Edmund Dunch, 1st Baron Burnell (1602–1678) was an English Member of Parliament who supported the Parliamentary cause before and during the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

. During the

Interregnum An interregnum (plural interregna or interregnums) is a period of revolutionary breach of legal continuity, discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order. Archetypally, it was the period of time between the reign of one m ...

he sat as a member of parliament. In 1659, after

the Protectorate The Protectorate, officially the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the English form of government lasting from 16 December 1653 to 25 May 1659, under which the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotl ...

and before the Restoration, regaining his seat in the Rump he also sat in Committee of Safety. After the restoration of the monarchy he was not exempted under the Act of Pardon and Oblivion but the titles granted to him under the Protectorate were not recognised under the restored monarchy of Charles II.

Biography

Edmund Dunch was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

in 1624 and was re-elected in 1625 and 1626. In 1628 he was elected MP for Wallingford (then

(now

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

)). and Sheriff of Berkshire in 1633–1634. A Royal warrant was issued for his arrest in 1639 for failure to pay

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 cou ...

in support of King Charles I.

John Hampden John Hampden (24 June 1643) was an English politician from Oxfordshire, who was killed fighting for Roundhead, Parliament in the First English Civil War. An ally of Parliamentarian leader John Pym, and a cousin of Oliver Cromwell, he was one of ...

represented him at his trial, and he escaped punishment. See document ACC/0447 at the London Metropolitan Archives. He was re-elected to serve for Wallingford in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on 20 February 1640 and sat from 13 April to 5 May 1640. It was so called because of its short session of only three weeks. After 11 years of per ...

of 1640. He also represented Wallingford in the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an Parliament of England, English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660, making it the longest-lasting Parliament in English and British history. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened f ...

that first sat in 1640. He supported the parliamentary cause in the Civil War, signing the Protestation in 1641. His manor and possessions at Little Wittenham were taken from him by the king and given to Thomas Blagge, governor of

Wallingford Castle Wallingford Castle is a medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire), adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Saxon ' ...

. In 1644, Dunch directed a parliamentary committee to send military forces into areas around

and

, including Wallingford. He took the oath prescribed in the Act enforcing the

Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August ...

in 1647. He was on the Parliamentary

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, whi ...

that levied fines on the estates of Royalists. In 1648, was a Protester against any agreement with the King Charles. After the capture of Charles I, Dunch survived

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 ...

of MPs who did not want Charles tried and was part of the

Rump Parliament The Rump Parliament describes the members of the Long Parliament who remained in session after Colonel Thomas Pride, on 6 December 1648, commanded his soldiers to Pride's Purge, purge the House of Commons of those Members of Parliament, members ...

.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> In 1654, he was elected MP for Berkshire in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the H ...

) and in 1656 he was re-elected MP for Berkshire 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 (United Kingdom), Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first sess ...

. He was governor of

. John Hedges states that Dunch was selected to be a member of

Cromwell's Other House The Other House (also referred to as the Upper House, House of Peers and House of Lords), established by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Humble Petition and Advice, was one of the two chambers of the parliaments that leg ...

in 1658 as Baron Burnell, however George Cokayne while detailing Cromwell's granting of the Barony to Dunch does not mention his membership of the Other House and he is not included in Cobbett's list of members of that house. After Oliver Cromwell's son

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...

resigned from power as second

Lord Protector Lord Protector (plural: ''Lords Protector'') is a title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state. It was also a particular title for the British heads of state in respect to the established church. It was sometime ...

, Dunch may have joined the Committee of Safety in 1659. A fine was levied against Dunch for non-attendance at Parliament in 1659 but later withdrawn. After the restoration Charles II did not recognise Dunch's baronage (the only one made by Cromwell not renewed by Charles II), but unlike the surviving

Regicides Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...

, Dunch was not exempted from the general pardon granted under

Indemnity and Oblivion Act The Indemnity and Oblivion Act 1660 ( 12 Cha. 2. c. 11) was an act of the Parliament of England, the long title of which is "An Act of Free and Generall Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion". This act was a general pardon for everyone who had com ...

. He was Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1667–68.

Family

Edmund Dunch was the son an heir of Sir William Dunch of Little Wittenham, Berkshire (d. 22 January 1611), by Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Williams (alias Cromwell) (grandfather of the Protector Oliver Cromwell). This made him a cousin of

and Oliver Cromwell. Edmund Dunch married Bridget daughter of Anthony Hungerford of Down Ampney in Gloucestershire, and inherited £60,000 on her father's death. states "Bridget, only da. and h. of Sir Anthony Hungerford, of Down Ampney, co. Gloucester (who d. 1637), by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Thomas Lucy. The fortune of this lady was above £60,000, and she was h. gen. and lineal descendant of Edmund Hungerford ounger son of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford">Walter_Hungerford,_1st_Baron_Hungerford.html" ;"title="ounger son of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford">ounger son of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford and Margaret (Burnell) his wife, granddaughter and coh. of Hugh, Lord Burnell, and was consequently h. to a moiety of that Barony, which accounts for her husband's creation by that title." His son Hungerford Dunch (1639–1680) was also an MP for Wallingford, as was his grandson Edmund Dunch (Whig), Edmund Dunch, the last of the male line of the Dunches.

Notes

References

*Annells, P. (2006)
The Berkshire Dunches
'. * * *

External links

Wallingford History Gateway
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunch, Edmund 1602 births 1678 deaths People from Little Wittenham People from Wallingford, Oxfordshire High sheriffs of Berkshire High sheriffs of Oxfordshire Roundheads English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 English MPs 1648–1653 English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 Members of the Parliament of England for Berkshire