SIR

See also:

• ISAAC (Hebrew for " he laughs," on explanatory references to the name, see ABRAHAM)

ISAAC

See also:

• SIR ISAAC PENINGTON (c. 1587-1661)

PENINGTON (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 17th of December 1661 . He was twice married, and had six children by his first wife, several of whom became Quakers .