Sir Charles Pym, 1st Baronet ( – 1671) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1641 to 1648 and in 1660. He served in the

Parliamentary A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...

army in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Pym was the son of

John Pym John Pym (20 May 1584 – 8 December 1643) was an English politician, who helped establish the foundations of Parliamentary democracy. One of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in January 1642 sparked the First English Civil War, his use ...

and his wife, Anna Hooker (or Hooke).

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

In 1641, Pym was elected

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

Bere Alston Bere Alston is a village in West Devon in the county of Devon in England. It forms part of the civil parish of Bere Ferrers. History and geography With a population of about 2,000, the village lies in the Bere peninsula, between the river ...

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 ...

after the previous member was expelled.Pym, Charles
historyofparliamentonline.org. Accessed 8 January 2023. He served in the parliamentary army in the civil war, but was excluded from parliament under

Pride's Purge Pride's Purge is the name commonly given to an event that took place on 6 December 1648, when soldiers prevented members of Parliament considered hostile to the New Model Army from entering the House of Commons of England. Despite defeat in the ...

in 1648.The parliamentary or constitutional history of England;: being a faithful account of all the most remarkable transactions in Parliament, from the earliest times. Collected from the journals of both Houses, the records, ..., Volume 9
/ref> He was created a baronet by Richard Cromwell. In April 1660, Pym was elected MP for

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National P ...

and for Bossiney in the Convention Parliament and chose to sit for Minehead. Pym was confirmed in his

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

by Charles II on 14 July 1663. Pym's only son, Charles, died in 1688 without a male heir; the baronetcy became extinct.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pym, Charles 1615 births 1671 deaths English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1660 Roundheads Baronets in the Baronetage of England Members of the Parliament of England for Bere Alston