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17th-century English historian From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir William Pole (1561–1635) of Colcombe House[4] in the parish of Colyton, and formerly of Shute House in the parish of Shute (adjoining Colcombe), both in Devon, was an English country gentleman and landowner, a colonial investor, Member of Parliament and, most notably, a historian and antiquarian of the County of Devon.
Pole was baptised on 27 August 1561 at Colyton, Devon, the son of William Pole, Esquire (c.1514 – 1587), MP, by his wife Katherine Popham (died 1588), daughter of Alexander Popham of Huntworth, Somerset by his wife Joan Stradling.[5] Katherine was the sister of John Popham (1531–1607), Lord Chief Justice. In 1560 his father had purchased Shute House, near Colyton and Axminster, Devon.
He entered the Inner Temple in 1578, was placed on the Commission of the Peace for Devonshire, served as Sheriff of Devon in 1602–3, and was MP in 1586 for Bossiney, Cornwall. He was knighted by King James I at Whitehall Palace on 15 February 1606. He paid into the Virginia Company, and was an incorporator of the third Virginia charter.
During his life Pole wrote many unpublished manuscripts containing his researches into the history and antiquities of Devon and the descents of that county's ancient families, their landholdings and heraldry. These documents laid the foundation not only for future historians of the county but also for his contemporaries, such as Tristram Risdon (died 1640) who acknowledged the help he had received from Pole's compilations.[6] Pole stated that he used as his sources "Records out of ye Towre, the Exchecquer & such deedes & evidences which in my searches I have founde".[7] The Tower of London was one of the main repositories of legal and governmental deeds and other historical documents, until the opening of the Public Record Office in 1838. His work was enlarged by his son Sir John Pole, 1st Baronet, "who was much addicted also to this ingenuous study".[8] However some, maybe many, of his manuscripts were destroyed at Colcombe Castle during the Civil War.[6]
The documents that survived include:
Pole's collections were used as source material for their own historical writings by among others, Tristram Risdon (d.1640),[10] John Prince (d.1723) (Worthies of Devon), and the brothers Daniel Lysons (1762–1834) and Samuel Lysons (1763–1819),[6] in volume 6: Devon (1822) of their Magna Britannia.[11]
His contemporary and fellow researcher into the history of Devonshire Tristram Risdon (d.1640), wrote as follows of Pole:[12]
He was the most accomplished treasurer of the antiquities of this county [...] Such a gift had he of rare memory, that he would have recited upon a sudden the descents of most eminent families; from whose lamp I have received light in these my labours.
Today, Pole's collections are considered to be valuable records of otherwise lost documents,[13] though as Youings wrote in 1996: "being a man of his time, the material was largely concerned with the genealogy and landed possessions of Devon's aristocracy and gentry, and he found no place for the rest of society".[6]
Pole married twice. His first marriage was to Mary Peryam (1567–1605),[lower-alpha 2] one of the four daughters and co-heiresses of Sir William Peryam (1534–1604), of Fulford House, Shobrooke, Devon, a judge and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. By Mary Peryam he had six sons and six daughters including:
His second marriage was to Jane Simmes (died 1653), daughter of William Simmes (or Symes) of Chard, Somerset, and widow of Roger How, merchant of London. The marriage was childless.[citation needed]
Pole died on 9 February 1635, aged 73, at his home Colcombe Castle, in the parish of Colyton, to which he had retired leaving Shute for the occupation of his son John. He was buried in the west side of the chancel in Colyton church, in the floor of which exists a simple ledger stone, with an inscription now much worn.
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