Sir Edward Poole, Kt., MP, of Kemble

Biographical Summary

POOLE, Edward (c.1617-73), of Kemble, Wilts.

Family and Education

b. c.1617, 1st s. of Sir Neville Poole† of Kemble by his 1st w. Frances, da. of Sir Henry Poole of Saperton, Glos. educ. Magdalen Hall, Oxf. matric. 8 May 1635, aged 18; L. Inn 1636. m. settlement 29 May 1638, Dorothy, da. of Sir Robert Pye† of Faringdon, Berks., 4s. (1 d.v.p.) 1da. Kntd. by 9 July 1660; suc. fa. 1661.

Offices Held

Commr. for sequestration, Wilts. 1643, assessment 1643-8, Aug. 1660-d., appeals, Oxford Univ. 1647, militia, Wilts. 1648, Mar. 1660, j.p. Wilts. Mar. 1660- d., lt.-col. of militia ft. Apr. 1660, col, of horse 1661-d., dep. lt. 1668-d.

Biography

Poole claimed descent from the same Cheshire family as the Poles of Devon. His ancestors were established in Wiltshire early in the 15th century, first entering Parliament in 1442. In the 16th and 17th centuries they had become one of the parliamentary dynasties in the county. Poole’s father supported Parliament and was in arms against the King in the first Civil War. Father and son did not sit after Pride’s Purge, and took no further part in local or national government during the Interregnum until 1659. At the general election of 1660 transferred to Chippenham, where he was perhaps returned without a contest. He was on Lord Wharton’s list as a friend. But he was an inactive Member of the Convention, being named only to the committees to cancel all grants made since May 1642 and to examine the proceedings against Judge Jenkins. Presumably, however, he owed his knighthood to his support of the Court, but it is not known whether he stood in 1661. He was returned to the Cavalier Parliament, at a by-election in 1668 for Malmesbury, six miles from Kemble, which his father had represented in the Long Parliament. He was again inactive, with four committees, of which the most important was for the bill to continue the Conventicles Act (10 Nov. 1669). His annual income was estimated at £1,000, but in his will, dated 2 Apr. 1672, he speaks of ‘the lessened estate’ of the family and left to his daughter ‘the three hundred best trees in Oaksey Park to raise her portion’. He died during the summer recess of 1673, the last of the family to sit in Parliament.

SOURCE: The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983