Family and Education

b. c.1643, prob. s. of Thomas Pyper of Colshill, alderman and mayor of Liskeard. ?unm.1

Offices Held

Alderman, Liskeard 1665–88, mayor 1664–5, 1671–2, 1679–80, 1687–8; sheriff, Cornw. 1707.2

Biography

Pyper’s family, who owned the largest manor in Liskeard, had served as aldermen and mayors since the Elizabethan charter of 1586, and had been zealous Royalists during the Civil War. After the surrender of the charter in 1684 him went up to London to petition for a new charter, and the consequent charter of 1685 appointed him as an alderman. However, he presumably opposed the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws since he was removed as alderman in June 1688. After the Revolution there were rival corporations in Liskeard each claiming office under a different charter, and Pyper served as alderman under the Elizabethan one. Returned for Liskeard in 1690, he was classed as a Tory by Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) in March. Later that month Pyper witnessed Sir Thomas Mompesson’s* assault upon William Okeden* in the lobby of the House, an incident he reported to the Commons. In December Pyper was listed by Carmarthen as a likely supporter in the event of a Commons attack on his ministerial position, but he made no further impact on the records of this Parliament and does not appear to have stood in 1695. At the general election of 1698 he claimed to be the rightful mayor, under the charter of 1586, and acted as John Buller II’s* electoral agent (see LISKEARD, Cornw.). Styled ‘Captain Pyper’, presumably a militia rank, he died on 6 Mar. 1714, aged 70, the last of his family, and was buried in Liskeard church.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. J. Allen, Liskeard, 121, 142–3, 149, 259, 271, 313.
• 2. Ibid., 258–9, 474.
• 3. Ibid., 59, 76, 259, 329–30; Polsue, Complete Paroch. Hist. Cornw. iii. 140, 150–1; CSP Dom. 1685, p. 66; Grey, x. 8; Cornw. RO, Buller mss BU/23/72/2–69, pprs. on Liskeard election of 1698.