page_title: Spring family
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Spring family / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Cockfield Hall, Yoxford, Suffolk, England
context_page_description: The Spring family is a Suffolk gentry family that has been involved in the politics and economy of East Anglia since the 15th century, as well as holding large estates in Ireland from the 16th century.
context_section_description: The earliest recording of the family is in 1311 in northern England, where Sir Henry Spring was lord of the manor at a place that would become known as Houghton-le-Spring. The family first came to prominence in the town of Lavenham in Suffolk, where they were important merchants in the cloth and wool trade during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. At the height of the wool trade in the late 15th century, the Springs were one of the richest families in England. The family owned over two dozen manor houses in the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, including Cockfield Hall, which they built in the 16th century, and Newe House. The most successful of the Spring merchants was Thomas Spring (c. 1474–1523), who was the first member of the Suffolk Springs to hold public office.  Thomas Spring gave substantial funds for the construction of St Peter and St Paul's Church, Lavenham, where he lies buried.
  Over following generations, the Springs firmly established themselves as nobility in Suffolk. This was partly facilitated through a series of advantageous marriages to powerful local families, such as the Waldegraves, Jermyns and de Veres.  Additionally, successive generations of the family held public office, representing Suffolk in the House of Commons and occupying the role of High Sheriff of Suffolk. Despite being relations of the Yorkist George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, the Springs were supporters of the House of Lancaster throughout the Wars of the Roses, reflected by the grant of arms to the family by Henry VI. Sir John Spring (d.1549) was knighted by Henry VII and aided the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk in suppressing the Lavenham revolt of 1525. His son, Sir William, became High Sheriff of Suffolk in 1578 having served as MP for Suffolk and was knighted by Elizabeth I. His grandson was knighted by James I, also serving as MP and High Sheriff of Suffolk. During this period, the Springs were committed Puritans and under their patronage Cockfield became a centre for Puritan thought and activity.
  On 11 August 1641, Sir William Spring was created a baronet, of Pakenham in the County of Suffolk, in the Baronetage of England by King Charles I, in an attempt by the king to win the favour of Parliamentarian gentry families in the lead up to the Civil War. He was High Sheriff of Suffolk and later served as MP for Bury St Edmunds and Suffolk, and was an active recruiter for the Parliamentarian army during the war. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the family was issued with a pardon for their actions against the king. Sir William's son, the second baronet, was also the MP for Suffolk and one of the earliest members to be designated a Whig. The family title became dormant on the death of the sixth baronet in 1769.
  The Conservative politician Lord Risby (b.1946) is the most recent member of the family to represent Suffolk in the British Parliament. Other members of the family include the British Army officers Lieutenant-Colonel William Spring (1769-c.1839), Brigadier-General Frederick Spring (1878-1963), Major Trevor Spring (1882-1926) and Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Spring (1921–1997). Flying Officer Hector Spring DFC (1915-1978) served with distinction in the Royal Air Force during World War II.
  The family have a monument erected to them in the church of St Peter and St Paul in Lavenham and the parclose screen in the north aisle is to their chantry. Additional monuments to the family exist in Cockfield and Pakenham, as well as on Ullswater in the Lake District.
caption: Cockfield Hall, one of the seats of the Spring family for several generations
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