Family and Education

b. c.1601, o.s. of Nicholas Stonhouse of Boxley Kent and Clerkenwell, Mdx. by Joan, da. of Richard Duke of Otterton, Devon. educ. Trinity, Oxf. 1617; I. Temple 1620. m. c.1649, Sarah, da. of Francis Goddard of South Standen, Wilts., 5s. (3 d.v.p.), 5da. suc. fa. 1641, kinsman Sir Walter Smith at Great Bedwyn 1648.1

Offices Held

J.p. Wilts. Mar. 1660-d., commr. for militia Mar. 1660, assessment Aug. 1660-d., corporations 1662-3.2

Biography

Stonehouse's father, the uncle of Sir George Stonhouse*, died on the eve of the Civil War, desiring God to bless his four children 'and that little I leave behind me'. Boxley and all his personal went to provide dowries for the three unmarried daughters, while their middle-aged brother was to receive nothing till the death of his mother, and continued to live in chamber at the Temple. He is not known to have taken part in the Civil War, but probably shared the royalist sympathies of his kinsman Sir Walter Smith, Member for Great Badwyn in the Long Parliament, whose composition he helped to prosecute. On Smith's death he presumably inherited or renewed his lease of Stock manor in Great Bedwyn, which he held under the Hungerfords; but far more valuable was the town property, chiefly in St. Sepulchre's and St. Dunstan's parishes. He did not enter public life till he was nearly sixty, but at the general election of 1661 he was returned for Great Bedwyn on both indentures. He was not an active Member, being named only to the committee of elections and privileges and perhaps two others; but his appointment to the local commission for corporations shows that he was acceptable to the Court. He died on 9 Feb. 1663 and was buried at Great Bedwyn.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

• 1. Vis. Kent (Harl. Soc. xlii), 71; Coll. Top. et Gen. v. 35; St. James Clerkenwell (Harl. Soc. Reg. xvii), 245; Misc. Gen et Her. (ser. 5), v. 127.
• 2. B. H. Cunnington, Annals of Devizes, i. 133.
• 3. PCC 10 Evelyn, 23 Juxon; Keeler, Long Parl. 343-4; Wilts. Arch. Mag. vi. 302; SP23/174, ff. 654, 669.