Edward Fiennes de Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln (1512-1585), c.1575 (oil on panel)

Creator: British School, probably after Cornelis Ketel Clinton held high positions through four reigns. He was a royal ward and later courtier of Henry VIII and, after active service against the Scots and French from 1540, became Lord Admiral to Edward VI in 1550. Although Queen Mary deprived him office in 1553 for involvement in the attempt to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, she reappointed him in 1558 after other services. He remained Lord Admiral under Elizabeth, actively into the 1560s and thereafter as a member of the Queen's council. He was also an investor in voyages of privateering and colonization. He had a stake in Drake's round-the-world voyage of 1577-1580 and probably in Humphrey Gilbert's expedition to America, 1578.