John Moyle (1592?–1661) was a Cornish gentleman, known as a

High Sheriff of Cornwall Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list: The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriffs of all other English counties, ot ...

, friend of Sir John Eliot and supporter of the Parliamentarian cause in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

Life

He was son of Robert Moyle of

Bake Bake is the verb form of baking, a method of preparing food. It may also refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Bake (surname) * Bake McBride (born 1949), American baseball player * Bake Turner (born 1940), American Football League and National Football L ...

in St. Germans, Cornwall (buried 9 May 1604), by his wife Anne, daughter of Henry Lock of Acton, Middlesex (buried 12 April 1604). He matriculated 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 ...

, on 10 June 1608, aged 16. Among his contemporaries at Exeter was John Eliot, to whose father Moyle on one occasion told something about of his son's extravagance. Eliot found out, went to Moyle's house to express his resentment, and in a fit of passion drew his sword and wounded Moyle in the side. This act was unpremeditated, and Eliot expressed regret for what he had done. Moyle and Eliot became friends. Moyle was sheriff in Cornwall in 1624. To fill a vacancy in the

, he was returned for the Cornish borough of East Looe in 1647/8. He died at Bake on 9 October 1661, and was buried at St. Germans on 17 October. Some of Moyle's correspondence with Sir John Eliot is quoted in

Alexander Balloch Grosart Alexander Balloch Grosart (18 June 182716 March 1899) was a Scottish clergyman and literary editor. He is chiefly remembered for reprinting much rare Elizabethan literature, a work which he undertook because of his interest in Puritan theology. ...

's edition of his ''Letter-book'', pp. 109–10, 143–8, and in John Forster's ''Eliot'', ii. 630–2. Papers relating to him are in

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Add MSS 5494, f. 79 and 5497, f. 162.

Family

In 1612 he married Admonition, daughter of Edmond Prideaux of Netherton, Devon, who was buried at St. Germans on 3 December 1675. Of his numerous sons, Sir Walter Moyle of Bake (1627–1701) was knighted at Whitehall 4 February 1663, was

for 1671, and was father of Walter Moyle the political writer.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Moyle, John 1590s births 1661 deaths People from St Germans, Cornwall High Sheriffs of Cornwall Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall English MPs 1640–1648 Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford