Sir John Bampfylde, 1st Baronet (c. 1610 – April 1650) [1] of Poltimore and North Molton and Tamerton Foliot, all in Devon, was an English lawyer and politician. He was one of Devonshire's Parliamentarian leaders during the Civil War. [2]
Bampfylde was the third son of John Bampfield of Poltimore and North Molton in Devon, by his wife, Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Thomas Drake [3] (d. 1610) of Buckland Drake, a brother of the great Admiral Sir Francis Drake (1546–1596). Over the 17th century the family's surname changed from Baumfield to Bamfield to Bampfield to Bampfylde. [4]
He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford on 30 October 1629, aged 19 and was a student of Middle Temple in 1630. [5]
In November 1640 Bampfylde was elected a Member of Parliament for Penryn, Cornwall, in the Long Parliament. [5] In the Civil War Bampfylde firstly allied himself with the Royalists, [6] for which he was created a baronet, of Poltimore, in the County of Devon by King Charles I on 14 July 1641. He later sided with the Parliamentarian side, [6] commanding a regiment of the Devon Trained Bands. [7] He sat in the Long Parliament until 1648 when he was secluded under Pride's Purge. [5]
On 3 May 1637 Bampfylde married Gertrude Coplestone (d. 1658), a daughter of Amias Coplestone (1582–1621) of Copleston in the parish of Colebrooke and of Warleigh House in the parish of Tamerton Foliot, both in Devon. She was a co-heiress to her brother John V Coplestone (1609–1632), and inherited amongst other properties the manor of Tamerton Foliot, which thus passed into the Bampfylde family. The Bampfylde family used Warleigh House at Tamerton Foliot as a secondary seat. By Gertrude, he had thirteen children, eight daughters and five sons. [3]
Bampfylde was buried at Poltimore and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet (c. 1633–1692), [8] whose great-great-great grandson was George Bampfylde, 1st Baron Poltimore (1786–1858).
His ledger stone survives, set into the floor of the nave of St Mary's Church, Poltimore, inscribed as follows:
Above are shown the arms of Bampfylde impaling Copleston (Argent, a chevron engrailed gules between three lion's faces azure).
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