Robert Pye (Royalist)

Sir Robert Pye (1585–1662) was an English courtier, administrator and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1621 and 1629. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.

Biography

Pye was the son of Roger Pye of The Mynde at Much Dewchurch in Herefordshire.[1] He became Auditor of the Receipt of the Exchequer under King James I in 1620.[2] In 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Bath and was re-elected for Bath in 1624. In 1625 he was elected MP for Ludgershall and in 1626 he was elected MP for Westminster. He was elected MP for Grampound in 1628.[3] He purchased the manor and estate of Faringdon, then in Berkshire from the Unton family.[2]

Pye was a supporter of the King and on this account was deprived of his office in 1642. During the Civil War, he garrisoned his mansion at Faringdon for the Royalists, and it was stoutly besieged, by his own son, Robert who espoused the Parliamentary cause.[2]

Following the Restoration, Pye was restored to his post as Auditor of the Receipt of the Exchequer and held it until his death in 1662 at the age of 77.[2]

Family

Pye married Mary, daughter of John Croker of Batsford in Gloucestershire[2] they had several children:

  • Robert (ca. 1620–1701), his heir, supported Parliament in the Civil War
  • John (1626–1697), who lived at Hone, in Derbyshire,[2] and became a baronet with the creation of the Baronetcy Pye of Leckhampstead on 27 April 1641.
  • Mary (fl. 1641–1697), became a nonconformist patron and political activist, and married George Speke (1623–1689).[4]
  • Anne, married Edward Phelips[5]

Pye's brother Walter Pye was also an MP.[2]

Notes

References

Parliament of England
Preceded by
Sir James Ley
Nicholas Hyde
Member of Parliament for Bath
1621–1624
With: Sir Robert Phelips 1621–1622
John Malet 1624
Succeeded by
Ralph Hopton
Edward Hungerford
Preceded by
Edward Kyrton
William Sotwell
Member of Parliament for Ludgershall
1625
With: Sir Thomas Jaye
Succeeded by
Sir William Walter
Sir Thomas Jaye
Preceded by
Sir Edward Villiers
William Mann
Member of Parliament for Westminster
1626
With: Peter Heywood
Succeeded by
Joseph Bradshaw
Thomas Morris
Preceded by
Edward Thomas
Sir Thomas St Aubyn
Member of Parliament for Grampound
1628–1629
With: Lord Carey
Succeeded by
Parliament suspended until 1640
Political offices
Preceded by
John Bingley
Auditor of the Exchequer
1620–1642
Succeeded by
vacant
Preceded by
Sir William Roberts
Auditor of the Exchequer
1660–1662
Succeeded by
Sir Robert Long, 1st Baronet
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