POLEY, Henry (c.1653-1707), of Badley, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1689
1690
31 Mar. 1703
1705 - 7 Aug. 1707

Family and Education

b. c.1653, 2nd s. of Sir Edmund Poley. educ. Bury St. Edmunds g.s.; G. Inn, entered 1669; Jesus, Camb. 1670, BA 1673; M. Temple 1673, called 1678. unm. suc. bro. 1672.1

Offices Held

Fellow of Jesus, Camb. 1673-5; commr. for assessment, Suff. 1679-80, 1690, Eye 1689-90; dep. lt. Suff. 1680-5, 1689-1701, j.p. ?1689-d.; bencher, M. Temple 1701, L. Inn 1704.2

KC duchy of Lancaster 1679-d.3

Biography

A cripple, and ‘one of the best common lawyers in England’, Poley succeeded to the family estates on the death of his elder brother in 1672, but continued to practice. In 1685 he advanced £1,000 to the crown on the security of the linen duties. Returned to the 1689 Convention for Eye, probably on the interest of Lord Dover, his brother-in-law, he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. His only committee was on the bill for preventing the making of cane chairs, and he made no recorded speeches despite his ‘extraordinary elocution’. After 1690 he usually voted with the Tories. He died on 7 Aug. 1707, aged 54, and was buried at Badley, the last of the family to enter Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: Paula Watson / John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Howard, Vis. Suff. i. 301-4; Bury St. Edmunds G.S. (Suff. Green Bks. xiii), 309.
  • 2. CSP Dom. 1698, p. 342.
  • 3. Sir Robert Somerville, Duchy of Lancaster Official Lists, 55.
  • 4. Hearne Colls. (Oxf. Hist. Soc. ii) 203; Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 2177.