STRODE, John I (1624-79), of Parnham, Dorset.

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

Constituency

Dates

1661

Family and Education

b. 11 Aug. 1624, 1st s. of Sir John Strode, and bro. of Sir George Strode. educ. privately. m. (1) 13 Dec. 1646, Anne, da. of Sir William Hewett of Pishiobury, Sawbridgeworth, Herts., 6s. 2da.; (2) lic. 23 Nov. 1669, Anne, da. and coh. of Sir Thomas Browne, 2nd Bt., of Walcot, Northants., wid., of Sir John Powlett, 2nd Baron Poulett of Hinton St. George, 2s. 1da. suc. fa. 642; kntd. Apr./May 1662.1

Offices Held

J.p. Dorset 1652-3, July 1660-d., commr. for assessment 1652, 1657, Jan. 1660-d., sheriff 1657-Nov. 1660; freeman, Lyme Regis May 1660, Poole 1662; commr. for foreshore, Dorset 1662, corporations 1662-3, dep. lt. 1663-d., commr. for pressing seamen 1665, recusants 1675.2

Biography

The Strodes had held property in Dorset at least as early as the reign of Henry III, first representing the county in the Model Parliament. Strode’s father, a church puritan, sat for Bridport in 1621 and 1625. Strode, a royalist commissioner in the first Civil War, compounded for his estate at a valuation of £633 p.a., which accords with his personal accounts. His nomination to the commission of the peace under the Commonwealth was hastily cancelled by warrant, but he had made himself sufficiently acceptable to the Protectorate to be exempted from decimation in 1656, and to serve three terms as sheriff.3

Strode was returned for the county in 1661. He was not an active Member of the Cavalier Parliament. He made no speeches, and was appointed to 64 committees, including those for the conventicles bill in 1663, for establishing a public accounts commission in 1667, and for extending habeas corpus in 1668. He was one of the Members who presented the address on 24 Apr. 1668 asking the King to encourage the wearing of English manufactures. He was named to the committee that produced the test bill. Although he remained active in local elections for the court interest under the Danby administration, his name was marked with a query by Sir Richard Wiseman in 1676, and it was suggested that he might be influenced by his brother. Shaftesbury marked him ‘thrice vile’ in 1677, later reducing the assessment one degree. But he was on neither list of the court party in 1678, and may have gone over to the Opposition. He was ordered to be sent for as a defaulter on a call of the House in the last weeks of the Cavalier Parliament, and did not stand again. He died in the following year, and none of his descendants entered Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. Frag. Gen. viii. 129-31.
  • 2. CSP Dom. Add. 1660-85, p. 95; 1673-5, p. 427; Dorset RO, D124 (corresp.); Add. 31947, f. 105; 31948, f. 78; Hutchins, Dorset, i. 22, 32; SP29/100/131; Lyme Regis mss B6/11, f. 23; PRO 30/24, bdle. 7, no. 566.
  • 3. SP23/185/907-11; Dorset RO, MW/M5; Cal. Comm. Comp. 1292.
  • 4. CJ, ix. 87; Hutchins, ii. 130.