Family and Education

b. c.1657, 1st s. of Edward Pleydell of Cricklade by his w. Mary.  educ. Thavies Inn 1673; I. Temple 1686, called 1693.  m. lic. 11 Dec. 1695, aged 38, Annabella (d. 1705), da. of Sir John Ernle*, 1s.  suc. fa. 1676.1

Offices Held

Biography

Pleydell, a distant cousin of Edmund Pleydell*, was descended from a junior branch of the family which had already been settled at Cricklade for three generations without apparently concerning itself directly with the borough’s parliamentary representation, although a kinsman, John Pleydell† of Midgehall, had been returned in 1680. Edward Pleydell inherited the family estate in Cricklade, together with an estate in Gloucestershire, in 1676 on the condition that he paid £200 to each of five siblings. In 1698, perhaps having been encouraged by his late father-in-law, himself a former Member for Cricklade, Pleydell was chosen with Charles Fox* after a contest. Classed as a supporter of the Country party in a comparison of the old and new Parliaments in about September 1698, he was forecast as likely to vote for the disbanding bill and may have done so before being given ten days’ leave of absence on 3 Mar. 1699. He did not put up at any subsequent election. His votes for Edmund Dunch*, and, more importantly, Samuel Robinson* in 1710 (see under CRICKLADE, Wilts.) may possibly indicate Tory sympathies or an enduring link with the Foxes.2

Pleydell had been invited to the Inner Temple bench in 1717 but never took his place there. He was buried at Cricklade on 26 March 1731.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: D. W. Hayton / Henry Lancaster

Notes

• 1. PCC 41 Bence; Materials Hist. Cricklade ed. Thomson, 148, 155; Dorm. and Extinct Baronetcies, 415–16.
• 2. Vis. Wilts. ed. Marshall, 100–1; Wilts. Inquisitions Post Mortem (Index Lib. xxiii), 164–7; Dorm. and Extinct Baronetcies. 415–16; PCC 41 Bence, 60 Nabbs; Cal. Treas. Bks. x. 567; Add. 51319, f. 197.
• 3. Wilts. RO, 1189/14.