WARRE, Sir Francis, 1st Bt. (c.1659-1718), of Hestercombe, Kingston, 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

29 Nov. 1699
17 Mar. 1701
Dec. 1701
2 Feb. - 30 Aug. 1715

Family and Education

b. c.1659, o.s. of Sir John Warre. educ. Oriel, Oxf. matric. 16 Oct. 1674, aged 15. m. (1) Anne (d. 24 Dec. 1690), da. and h. of Robert Cuffe of St. Michael Church, Som., 1s. d.v.p.; (2) Margaret, da. of John Harbin, merchant, of London, 1s. d.v.p. 1da. suc. fa. 1669; cr. Bt. 2 June 1673.1

Offices Held

Capt. Duke of Monmouth’s Ft. 1678-9.2

Dep. lt. Som. 1680-7, 1689-1715, j.p. 1681-Feb. 1688, Oct. 1688-1715; recorder, Bridgwater 1683-Oct. 1688, Taunton 1701-?15; commr. for rebels’ estates, Som. 1686, assessment, Som. 1689-90, Bridgwater 1690; col. of militia ft. Som. 1691-?97; v.-adm. Som. and Bristol 1702-9.3

Biography

After a brief spell as an army officer in the newly raised forces Warre returned to Somerset and took an active part as deputy lieutenant and j.p. in the suppression of conventicles. He searched dissenters’ houses in Bridgwater and Taunton, and broke up their meetings. After the Rye House Plot Warre and Ralph Stawell issued the warrant to search the house of George Speke for arms. He was nominated recorder of Bridgwater under the new charter, and returned as a Tory at the general election of 1685, but left no trace on the records of James II’s Parliament. His name appears on the list of ‘persons in readiness’ to support the King against Monmouth, and he was appointed to the commission to discover the rebels’ estates. He was removed from the lieutenancy in 1687 as an opponent of James’s religious policy, and described by the King’s electoral agents as ‘a very ill man’ and ‘a violent Churchman’, with a strong interest at Bridgwater. He was re-elected in 1689, and appointed to the committee of elections and privileges. According to Anthony Rowe he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. But he was given leave to go into the country on 23 Mar., and his only other committee was on the bill to preserve prize salt (18 Dec.). He continued to sit as a Tory under William III and Anne. A Jacobite in the ’Fifteen, he died in exile on 1 Dec. 1718, and was buried with his ancestors at Kingston. His daughter brought the Hestercombe estate to her husband, the younger grandson of Sir Coplestone Bampfylde.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Irene Cassidy

Notes

  • 1. Collinson, Som. iii. 262-3; Som. Wills, iv. 131.
  • 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. vi. 352.
  • 3. Som. RO, Hestercombe mss 99; Q. Sess. Recs. (Som. Rec. Soc. xxxiv), p. xx; Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 545; Eg. 1626, f. 40; Ind. 24557.
  • 4. CSP Dom. 1682, p. 145; Jan.-June 1683, p. 194; July-Sept. 1683, pp. 9, 60, 75-76, 357-8, 398-9; 1683-4, pp. 84-85; 1685, p. 54; Som. RO, Sanford mss 451.