Sir Thomas Hele, 1st Baronet ( 1595 to 7 November 1670) was a landowner from

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and MP on various occasions from 1626 to 1670. A

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

during the 1642 to 1646

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Anglo ...

, he raised a regiment of cavalry which served in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...

and sat in the Oxford Parliament. Heavily fined by the

Committee for Compounding with Delinquents In 1643, near the start of the English Civil War, Parliament set up two committees the Sequestration Committee which confiscated the estates of the Royalists who fought against Parliament, and the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents which a ...

, he avoided participation in politics during the Interregnum and after the

Stuart Restoration The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland took place in 1660 when King Charles II returned from exile in continental Europe. The preceding period of the Protectorate and the civil wars came to ...

in May 1660 was elected to the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

. He died at home in

Holbeton Holbeton is a civil parish and village located 9 miles south east of Plymouth in the South Hams district of Devon, England. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 579, down from 850 in 1901. By 2011 it had increased to 619. The south ...

on 7 November 1670.

Personal details

Thomas Hele was the second surviving son of Thomas Hele (1568-1624) and Bridget Champernowne, 4th daughter of Sir Henry Champernowne (1538–1570) of

Modbury Modbury is a large village, ecclesiastical parish, civil parish and former manor situated in the South Hams district of the county of Devon in England. Today due to its large size it is generally referred to as a "town" although the parish co ...

. He became heir when his father disinherited his eldest son Samwell (1590-1661). In 1629, he married Penelope Jackson (?-1630), who died in childbirth the next year, leaving him a son Thomas Hele (1630–1665). Elizabeth Elwes (?-1646)became his second wife in 1632 and they had nine children, only four of whom survived into adulthood; Samuel (1634-1672), Henry (1636-1677), Elizabeth (1638-1691) and Honor (1639-1710).

Career

In 1626 Hele 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 o ...

for

Plympton Erle Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Pl ...

. History of Parliament Online - Hele, Sir Thomas, 1st Bt.
/ref> He was created Baronet of Fleet in the County of Devon in the Baronetage of England on 28 May 1627. He was re-elected in

1628 Events January–March * January 19 – (26 Jumada al-Awwal 1037 A.H.) The reign of Salef-ud-din Muhammad Shahryar as the Mughal Emperor, Shahryar Mirza, comes to an end a little more than two months after the November 7 dea ...

; Parliament was dissolved and sat until it was dissolved in 1629, ushering in the eleven years of

Personal Rule The Personal Rule (also known as the Eleven Years' Tyranny) was the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland ruled without recourse to Parliament. The King claimed that he was entitled to do this under the Roya ...

. Following the death of the previous incumbent, he was appointed

Sheriff of Devon The High Sheriff of Devon is the Queen's representative for the County of Devon, a territory known as his/her bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, they hold the office for one year. They have judicial, ceremonial and administrative f ...

in January 1636, making him responsible for collecting

Ship Money Ship money was a tax of medieval origin levied intermittently in the Kingdom of England until the middle of the 17th century. Assessed typically on the inhabitants of coastal areas of England, it was one of several taxes that English monarchs co ...

. He was elected for Plympton to the Short Parliament in April 1640, then 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 ...

in November. When the

began in August 1642, Hele supported

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

; he sat in the Oxford Parliament and was excluded from his Parliamentary seat in January 1644. He also raised a regiment of cavalry, taking part in the

Siege of Plymouth The siege of Plymouth took place during the First English Civil War, when Royalist forces besieged Plymouth, in Devon, held by a Parliamentary garrison. With the exception of a brief interlude in July 1644, the town was isolated for most of the ...

and defence of

Pendennis Castle Pendennis Castle (Cornish: ''Penn Dinas'', meaning "headland fortification") is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII near Falmouth, Cornwall, England between 1540 and 1542. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect aga ...

. He was heavily fined by the

in 1646 and largely avoided participation in Royalist conspiracies during the Interregnum. Following the

, he was elected for

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west) ...

in the

and held the seat until his death in 1670. Hele was buried in All Saints' Church,

, on 16 November 1670. His elaborate monument survives in the Fleet Chapel, at the east end of the north aisle of the church.John Stabb ''Some Old Devon Churches''
/ref>

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hele, Thomas 1590s births 1670 deaths Military personnel from Devon Baronets in the Baronetage of England High Sheriffs of Devon English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1661–1679

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Members of the Parliament of England for Plympton Erle Members of the Parliament of England for Okehampton Members of the Inner Temple Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War People from South Hams (district)