Henry Bayntun, MP

Family and Education bap. 14 Nov. 1621, 2nd s. of Sir Edward Bayntun of Bromham, Wilts. by 1st w., and bro. of Edward Bayntun and half-bro. of Nicholas Bayntun. educ. St. John’s, Oxf. 1638; travelled abroad 1640-3. m. by 1653; Joanna (d.1675) da. of Edmund Trimnell, yeoman, of Hanger, Bremhill, Wilts., 1s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Capt. of horse (royalist) 1643-4, commr. for assessment, Wilts. 1661-9, loyal and indigent officers 1662.2

Biography On returning from his travels, Bayntun took service in the royalist army, although his father and elder brother were engaged on the opposite side. As an officer in Lord Hertford’s regiment he was accused of plundering one of his father’s tenants, and on 2 Nov. 1643 the King ordered him to be sent to Oxford in custody. In the following May he was serving in another regiment without loss of rank; but he seems to have been a civilian when he surrendered to Edward Massey at Calne a month later. No composition proceedings were taken against him. Under his father’s will he received an annuity of £200 p.a.3

Bayntun was involved in a double return for Chippenham at the general election of 1661. He was allowed to sit on the merits of the return, but the election was declared void a month later. He was re-elected, but never became an active Member of the Cavalier Parliament. He was appointed to only 11 committees, none of which was of political importance, but including those for the highways bill of 1662, the gaming bill of 1664, and the estate bills promoted by his neighbours, (Sir) Edward Poole and (Sir) Edward Hungerford, in the same year. In 1667 he petitioned for a grant of £1,000 or the reversion to a post in the Bristol customs. He was noted as a court supporter on the opposition list of 1671, and alleged to have ‘taken of the bribe-master £500’. He was buried at Bromham on 10 Nov. 1672.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690 Author: Basil Duke Henning Notes 1. Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 32; Burke, Commoners, iv. 685; CSP Dom. 1640, p. 177; Bath Abbey (Harl. Soc. Reg. xxviii) 372, 374, 382; St. Paul Covent Garden (Harl. Soc. Reg. xxxiii), 2. 2. Harl. 6852, f. 201. 3. Harl. 986, f. 88; H. Bull, Hist. Devizes, 200; PCC 19 Wootton. 4. CSP Dom. 1667-8, p. 125; Harl. 7020, f. 45; Brombam par. reg.