Family and Education

b. c.1613, 1st s. of John St. Aubyn^† of Clowance by Catherine, da. of John Arundell of Trerice, educ. M. Temple 1631. m. lic. 29 Mar. 1637, Catherine, da. and h. of Francis Godolphin^† of Treveneage, 6s. 4da. suc. fa. 1639.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Cornw. 1643-9, 1657, Jan. 1660, 1663-80, sequestrations 1643, levying of money 1643, execution of ordinances 1644, sheriff 1644-5, 1666-7; recorder, St. Ives 1646-?62; freeman, Plymouth 1648; commr. for militia, Cornw. 1648, 1659, Mar. 1660; v.-adm. S. Cornw. 1649-?61; j.p. Cornw. 1650-3, 1657-d., commr. for security 1655-6, col. of militia ft. Apr. 1660; stannator of Tywarnwhaile 1663; Penwith and Kerrier 1673.2

Col. (parliamentary) by 1646-7.3

Biography

St. Aubyn’s ancestors can be traced back in Devonshire to the 14th century, and one of them was knight of the shire in 1414. The Cornish branch was established by marriage with the heiress of Clowance under Richard II, and began to represent Cornish boroughs in 1555. During the Civil War St. Aubyn took the parliamentary side, and sat for the county under the Protectorate; but he was one of the Cornish gentry who met at Truro in December 1659 to demand a free Parliament. He was involved in a double return to St. Ives in the general election of 1660, and included in Lord Wharton’s list of friends. He took his seat in the Convention, since his name was on both indentures, but he was appointed to only two committees, one for the better observance of the Lord’s day (18 Aug.) and the other for the encouragement of the fisheries, St. Ives’s principal industry (19 Dec.). He did not stand in 1661, and probably lost his recordership at the hands of the commissioners for corporations. Nine years later Francis Godolphin urged the King to write to the St. Ives corporation that he would take it as ‘an evidence of their own disaffection’ if they restored him to the post. Nevertheless St. Aubyn’s son was created a baronet in 1671, and in 1681 he himself committed the master of a ship from Belfast who had refused to take the oath of supremacy. He was buried at Crowan on 20 Aug. 1684.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 438-9.
• 2. Plymouth Lib. Black Bk., f. 318; Thurloe, iii. 451; Parl. Intell. 9 Apr. 1660; Add. 6713, f. 377.
• 3. J. Sprigge, Anglia Rediviva, 304.
• 4. CSP Dom. Add. 1660-70, p. 663; 1680-1, p. 228; Pub. Intell. 9 Jan. 1660; J. H. Matthews, St. Ives, 218, 227.