and Richard Staper.^[7] The merchant Benedict Barnham left money to Atye and his wife.^[8]

Atye was residing at Kilburn when he died; he owned property in several other locations around London, including Harrow-on-the-Hill where he was buried. His eldest son and heir Robert was still a minor.^[9]

Family

Atye married first Anne Quarles, the widow of William Ricthorne, who died in 1583; there were no children of the marriage. He then Judith, daughter of Walter Hungerford of Cadenham. Wiltshire. They had three or four sons, and a daughter.^[1] His widow married Sir John Dormer.^[10]

Notes

1. historyofparliamentonline.org, Atye, Arthur (d. 1604), of London and Kilburn, Mdx.
2. James M. Dutcher; Anne Lake Prescott (2008). Renaissance Historicisms: Essays in Honor of Arthur F. Kinney. Associated University Presse. p. 339 note 12. ISBN 978-0-87413-001-0.
3. Anthony à Wood (1796). The History and Antiquities of the Colleges and Halls in the University of Oxford. At the Clarendon Press, Printed for the editor. p. 905.
4. Hannah Crummé, The Impact of Lord Burghley and the Earl of Leicester’s Spanish-Speaking Secretaries, Yearbook of the Spanish and Portuguese Society for English Renaissance Studies Volume 21 (2011), pp. 1-48. (PDF) Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine at p. 20.
5. H. R. Woudhuysen (23 May 1996). Sir Philip Sidney and the Circulation of Manuscripts, 1558-1640. Oxford University Press. p. 267. ISBN 978-0-19-159102-0.
6. Alexandra Gajda (15 March 2012). The Earl of Essex and Late Elizabethan Political Culture. Oxford University Press. pp. 80–2. ISBN 978-0-19-969968-1.
7. Archer, Ian W. "Staper, Richard". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49969. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
8. Bendall, Sarah. "Barnham, Benedict". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1488. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
9. John Summerson, The Book of Architecture of John Thorpe in Sir John Soane's Museum, The Volume of the Walpole Society Vol. 40, (1964-1966), pp. iii-ix, 1-41, 43-109, 111-133; at p. 95. Published by: The Walpole Society. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41829464
10. Philip Sidney (2012). The Correspondence of Sir Philip Sidney. Oxford University Press. pp. xxix note 21. ISBN 978-0-19-955822-3.