Sir Thomas Hele, 1st Baronet | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Okehampton | |
In office May 1661 –November 1670 † | |
Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Devon | |
In office April 1661 –November 1670 † | |
Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle | |
In office November 1640 –January 1644 (excluded) | |
High Sheriff of Devon | |
In office January 1636 –November 1636 | |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1595 Flete House |
Died | 7 November 1670 75) Holbeton | (aged
Resting place | All Saints Holbeton |
Nationality | English |
Spouse(s) | (1) Penelope Jackson (1629-1630) (2) Elizabeth Elwes (1632-1646) |
Children | (1) Thomas Hele (1630–1665) (2) Samuel (1634-1672),Henry (1636-1677),Elizabeth (1638-1691) and Honor (1639-1710) |
Occupation | Landowner and politician |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Royalist |
Years of service | 1642 to 1646 |
Rank | Colonel |
Battles/wars | First English Civil War Siege of Plymouth |
Sir Thomas Hele,1st Baronet (c. 1595 to 7 November 1670) was a landowner from Devon and MP on various occasions from 1626 to 1670. A Royalist during the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War,he raised a regiment of cavalry which served in the West Country and sat in the Oxford Parliament.
Heavily fined by the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents,he avoided participation in politics during the Interregnum and after the Stuart Restoration in May 1660 was elected to the Cavalier Parliament. He died at home in Holbeton on 7 November 1670.
Thomas Hele was the second surviving son of Thomas Hele (1568-1624) and Bridget Champernowne,4th daughter of Sir Henry Champernowne (1538–1570) of Modbury in Devon. He became heir when his father disinherited his eldest son Samwell (1590-1661). [1]
In 1629,he married Penelope Jackson (?-1630),who died in childbirth the next year,leaving him a son Thomas Hele (1630–1665). [2] Elizabeth Elwes (?-1646)became his second wife in 1632 and they had nine children,only four of whom survived into adulthood;Samuel (1634-1672),Henry (1636-1677),Elizabeth (1638-1691) and Honor (1639-1710). [3]
In 1626 Hele was elected Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle. [4] He was created Baronet of Fleet in the County of Devon in the Baronetage of England on 28 May 1627. [3] He was re-elected in 1628 and sat until Parliament was dissolved in 1629,ushering in the eleven years of Personal Rule. [1]
Following the death of the previous incumbent,he was appointed Sheriff of Devon in January 1636,making him responsible for collecting Ship Money. He was elected for Plympton to the Short Parliament in April 1640,then the Long Parliament in November. [4]
When the First English Civil War began in August 1642,Hele supported Charles I;he sat in the Oxford Parliament and was excluded from his Parliamentary seat in January 1644. He also raised a regiment of cavalry,taking part in the Siege of Plymouth and defence of Pendennis Castle. He was heavily fined by the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents in 1646 and largely avoided participation in Royalist conspiracies during the Interregnum. Following the Stuart Restoration,he was elected for Okehampton in the Cavalier Parliament and held the seat until his death in 1670. [1]
Hele was buried in All Saints' Church,Holbeton,on 16 November 1670. His elaborate monument survives in the Fleet Chapel,at the east end of the north aisle of the church. [5] [lower-alpha 1]
Sir Walter Yonge, 2nd Baronet of Great House, Colyton, and of Mohuns Ottery, both in Devon, was a Member of Parliament for Honiton (1659), for Lyme Regis (1660) and for Dartmouth (1667–70).
Elize Hele (1560–1635) of Fardel in the parish of Cornwood, Devon and of Parke in the parish of Bovey Tracey, Devon, was an English lawyer and philanthropist. In 1632 he transferred his lands into a trust intended for "pious uses", from which charitable action and in order to distinguish him from his many prominent relations, he became known to posterity as "Pious Uses Hele", which his biographer Prince looked upon "as a more honourable appellation than the greatest empty title". The trustees included his wife, together with John Hele and a number of friends. The trust was used to create a number of schools in Devon including Plympton Grammar School.
The Hele Baronetcy, of Fleet in the County of Devon, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 28 May 1627 for Thomas Hele, Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle and Okehampton. The title became extinct on the death of the third Baronet in 1677.
Thomas Wise of Sydenham in Devon, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England at various times between 1625 and 1641.
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Sir George Smith of Madworthy-juxta-Exeter and Madford House, Exeter, Devon, was a merchant who served as MP for Exeter in 1604, was three times Mayor of Exeter and was Exeter's richest citizen, possessing 25 manors. He was the grandfather of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608-1670) KG and of John Grenville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701).
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