BULLER, John II (1668-1701), of Keveral, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

15 Jan. - 17 Mar. 1701

Family and Education

bap. 15 Dec. 1668, o. s. of John Buller I* by 2nd w.  educ. Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 19 Mar. 1686.  m. 9 June 1691 (with £4,000), Mary (d. 1722), da. and coh. of Sir Henry Pollexfen†, l.c.j.c.p., of Woodbury, Devon, 1s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Cornw. 1691–2.

Biography

Upon Buller’s marriage his father settled on him the estate of Keveral, ?ve miles from Morval and worth £700 p.a. Almost immediately Buller was embroiled in the affairs of the Pollexfen and Drake families because on his death-bed (a few days after the wedding) his father-in-law named him as an executor in a codicil to his will made on 14 June 1691. Furthermore, no doubt as a consequence of his new-found independence, Buller was nominated as sheriff later in the year. His first foray into electoral politics appears to have been at Liskeard in 1698, when he was defeated. After taking legal advice he brought a civil action for £500 damages against the mayor for making a false return, on which no judgment was recorded (see LISKEARD, Cornw.). Buller was returned for Lostwithiel in January 1701 and attended the opening of Parliament. However, he died of the smallpox on 17 Mar. 1701. According to his will he made his father executor. However, it seems that Buller had ‘involved himself in a great debt’, so that his father refused to act, although he remained guardian of his grandchildren. Indeed, Buller snr. even sued his daughter-in-law for an allowance for undertaking this task. Buller’s son, John Francis Buller, subsequently inherited both the Morval and Shillingham estates from his grandfather and sat as a Tory under George I.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. IGI, Cornw.; Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 58; Egerton 2750, f. 17; E. F. Eliott-Drake, Fam. and Heirs of Drake, ii. 73–74, 148.
  • 2. C 6/32/33; B. H. Williams, Ancient W. Country Fams. 39; Eliott-Drake, 79; Add. 27440, f. 156; Post Boy, 15–18 Mar. 1701.