Ralph Stawell, 1st Baron Stawell

Ralph Stawell, 1st Baron Stawell (c.1641 – 1689) was an English landowner, soldier, Member of Parliament and peer.

He was born c.1641, the fifth son (third surviving) of John Stawell (1600–1662),[1] who was MP for Somerset and one of the leading Royalists in the West Country during the First Civil War. He succeeded an elder brother in 1669.[1]

Stawell married firstly (around 1667) Ann, a daughter of John Ryves, Esquire, and by her had one son, John. Ann died in 1670 and in 1672 he married secondly Abigail, daughter and heiress of William Pitt, Esq., and with her had two sons and four daughters.[2]

In 1679, standing in the Tory or "court" interest, Colonel Ralph Stawell was returned as one of the two members of parliament for Bridgwater in Somerset.[3] A Roman Catholic, on 15 January 1683/84 Stawell was created Baron Stawell, of Somerton in the County of Somerset. In 1688, the year of the Glorious Revolution, he was briefly Lord Lieutenant of Somerset.[4] In a commission dated from London on 6 November 1688, the day after the landing in England of William, Prince of Orange, King James II appointed Stawell as his Lord Lieutenant in Somerset in place of Lord Waldegrave, who was the husband of the king's illegitimate daughter Henrietta FitzJames.[5]

Some sources have claimed that with the success of the Revolution against James, Stawell was committed to the Tower of London, where he died in 1689.[6] His parliamentary biography says that despite his appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset by James II, Stawell at once rallied to William of Orange and makes no suggestion that he was imprisoned.[1]

Ralph's widow Lady Abigail Pitt died in 1692, and is buried in St Mary's church, Hartley Wespall, Hampshire.[7] On the north wall near the door of St. Mary's church, Hartley Wespall, can be found the memorial of Abigail, Lady Dowager of Ralph Lord Stawell, died 27 September 1692, daughter and heir of William Pitt of Hartley Wespall. Above are the arms of Pitt on a lozenge, while on consoles beneath are the arms of Stawell: Gules a cross lozengy argent, and the same impaling Pitt.[8]

Notes
  1. Cassidy, Irene. "STAWELL, Ralph (c.1641-89), of Low Ham, Som". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  2. J. Debrett, The peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland: or, the ancient and present state of the nobility, vol. I (1790), p. 428
  3. Basil Duke Henning, The House of Commons, 1660-1690, pp. 372-374
  4. Robert Dunning, A History of Somerset (Chichester: Phillimore & Co., 1983, ISBN 0-85033-461-6), pp. 108–109
  5. Sir George Floyd Duckett, Penal laws and Test act: questions touching their repeal propounded in 1687–8 by James II (Printed by T. Wilson, 1882), pp. 389, 415
  6. Arthur Collins & Sir Egerton Brydges, Collins's Peerage of England, vol. 9 (1812), p. 425: "Stawell, Lord Stawell, 1684... At the Revolution he was committed to the Tower, where he died 1689."
  7. "Parishes: Hartley Wespall Pages 42-44 A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume 4. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1911". British History Online. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  8. "Description & History of St Mary's Hartley Wespall - St Mary - A Church Near You". www.achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
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