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Lot Essay
The Pytts family were yeomen in the west of Worcestershire in the 15th Century, and by the time of this portrait the family had moved into the ranks of the gentry. Sir Edward Pytts (1546-1618), who had secured the lucrative legal office of Filazer of the Common Pleas, acquired Kyre Park in 1576, and the manor of Ivington, two miles south of Leominster in 1590. He was knighted on 23 July 1603 in the Royal Gardens at Whitehall before the King's Coronation. He married Elizabeth, sister of Sir Thomas Wilford, Sheriff of Worcestershire (1612).
His grandson Edward Pytts (c.1606-1672), shown here at the age of about 6 years old in 1612, was the eldest son and heir apparent to Sir James Pytts, of Kyre Ward, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Arthur Heveningham, of Heveningham, Suffolk. The first of his family to enter Parliament, Edward held various seats in Worcestershire throughout his career, and although in 1654 he was considered an opponent of Cromwell, only two years later he was one of the group of Parliamentarians who voted to offer him the crown. He married Elizabeth Sandys, of Ombersley, the daughter and heiress of one of the Members for Leominster in the Short Parliament, further increasing his family's interest in Herefordshire.
His grandson Edward Pytts (c.1606-1672), shown here at the age of about 6 years old in 1612, was the eldest son and heir apparent to Sir James Pytts, of Kyre Ward, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir Arthur Heveningham, of Heveningham, Suffolk. The first of his family to enter Parliament, Edward held various seats in Worcestershire throughout his career, and although in 1654 he was considered an opponent of Cromwell, only two years later he was one of the group of Parliamentarians who voted to offer him the crown. He married Elizabeth Sandys, of Ombersley, the daughter and heiress of one of the Members for Leominster in the Short Parliament, further increasing his family's interest in Herefordshire.