Sir Samuel Rolle (c. 1588 – 1647)Vivian, p.654: "aged 45 years and more at his father's death" of Heanton Satchville in the parish of

Petrockstowe Petrockstowe (or Petrockstow) is a small village and civil parish in the district of Torridge in Northern Devon, England. Its population in 2001 was 379, hardly different from the figure of 385 recorded in 1901. The southern boundary of the pa ...

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 ...

, served as Member of Parliament for

Callington Callington () is a civil parish and town in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom about north of Saltash and south of Launceston. Callington parish had a population of 4,783 in 2001, according to the 2001 census. This had increased to 5,78 ...

, Cornwall in 1640 and for

1641–1647. He supported 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 ...

side in the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Origins

Rolle was born c. 1588, the eldest son and heir of Robert Rolle (died 1633) of Heanton Satchville in the parish of

, by his wife Joan Hele, daughter of Thomas Hele of Fleet, Devon. Samuel was a great-grandson, in a junior line, of

George Rolle George Rolle (c. 1486 – 20 November 1552) of Stevenstone in the parish of St Giles in the Wood near Great Torrington in Devon, was the founder of the wealthy, influential and widespread Rolle family of Devon, who by 1842 had become the larges ...

(c. 1486 – 1552) of

Stevenstone Stevenstone is a former Manorialism, manor within the parish of St Giles in the Wood, near Great Torrington, North Devon. It was the chief seat of the Rolle family, one of the most influential and wealthy of Devon families, from c. 1524 un ...

, Devon, founder of the influential and wealthy Rolle family of Devon, Keeper of the Records of the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

and MP for

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

in 1542 and 1545. Samuel's brothers includedVivian, p.654 Sir

Henry Rolle Sir Henry Rolle (c. 1589–1656), of Shapwick in Somerset, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench and served as MP for Callington, Cornwall, (1614–1623–4) and for Truro, Cornwall (1625–1629). Origins Henry Rolle was born ''circa'' 158 ...

(1589–1656), of Shapwick in Somerset,

Chief Justice of the King's Bench The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

and MP; and John Rolle (1598–1648) a

Turkey Merchant The Levant Company was an English chartered company formed in 1592. Elizabeth I of England approved its initial charter on 11 September 1592 when the Venice Company (1583) and the Turkey Company (1581) merged, because their charters had expired ...

and MP.

Career

In April 1640 Rolle was elected Member of Parliament for

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 ...

. In 1641 he was elected MP for

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 ...

where he remained until his death in 1647. During the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point b ...

he commanded a regiment of the

Devon Trained Bands The Devon Trained Bands were a part-time militia force recruited from Devonshire in South West England, first organised in 1558. They were periodically embodied for home defence and internal security, including the Spanish Armada campaign in 158 ...

for Parliament until the surrender of Barnstaple in 1643.

Lands acquired

In 1634, he and his brother Henry Rolle, and their brother-in-law Hugh Fortescue of

Filleigh Filleigh is a small village, civil parish and former manor in North Devon, on the southern edge of Exmoor, west of South Molton. The village centre's street was, until the 1980s opening of the North Devon Link Road, the main highway between ...

purchased an estate at

Bawdrip Bawdrip is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The village is on the south side of the Polden Hills about north-east of Bridgwater. At the 2011 census the parish had a population of 506. The parish includes the hamlets of Bradney, ...

Marriage and children

Rolle married three times. His first wife was Mary Stradling (died 1613), a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Edward Stradling of St George's, Somerset (a member of the Stradling family of

St Donat's Castle St Donat's Castle (), St Donats, Wales, is a medieval castle in the Vale of Glamorgan, about to the west of Cardiff, and about to the west of Llantwit Major. Positioned on cliffs overlooking the Bristol Channel, the site has been occupied s ...

, Glamorgan, Wales). Her

monumental brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved church monument, sepulchral memorial once found through Western Europe, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional church monument, monuments and effigy, effigies carve ...

survives in the parish church of

St Stephens by Saltash Saltash () is a town and civil parish in south Cornwall, England. It had a population of 16,184 in 2011 census. Saltash faces the city of Plymouth over the River Tamar and is popularly known as "the Gateway to Cornwall". Saltash’s landmarks ...

, Cornwall. By her Rolle had two children, Samuel and Rebecca, who both died as infants and were buried at Launceston, Cornwall. His second marriage was to Margaret Wise, daughter of Sir Thomas WiseJohn Burk
''A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain ''
/ref> (died 1629), builder of Sydenham House, in the parish of Marystow, Devon. By Margaret he had children including his son and heir, Robert Rolle (died 1660), MP. Thirdly he married a daughter from the Carew family, of unknown name.

Brass of Marie Stradling

MarieRolleBrass StStephensBySaltash 1613

MarieRolleBrass StStephensBySaltash 1613 Detail

to Rolle's first wife, Marie Stradling, survives in the parish church of St Stephen-by-Saltash, Cornwall, affixed to the wall at the east end of the north aisle, formerly on the floor by the altar. The inscription reads:

Here lyeth the bodie of Marie one of ye daughters & heyres of Edmond Stradlinge of St Georges in Somersett Esq. who maried Samuell ye eldest sonne of Robert Rolle of Heaunton in Devon Esq. She dyed yr of Janua. 1613.

The arms depicted are: ''Or, on a fesse dancetté between three billets azure each charged with a lion rampant of the first three bezants a mullet for

difference Difference commonly refers to: * Difference (philosophy), the set of properties by which items are distinguished * Difference (mathematics), the result of a subtraction Difference, The Difference, Differences or Differently may also refer to: Mu ...

'' (Rolle)

impaling Impalement, as a method of torture and execution, is the penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by the complete or partial perforation of the torso. It was particularly used in response to "crimes again ...

quarterly A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

1: ''Paly of six'' (shown here incorrectly as five) ''argent and azure on a bend gules three cinquefoils or'' (Stradling); 2: ''Azure, a chevron between three crescents or'' (Berkerolles of

Coity Castle Coity Castle () in Glamorgan, Wales, is a Norman castle built by Sir Payn "the Demon" de Turberville (fl. 1126), one of the legendary Twelve Knights of Glamorgan supposed to have conquered Glamorgan under the leadership of Robert FitzHamon ...

, Glamorgan; 3: ''Chequy...and...afess ermine'' (Turberville of

); 4: ''...three fishes niant in pale...on a chief a hedgehog'' (?).Dunkin, p.90

Death and burial

Samuel Rolle died and was buried 7 December 1647 at Petrockstowe.

References

Sources

*Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pp. 652–656, pedigree of Rolle , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolle, Samuel Year of birth missing 1647 deaths Members of the Parliament of England for Callington

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 Devon Militia officers Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Devon