Lewis Prowde

Lewis Prowde (c.1560-1617) was an English barrister, judge and politician, who sat in the House of Commons as MP for Shrewsbury in the Addled Parliament of 1614.

[1] He was born in Shrewsbury,[2] eldest son of George Prowde (died 1591) and Eleanor Lewis.

[2] He became a figure of considerable importance in Lincoln's Inn, where he was successively made Bencher in 1602 (an unusually early appointment as he had only 16 years practice at the Bar), Reader, Keeper of the Black Book, and finally Treasurer in 1613-14.

[3] Most likely he refused to take up the position, about which he had not been consulted in advance, due to his increasing health problems (he was seriously ill in 1605, and unable to act as Reader of his Inn).

[3] Despite his increasing ill health, Prowde in 1610 became a junior judge of the North Wales circuit, an appointment which, according to the customs of the time, allowed him to continue in private practice.