PAULET (POWLETT), Lord Henry (c.1602-1672), of Nether Wallop, Hants.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
Available from Cambridge University Press

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1602, 4th but 2nd surv. s. of William, 4th mq. of Winchester (d.1629), and Lucy, da. of Thomas Cecil†, 1st earl of Exeter; bro. of Lord John*.1 educ. Peterhouse, Camb. 1618; travelled abroad 1620.2 m. (1) c.1626 (with £500),3 Lucy, da. of Sir George Philpot of Thruxton, Hants, 2s. 3da.;4 (2) aft. 1653, Elizabeth (d.1697),5 da. of Sir Francis Dowse of Broughton, Hants, wid. of John Miller of Amport, Hants, s.p.6 cr. KB 1 Feb. 1626;7 styled Lord Paulet by 1626. d. 11 May 1672.8

Offices Held

Col. of horse (roy.) 1643.9

J.p. and dep. lt. Hants 1660-d.;10 commr. assessment, Hants 1661,11 oyer and terminer, Hants and Wilts. 1665-d.;12 kpr. of the game, Hants, by 1669.13

Biography

The Paulet marquesses of Winchester were known for their adherence to Catholicism, as was the family of this Member’s first wife. Despite this there is no evidence that Paulet himself was a Catholic. He was returned to the second Caroline Parliament for Andover, seven miles from the family property of Nether Wallop. A few days after attending Charles I’s Coronation, at which he was created a knight of the Bath, he was seriously injured in a brawl with Sir William Stourton, occasioned by rumours that he was keeping a mistress. The affair was hushed up, but Paulet may never have taken his seat in Parliament or left Hampshire again.14

In the Civil War Paulet was commissioned by the king to raise a regiment of horse, and was captured at the fall of Winchester in December 1642. He was assessed at £4,000 (no doubt in respect of his elder brother’s estate) by the committee for advance of money, but managed to escape sequestration.15 He improved his interest at Andover by the acquisition of Amport in around 1649.16 He drew up his will on 29 Aug. 1671, thanking God for ‘sparing me so long and giving so gracious a time to repent’. He left a portion of £1,800 to an unmarried daughter, and a lease in Bishop’s Waltham to a younger son, Henry.17 He died on 11 May 1672 and was buried, in accordance with his wishes, in Winchester Cathedral.18 His elder son Francis Powlett represented Andover in four parliaments between 1679 and 1695.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629

Authors: Virginia C.D. Moseley / Rosemary Sgroi

Notes

  • 1. C142/448/102.
  • 2. Al. Cant.; SO3/7, unfol. (Sept. 1620).
  • 3. PROB 11/141, f. 50.
  • 4. C142/402/129; PROB 11/341, f. 105v.
  • 5. VCH Hants, iv. 529.
  • 6. B.B. Woodward and T.C. Wilks, Hants, iii. 183.
  • 7. Shaw, Knights of Eng. i. 161.
  • 8. S. Gale, Antiqs. Cathedral of Winchester, 40.
  • 9. Winchester Cathedral Docs. ed. W.R.W. Stephens and F.T. Madge, 55.
  • 10. C220/9/4; C193/12/3; CTB, 1660-7, p. 67; CSP Dom. 1672-3, p. 488.
  • 11. SR, v. 338.
  • 12. C181/7, pp. 312, 612.
  • 13. CSP Dom. 1668-9, p. 531.
  • 14. Private Corresp. of Jane Lady Cornwallis ed. Lord Braybrooke, 141-2; HMC Hodgkin, 283-4.
  • 15. CCAM, 1261; CCC, 104.
  • 16. VCH Hants, iv. 339.
  • 17. PROB 11/341, f. 105v.
  • 18. Woodward and Wilks, i. 76; J. Milner, Hist. Winchester, ii. 120.