Sir John Ernle, or Ernele (1647 – 25 October 1686), of Burytown,

Broad Blunsdon Blunsdon is a civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, about north of the centre of Swindon, with the A419 forming its southern boundary. Its main settlement is the village of Broad Blunsdon, with Lower Blunsdon nearby; ...

, Wiltshire, served as a

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

captain in the

Third Anglo-Dutch War The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...

, and was briefly a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Calne Calne () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, southwestern England,OS Explorer Map 156, Chippenham and Bradford-on-Avon Scale: 1:25 000.Publisher: Ordnance Survey A2 edition (2007). at the northwestern extremity of the North Wessex Downs h ...

Career

The son of Sir John Ernle,

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...

, Ernle was educated at

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England and the fourth-oldest college of the un ...

, after which he became a member of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

.Oliver Lawson Dick, note to

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the ''Brief Lives'', his collection of short biographical pieces. He was a pioneer archaeologist, ...

's ''

Brief Lives ''Brief Lives'' is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626–1697) in the last decades of the 17th century. Writing Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood, who ...

'' (1949 edition): "ERNLE, SIR JOHN (1647-86), of Exeter College, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn, sat as MP for Calne." He went on to serve in the

, commanding

ships of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...

. At the

Battle of Solebay The naval Battle of Solebay took place on 28 May Old Style, 7 June New Style 1672 and was the first naval battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The battle began as an attempted raid on Solebay port where an English fleet was anchored and large ...

of 1672, Ernle commanded HMS ''Dover'', and during the battle he saved Sir John Harman and the ''

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

'' from a

fire ship A fire ship or fireship, used in the days of wooden rowed or sailing ships, was a ship filled with combustibles, or gunpowder deliberately set on fire and steered (or, when possible, allowed to drift) into an enemy fleet, in order to destroy sh ...

. By the summer of 1678, he was in command of the new 64-gun ship of the line HMS ''Defiance''.

Henry Teonge Henry Teonge (18 March 1621, at Wolverton, Warwickshire – 21 March 1690, at Spernall, Warwickshire) was an English cleric and Royal Navy chaplain who kept informative diaries of voyages he made in 1675–1676 and 1678–1679. Life Teonge was ...

, ''The Diary of Henry Teonge: Chaplain on Board HM's Ships Assistance, Bristol and Royal Oak 1675-1679'' (1927 edition) p. 252 Although he lived chiefly in Herefordshire, he was elected member of Parliament for

in 1685, about a year before his death; the property inherited from his father included Whetham House, near Calne.

says of him: Ernle was knighted in 1673. On 6 December 1674 he married Vincentia Kyrle, co-heir of Sir John Kyrle, 2nd Baronet, of

Homme House Homme House is an 18th-century country house in Much Marcle, Herefordshire, UK. Primarily built of brick, it is now used as a wedding venue and is a Grade II* listed building. Originally built in the 16th century of stone it was substantially re ...

Much Marcle Much Marcle is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, located north-east of Ross-on-Wye. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 660. The name ''Marcle'' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for a boundary field, ''mearc-l ...

, Herefordshire. They had two children: Hester (1676–1723) and John Kyrle Ernle (1682–1725). He died on 25 October 1686 and was buried at Much Marcle.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernle, John 1647 births 1686 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford English MPs 1685–1687 Members of Lincoln's Inn Ernle family 17th-century Royal Navy personnel Royal Navy officers Royal Navy personnel of the Third Anglo-Dutch War Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Calne