Christopher Martyn ( – 26 January 1678) 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 ...

variously between 1646 and 1660. He fought in the

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

army 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 ...

Martyn was a gentleman of Plympton and became a captain in the parliamentary army. In April 1644, he was commanding the Plymouth garrison and attacked the Royalists at New Bridge taking 200 prisoners. Two days later he repulsed a counter-attack and chased the Royalist cavalry to Plympton Bridge near where their army was stationed. In 1646, Martyn was elected Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle in 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 ...

. He resumed his seat in the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament describes the members of the Long Parliament who remained in session after Colonel Thomas Pride, on 6 December 1648, commanded his soldiers to Pride's Purge, purge the House of Commons of those Members of Parliament, members ...

after

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

with some hesitation. In 1653, he was nominated as one of the representatives for

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

in the

Barebones Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the inst ...

. He was elected as MP for Plympton Erle again in 1659 for the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

, and was re-elected for Plympton Earle in 1660 in the Convention Parliament. Martyn married Jane Snelling who brought him property at Plympton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martyn, Christopher 1617 births 1678 deaths Roundheads Members of the Parliament of England for Plympton Erle English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 English MPs 1653 (Barebones) English MPs 1659 English MPs 1660 Churchwardens English justices of the peace Mayors of places in Devon Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Devon