Nicholas Steward (MP for Cambridge University)

Nicholas Steward (born 1547, baptized 16 May 1547, died 1 June 1633) of Taplow in Buckinghamshire, later of Hartley Mauditt in Hampshire,[2] was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1604.

[3] The family, formerly known also as "Styward", claimed descent[4] from a younger son of Alexander Stewart, 4th High Steward of Scotland (d. 1283) (from the elder two sons of whom descended the Stuart kings of Scotland and England) as is described on the monument in Ely Cathedral of Sir Mark Steward (d.1603), but which connection has been disproven by modern historians[5][6] and suspected as a fabrication by his relative Robert Steward (d. 1557), the last Prior of Ely Abbey and the first Dean of Ely Cathedral, "a time-serving prior who assigned generous tracts of dean and chapter lands within the Isle of Ely to numerous relatives".

[8] In 1604, Steward was elected as one of the first Members of Parliament for the newly created constituency of Cambridge University.

[8] Steward purchased the Manor of Hartley Mauditt, Hampshire, in 1603 from the Lancaster Family.

[9] His grandson was Sir Nicholas Steward, 1st Baronet (1618-1710) [10] "Baronet of Hartley Mauditt", of Pylewell Park in Hampshire, whose descendants adopted the surname "Stuart".