Sir Edward Rodney (29 June 1590 – 1657) 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. T ...

at various times between 1621 and 1642.

History

Rodney was the son of Sir John Rodney of

Rodney Stoke Rodney Stoke is a small village and civil parish, located at , 5 miles north-west of Wells, in the English county of Somerset. The village is on the A371 between Draycott and Westbury-sub-Mendip. The parish includes the larger village of Dray ...

, Somerset, and his wife Jane Seymour, daughter of Sir Henry Seymour and niece of

Queen Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

. He was educated at Trowbridge Grammar School and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was then a student at

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 ...

where he "saluted only the law at a distance and mispent his time." In 1611 he accompanied William Seymour overseas after he escaped from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

to meet his wife

Arbella Stuart Lady Arbella Stuart (also Arabella, or Stewart; 1575 – 25 September 1615) was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I (her first cousin), she marri ...

. Seymour and Arbella were both in close line to the throne and they married secretly and without the King's consent, resulting in Seymour's imprisonment. Arbella was captured and later died in prison. Rodney returned to England later in 1611 leaving Seymour overseas for another four years.Godfrey Basil Mundy ''The life and correspondence of the late Admiral Lord Rodney''
/ref> Rodney was knighted in May 1614 on the occasion of his marriage to a Lady in waiting to the Queen.

Career

In 1621, Rodney 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 Wells. He was re-elected MP for Wells in 1624, 1625 and 1626. In 1628 he was elected MP for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He was re-elected MP for Wells in April 1640 for the Short Parliament. He was re-elected again for Wells 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 ...

in November 1640, but was disabled from sitting in August 1642 for supporting the King. Rodney commanded a regiment of the

Somerset Trained Bands The Somerset Trained Bands were a part-time military force in the county of Somerset in South West England from 1558 until they were reconstituted as the Somerset Militia in 1662. They were periodically embodied for home defence, for example in ...

at Wells, which was called out in July 1642 by his fellow Wells MP,

Sir Ralph Hopton Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton, (159628 September 1652), was an English politician, soldier and landowner. During the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War, he served as Royalist commander in the West Country, and was made Baron Hopton of Stra ...

, acting under the King's Commission of Array. Rodney's regiment took part in a skirmish at Wells in August. After the Parliamentarians overran Somerset following the Siege of

Sherborne Castle Sherborne Castle is a 16th-century Tudor mansion southeast of Sherborne in Dorset, England, within the parish of Castleton. It stands in a park which formed a small part of the Digby estate. Old castle Sherborne Old Castle () is the ruin ...

in September, Rodney was probably replaced by a Parliamentarian, possibly Col William Strode. However, Rodney appears to have been reinstated following the Royalist victories of 1643 and the regiment took part in the

Battle of Lostwithiel The Battle of Lostwithiel took place over a 13-day period from 21 August to 2 September 1644, around the town of Lostwithiel and along the River Fowey valley in Cornwall during the First English Civil War. A Royalist army led by Charles I of E ...

(August–September 1644) and the subsequent

Siege of Taunton The sieges of Taunton were a series of three blockades during the First English Civil War. The town of Taunton, in Somerset, was considered to be of strategic importance because it controlled the main road from Bristol to Devon and Cornwall. R ...

(September–December). In March 1645 it formed the garrison of Wells, and it was probably part of the garrison of Bristol when it was besieged and captured (August–September 1645).

Family life

Rodney married Frances Southwell at Somerset House in May 1614. She was the daughter of

Sir Robert Southwell Sir Robert Southwell PRS (31 December 1635 – 11 September 1702) was a diplomat. He was Secretary of State for Ireland and President of the Royal Society from 1690. Background and education Robert Southwell was born near Kinsale in County ...

Woodrising, Norfolk Woodrising is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Cranworth, in the Breckland district, in the county of Norfolk, England. The village of Woodrising is south of Dereham. In 1931 the parish had a population of 103. The parish ...

, and his wife Lady Elizabeth Howard. She was a Lady of the Privy Chamber to Queen Anna. They had thirteen children, and only one son, George, reached his majority although he died aged 22. Their daughter Penelope married Peter Glenne of Norfolk and their daughter Ann married Sir Thomas Brydges of Keynsham. Following the death of his last son, Rodney compiled a history of his family to stand as a reminder for his five surviving daughters and the families into which they married of the significance of the Rodney name. Rodney died at the age of 67 and was buried at the Church of St Leonard, Rodney Stoke, where there is a monument.Wall monument to Sir Edward and Lady Frances Rodney
/ref>

References

External links

Rodney, Sir Edward (1590-1657), of Stoke Rodney, Som.
A biography
Sir Edward Rodney, Knight
Family tree , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodney, Edward 1590 births 1657 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Politicians from Wells, Somerset English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 Somerset Militia officers