What makes a JP? A socio-economic and character study of Justices of the Peace in Elizabethan Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire

Kendrick, JM, 2025. What makes a JP? A socio-economic and character study of Justices of the Peace in Elizabethan Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. PhD, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

Justices of the Peace (JPs), and county governance in Early Modern England were subjects which received significant scholarship for many decades but have recently stagnated. This field remains incomplete, with many counties with unique characteristics being ignored, powerful magistrates forgotten, and important questions around the factors which influenced who was appointed a JP unanswered. This thesis focuses on how education, religion, alliances, and economic status influenced the careers of JPs in Elizabethan Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire (1558-1603). It addresses the careers of these early modern magistrates who dominated county administration, law and order, local politics, and the gentry community within the counties. Through the alumni of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or the Inns of Court like Gray’s Inn, this thesis addresses the early modern education of the gentry, and its effects on their careers. It analyses the religious spectrum of Reformation England, through the careers of conservative, traditionalist, Catholic, conformist, Protestant, Puritan, reformer, and pragmatist JPs. It also addresses the unique population, geographic, and economic demographics of the counties of Elizabethan Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, two otherwise ignored Midlands counties. Through economic status it addresses the estates, income, and social status of the gentry, or professionals like lawyers or merchants to understand how wealth influenced a gentlemen’s likelihood for appointment to county office, or promotion to higher office like Deputy Lieutenant, Custos Rotulorum, High Sheriff, or MP. Through debt and inflation, it addresses the economic climate of the early modern gentry in England, and their estates, previously expanded by the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Finally, this thesis addresses the effect of lobbying through alliances, early modern friendship, political ambitions, blood connections, marriage, and kinship in influencing why and how a JP was appointment. Overall, this thesis addresses what factors influenced the appointment of JPs in Elizabethan Nottinghamshire
and Derbyshire.

Item Type:	Thesis
Creators:	Kendrick, J.M.
Contributors:	Name Role NTU ID ORCID Powell, L. Thesis supervisor CCE3POWELL UNSPECIFIED Bennett, M. Thesis supervisor INS3BENNEM https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3499-9679
Date:	January 2025
Rights:	The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Arts and Humanities
Record created by:	Laura Borcherds
Date Added:	06 Jan 2026 09:59
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2026 09:59
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/54923

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