The Journal of the Hakluyt Society June 2014 Edmund Hakluyt: New College Singing Man, Tutor, and Youngest Brother of Richard Hakluyt Daniel Carey* In 1598, Richard Hakluyt dedicated the first volume of the second edition of his major work, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation, to Charles Howard, Lord Admiral and recently created Earl of Nottingham. Howard’s political and naval status, enhanced by his success in the action against the Spanish Armada and the capture of Cadiz, made him a promising figure to approach. But Hakluyt also had personal reasons for seeking patronage from Howard, as he reminded him in the dedication. He noted several familial ties, beginning with his youngest brother, Edmund, who had served as tutor to Howard’s eldest son and heir. As he wrote in The Principal Navigations: For first I remembred how much I was bound, and how deeply indebted for my yongest brother Edmund Hackluyt, to whom for the space of foure whole yeeres your Lordship committed the government and instruction of that honorable yong noble man, your sonne & heire apparant, the lord William Howard, of whose high spirit and wonderful towardlinesse full many a time hath he boasted unto me. 1 By the time he wrote, Edmund had been dead for nearly six years. Little is known about his life and career. The purpose of this piece is to record the information available about him and to reconstruct something of the context of his life and education. To do so it is helpful to begin with the thread of Richard’s life and his Oxford connections. Richard matriculated at Christ Church in 1570, following his election as a Student (as a Queen’s Scholar of Westminster School). He proceeded to his BA in 1574 and his MA in 1577, and retained his Studentship until 1586. By 1580 he had taken holy orders and in 1583 he travelled to Paris as chaplain to the resident ambassador, Sir Edward Stafford, with whom he remained until 1588. In this decade Hakluyt’s assiduous career as a compiler of travel-related documents began, starting with Divers voyages touching the discouerie of America (1582), dedicated to Philip Sidney, followed in 1589 by the first edition of The Principall Navigations, dedicated to Sir Francis Walsingham. * I am grateful to Laura Branch, Anthony Payne, and Will Poole for suggestions and advice for this article. 1 The Original Writings & Correspondence of the Two Richard Hakluyts , 2 vols, ed. E. G. R. Taylor, London, The Hakluyt Society, 1935, vol. II, p. 427.