HERLE, Edward (c.1617-95), of Prideaux, Luxulyan, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Apr. 1640
1659
1660

Family and Education

b. c.1617, 1st s. of Thomas Herle of Prideaux by Loveday, da. of Nicholas Glyn of Glynn, Cardinham; bro. of Thomas Herle. m. (1) lic. 5 Feb. 1634, Mary (d.1673), da. and coh. of Nicholas Trefusis of Landue, Lezant, 7s. (4 d.v.p.) 3da.; (2) 1680, Susanna, wid. of John Owen, Fishmonger, of Bread Street, London and Mortlake, Surr., s.p. suc. fa. 1644.1

Offices Held

Lt.-col. (parliamentary) to 1646.2

Sheriff, Cornw. Dec. 1646-Jan. 1648, v.-adm. 1647-9, commr. for assessment 1647-8, Jan. 1660, 1661-3, 1666-80, 1689-90, militia 1648, 1659, Mar. 1660, j.p. 1649-52, 1653-62, 1668-70, June 1688-d., maj. of militia horse Apr. 1660; stannator, Foymore 1673; dep. lt. Cornw. July 1688-?d.3

Biography

Herle’s ancestors acquired Prideaux, five miles from Fowey, by marriage at the end of the 14th century, and first sat in Parliament for Liskeard in 1425. Herle’s uncle was prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly, and he himself was doubtless a Presbyterian. In arms for Parliament in the first Civil War, he held office only intermittently during the Interregnum, and signed the Truro declaration for a free Parliament in December 1659.4

At the general election of 1660 Herle was returned for Callington, probably on the interest of Robert Rolle, and for Fowey, where he was elected on the Treffry interest. Choosing to sit for the latter, he was marked as a friend on Lord Wharton’s list. But he made no recorded speeches in the Convention, and probably served on no committees. He is unlikely to have stood in 1661, and was removed from the Cornish commission of the peace. After a further short period as j.p. from 1668 to 1670 he was again dismissed, presumably as an opponent of the Conventicles Act, though it was on the grounds of debt and ill-health that he was excused from serving as sheriff in 1671-2.5

Herle survived his eldest sons and his brother to become a Whig collaborator under James II. He was one of the dissenting magistrates restored to the county bench in 1688, and at the succeeding general election he was successful at Grampound. In the Convention he was named only to the committee on the bill for the easier recovery of tithes, and on 2 July 1689 he was granted leave to go into the country. Although presumably a Whig, he was not listed as a supporter of the disabling clause in the bill to restore corporations, and probably did not stand again. He was buried at Luxulyan on 20 Apr. 1695.6

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Paula Watson

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 218-20; J. R. Woodhead, Rulers of London, 124; PCC 5 Drax; Soc. of Genealogists, Lezant par. reg.
  • 2. J. Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, 304.
  • 3. Boase and Courtney, Bibl. Cornub. iii. 1228-9; CSP Dom. 1649-50, p. 203; Parl. Intell. 9 Apr. 1660; Add. 6713, f. 377.
  • 4. DNB; M. Coate, Cornw. in the Gt. Civil War, 219, 245, 308.
  • 5. CSP Dom. 1671, p. 592; 1672-3, p. 126.
  • 6. Vivian, 220.