WALROND, Amos (c.1623-68), of Wells, Som.

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

Constituency

Dates

1661 - 11 Nov. 1668

Family and Education

b. c.1623, 4th but 3rd surv. s. of William Walrond (d.1662) of Isle Brewers by Susan, da. and h. of Thomas Maycock, chapter clerk of Wells. educ. Trinity Coll. Camb. 1637, BA 1642; M. Temple 1656. m. c.1668, Elizabeth, da. of Edmund Lambert of Keevil, Wilts., s.p.1

Offices Held

Vicar of Martock, Som. 1645-7; commr. for assessment, Staffs. and Warws. 1661-3, Warws. 1664-d.; registrar, Chichester dioc. 1662-?d.2

Sec. to Mq. of Hertford (later 2nd Duke of Somerset) 1647-Oct. 1660, to the dowager duchess 1660-3; steward to 3rd Earl of Winchilsea c.1658-?d.; visitor, Oxf. Univ. July 1660-2.3

Biography

Walrond was descended from a younger son of the Devonshire family who had become a tenant on the Earl of Hertford’s Somerset estate. His father was a commissioner of array in the Civil War, and his elder brother a captain in the Cavalier army. In 1645 Walrond was presented to a Somerset living by his brother-in-law, then treasurer of Wells Cathedral; but when he refused to conform to the Presbyterian system Hertford took him into his service. Henceforward Walrond, though a devout Anglican, appears to have regarded himself as a layman, and in 1656 he entered the Middle Temple. At the general election of 1660, though he did not stand himself, his astute management secured the return of Lord John Seymour at Marlborough. When Hertford resumed his powers as chancellor of Oxford University at the Restoration, he sent Walrond with orders for the return of the loyal dons to the fellowships from which they had been expelled in 1648.4

Walrond was restored unopposed in 1661 for Tamworth where Hertford’s widow enjoyed a strong interest as lady of Drayton manor. A draft letter, possibly intended for the signature of her brother-in-law, Lord Seymour of Trowbridge, recommended to the bailiffs of the borough

my servant Amos Walrond, not altogether unknown to you, who is one I know to be a very honest man, and will, I doubt not, answer that character of being for the public good both of Church and state.

Though Walrond was soon afterwards described in a chancery bill as ‘a deacon, and a preacher too’, his eligibility for Parliament apparently went unchallenged at the time. He was not an active Member, being named to only twelve committees. In the first session of the Cavalier Parliament, he took part in considering the uniformity bill and those for the execution of those under attainder and confirming the dukedom of Somerset in the Seymour family. Outside the House he was, if anything, too active; as Thomas Gape pointed out, he had too many irons in the fire to give adequate service to his employers. He was able to pay out of his own pocket the whole cost of restoring the chapel of the vicars choral at Wells, which had been damaged during the Civil War. If Walrond had lived longer he might have been unseated like Joseph Cradock, for by 1667 John Ferrers was spreading ‘a report that Mr Walrond had entered into ecclesiastical orders’. But before the matter could be raised in the House, Walrond died on 11 Nov. 1668, aged 45. He was buried in Wells Cathedral.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: A. M. Mimardière

Notes

  • 1. A. J. Jewers, Wells Cath. 91-92; PCC 37 Barrington; HMC Wells, ii. 368; Som. Wills, iii. 19.
  • 2. Wood, Fasti Oxon. ii. 105; F. W. Weaver, Som. Incumbents, 140; C6/20/139.
  • 3. HMC Finch, i. 217, 268, 312, 340; HMC Bath, iv. 226; Wood’s Life and Times (Oxf. Hist. Soc. xix), 325.
  • 4. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 770; HMC Bath, iv. 208, 252-3; Cal. Comm. Comp. 963; HMC 15th Rep. VII, 162; Wood’s Life and Times, 318.
  • 5. D. G. Stuart, ‘Parl. Hist. Tamworth, 1661-1837’ (London Univ. M.A. thesis 1958), 22, 38; C6/20/139; HMC Bath, iv. 256; HMC Finch, i. 399; iv. 265; Staffs. Parl. Hist. (Wm. Salt Arch. Soc.), ii. 132; Jewers, 92.