Piers Edgecumbe ( 1609 – 6 January 1667)
[The Memoirs of Ann, Lady Fanshawe]
/ref> was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
between 1640 and 1644 and between 1662 and 1667. He supported the Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
side in the English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
.
Biography
Edgecumbe was the son of Sir Richard Edgecumbe and his wife Mary Cottle, daughter of Sir Thomas Cottle of London.
In 1628 Edgecumbe was elected Member of Parliament for Newport until 1629 when King Charles I decided to rule without parliament. In April 1640, Edgecumbe was elected MP for Camelford
Camelford () is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately north of Bodmin and is governed by Camelford Town Council. The ward pop ...
in the Short Parliament
The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks.
After 11 years of per ...
and was returned again for the Long Parliament
The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...
until he was disabled in January 1644. After the Restoration, Edgecumbe was appointed High Sheriff of Cornwall
Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list:
The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriff ...
in 1660 and re-elected MP for Newport in 1662, holding the seat until his death in 1667.
Edgecumbe died at the age of 51 and the inscription on his monument stated he "was a master of languages and sciences; a lover of the King and Church which he endeavoured to support, in the time of the Civil Wars, to the utmost of his power and fortune."
Edgecumbe married Mary Glanville, second daughter of Sir John Glanville
Sir John Glanville the younger (1586 – 2 October 1661), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1644. He was Speaker of the English House of Commons during the Short Parliament. He supporte ...
of Broad Hinton in 1636, at St. Dunstan's Church, London.[ Their son was Sir Richard Edgcumbe, MP.
]
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgecumbe, Piers
1600s births
1667 deaths
Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall
High sheriffs of Cornwall
English MPs 1628–1629
English MPs 1640 (April)
English MPs 1640–1648
English MPs 1661–1679
Members of the Parliament of England for Newport (Cornwall)
Members of the Parliament of England for Camelford