Nicholas Bayntun, MP

Family and Education b. c.1649, 4th s. of Sir Edward Bayntun† of Bromham, Wilts., being 2nd s. by 2nd w. Mary, sis. of Nicholas Bowell of Cokethorpe, Oxon.; half-bro. of Edward Bayntun and Henry Bayntun I. educ. St. John’s, Oxf. matric. 13 June 1664, aged 15. m. (with £1,000), Joanna Maria, da. of Sir Littleton Osbaldeston, 1st Bt., of Chadlington, Oxon.1

Offices Held

Freeman, Woodstock 1673, Oxford 1680-June 1688; ?keeper, Woodstock Park by 1674; common councilman, Woodstock 1674-Aug. 1688, Oct. 1688-?d.; commr. for assessment, Oxon. 1679-80, Wilts. 1689-90; j.p. Woodstock 1685-7; lt.-col. of militia ft. Wilts. ?1689-d.2

Biography Bayntun was first connected with Oxfordshire through his mother’s family. When made a common councilman of Woodstock in 1674 he was living at Woodstock Park, presumably as one of the keepers under John Lovelace, who was steward and lieutenant of the crown manor. A successful owner of racehorses, he was returned for the borough in 1679 together with his father-in-law, and marked as a court supporter on Huntingdon’s list. He was absent from the division on the first exclusion bill, made no speeches and sat on no committees in any of the Exclusion Parliaments. His removal from the Oxford and Woodstock corporations in the summer of 1688 suggests opposition to James II’s policies. In 1689 he and his nephew, Henry Bayntun II, represented Chippenham on the family interest. He was again totally inactive in the Convention, and was not listed as voting to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. For a short time in 1695 his name again appears on Woodstock council records, after which he seems to have removed to Loxwell. He was buried at Bromham on 28 Oct. 1700, and Loxwell had reverted to the senior branch by 1713.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690 Author: Leonard Naylor Notes 1. Burke, Dormant and Extinct Baronetcies; PCC 78 Bruce; C5/125/7; Wilts. N. and Q. viii. 222-3. 2. Woodstock council acts, 1661-79 (29 Jan. 1673, 27 Oct. 1674); 1679-99 (15 Apr. 1685, 12. Aug. 1695); Oxford Council Acts (Oxford Hist. Soc. n.s. ii), 129; PC2/72/677-8; Eg. 1626, f. 51. 3. C5/125/7; Add. 18730, f. 61; PCC 54 Exton; Bromham par. reg.; ft. fines, Trin.12 Anne