Church of St Mary
Monument to Sir Edmund †1647 and Dame Mary Reeve. Alabaster, perhaps commissioned by Dame Mary.
This large and imposing monument is on the north wall of the chancel. Lady Reeve lies on her back, her head on two tasselled cushions, holding a book in one hand, the other holding her black dress. Mortlock notes that she looks a deal less pompous but much more comfortable than Sir Edmund (b.1589), lying above her on his side, his head propped by his right hand on another cushion. He is fat faced and smiles faintly, with a beard and small moustache. He wears a tri-corn hat and full fur lined judge’s robes, with a scroll, presumably a judgement. His costume follows the precedent of the monument of Sir Francis Wyndham †1592, another distinguished judge with connections in both London and Norwich, in St Peter Mancroft, Norwich, where Sir Francis is shown as a demi-figure in judge’s costume.
The coat of arms is set between the curved broken pediment and black Doric pilasters frame the long Latin inscription. This, translated at the side of the monument, records his career, but the best modern summary is given in the ODNB. Born in Felthorpe, Sir Edmund was called to the bar in 1611, appointed steward of Norwich and JP for Norfolk and a justice of the common pleas by 1639, when was knighted, and by which time he had acquired the manor of Stratton St Mary. As a judge he supported the Long Parliament. In 1640, for example, refusing to proceed upon an indictment of one of the Lambeth rioters and at the end of 1642 he was one of only three common-law judges still sitting at Westminster in defiance of the king's will. His continuation on the bench became a condition in parliamentary overtures to the king in early 1643. Both he and his brother John (d. 1657), whom he appointed rector of Stratton St Mary in 1638, took the covenant. In his will, dated 1642, he left his wife and executor, Dame Mary Corie, a life interest in lands in Norfolk and Suffolk, and, having apparently no children but considerable wealth provided generously for other relatives, including his brothers Thomas and John and their families.
D. A. Orr, ‘Reeve, Sir Edmund (c.1589–1647)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008; D.P. Mortlock and C.V. Roberts, The Guide to Norfolk Churches, Cambridge, 2007, p.178
showing position of the monument on the north wall of the chancel
