Chaloner Chute I (died 14 April 1659) of The Vyne, Sherborne St John, Hampshire, was an English lawyer, Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House of Commons during the Commonwealth.

Origins

Chute was the son of Charles Chute of the Middle Temple, a lawyer, by his wife Ursula Chaloner, a daughter of John Chaloner of Fulham in Middlesex.

Career

Memorial to Chaloner Chute in the chapel of The Vyne in Hampshire

He was admitted to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

and was called to the bar. He developed a great reputation as a defence lawyer in several high-profile cases including those of Sir Edward Herbert (the king's attorney-general), Archbishop Laud, the eleven members of the House of Commons charged by Fairfax and his army as delinquents, and James Duke of Hamilton. In 1653 he bought from Lord Sandys The Vyne, a very large Tudor manor house in Hampshire. He demolished much of the northern part of the decaying building and employed the architect John Webb, a pupil of Inigo Jones, to add the portico to the north front in the 1650s, the first of its kind on an English country house. Chute was elected as 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 o ...

for

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

in the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in ...

in 1656, but was prevented from taking his seat. He was elected again for Middlesex to the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

in 1659 and became its first

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

. However shortly afterwards he stood down because of ill health and died in April 1659.

Memorial

The magnificent memorial to Chaloner Chute was commissioned by his descendent Sir John Chute (d.1776) and designed and created by Thomas Carter the Younger of London. It is made of Carrera marble and cost £335. It was begun in 1775 and completed some time after Sir John's death in 1776.

Marriages and issue

Chute married twice: *Firstly to Anne Skory, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Skory/Scory of Wormesley, Herefordshire, and widow of William Place of Dorking, Surrey, by whom he had issue one son and two daughters: ** Chaloner Chute II (1632-1666), son and heir, History of Parliament Online - Chaloner Chute
/ref> MP for Devizes, who married his step-sister Catherine Lennard, a daughter of Richard Lennard, 13th Baron Dacre. **Anne Chute **Cecilia ChuteBurke *Secondly he married Dorothy North, a daughter of

Dudley North, 3rd Baron North Dudley North, 3rd Baron North (158116 January 1666) was an English nobleman and politician. Biography North was the son of Sir John North and of Dorothy, daughter and heiress of Sir Valentine Dale. He succeeded his grandfather, Roger North, 2nd ...

(1581–1666), and widow of Richard Lennard, 13th Baron Dacre (1596–1630), by whom he had no further issue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chute, Chaloner 1659 deaths Speakers of the House of Commons of England Year of birth missing English lawyers 17th-century English lawyers English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1659 People from Sherborne St John

Origins

Career

Memorial

Marriages and issue

See also

References