Penington, Sir Isaac
PENINGTON, SIR ISAAC (c. 1587-1661), lord mayor of London, eldest son of Robert Penington, a London fishmonger, was born probably in 1587. His father besides his London business had landed estates in Norfolk and Suffolk, which Isaac inherited in addition to a property in Buckinghamshire which he himself purchased. In 1638 Isaac became an alderman and high sheriff of London. In 1640 he was elected to the House of Commons as member for the city of London, and immediately took a prominent place among the Puritan party. In 1642 he was elected lord mayor of London, but retained his seat in parliament by special leave of the Commons; and he was elected lord mayor for a second term in the following year, continuing while in office to raise large sums of money for the opposition to the Court party. From 1642 to 1645 he was lieutenant of the Tower, in which capacity he was present at the execution of Laud; but, though one of the commissioners for the trial of Charles I., he did not sign the death warrant. After the king's death Penington served on Cromwell's council of state, and on several committees of government. His services were rewarded by considerable grants of land, and a knighthood conferred in 1649. He was tried and convicted of treason at the Restoration, and died while a prisoner in the Tower on the 1yth of December 1661. He was twice married, and had six children by his first wife, several of whom became Quakers.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
