Family and Education

b. by 1517, 1st s. of Leonard Poole of Sapperton by Catherine, da. of Sir Giles Brydges of Coberley; bro. of Henry Poole I. m. (1) Elizabeth (d. 18 Sept. 1543), da. of Thomas Whittington of Pauntley, at least 1s. Sir Henry^†; (2) Eleanor, da. of Edward Lewknor of Kingston Buci, Suss., wid. of Sir William Wroughton (d. 4 Sept. 1559) of Broad Hinton, Wilts., ?s.p. suc. fa. 30 Sept. 1538. Kntd. 28 Sept. 1547.1

Offices Held

Gent. pens. 1540-c.51; j.p. Glos. 1547-61 or later, q. 1564-d.; commr. relief, Glos. 1550, grain 1573, eccles. causes, diocese of Gloucester 1574; provost marshal [I] 1558; sheriff, Glos. 1565-6.2

Biography

Sir Giles Poole’s grandfather, Richard Poole owned several manors in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, of which Elmbridge and Sapperton in Gloucestershire passed to his son and heir Leonard in 1517 and from Leonard to Giles in 1538. Leonard Poole had been a gentleman usher extraordinary, but Giles Poole probably owed his post at court more to his maternal uncle, Sir John Brydges, as his cousin Edmund Brydges was appointed a gentleman pensioner at the same time.3

Poole attended the reception of Anne of Cleves, and in 1542 as the King’s ‘beloved servant’ he obtained the reversion of the rents and site of the manor of Hunlacy and Torleton by Coates in Gloucestershire. He served with the army in France during 1544 and in the north between 1547 and 1548. A letter written by him during the Scottish campaign to (Sir) John Thynne suggests that he might be identifiable with a ‘Mr. Poole’ who was in Thynne’s household earlier in the decade. In 1550 his court pension was increased to £50, for services to Henry VIII and in recompense for a grant of another annuity which he had been promised but had not received. His annuity from Henry VIII was apparently during pleasure or for a term of years and his court appointment may not have continued, since his name does not appear under the pensioners, lists for the funerals of Edward VI and Mary.4

Poole was returned to Mary’s second Parliament doubtless as a safe Catholic who, like his uncle, had supported her cause in the preceding summer. Sir John Brydges received his barony at the beginning of this Parliament and Poole may have been chosen in the place of his cousin Sir Edmund, who in the previous Parliament had opposed the restoration of Catholicism. In 1558, the year in which he became provost marshal for Ireland, Poole obtained, for a sum of money and in consideration of his service, the reversion of the lease of Haselden in Gloucestershire. Under Elizabeth his circle included leading men of court and county but he was not called upon for more than the normal local duties. He died on 24 Feb. 1589.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: M. K. Dale

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from livery of inheritance. Vis. Glos. (Harl. Soc. xxi), 125; Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. xxxi. 11; Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 5), iii. 206-9; LP Hen. VIII, xiv; Lit. Rems. Edw. VI, 216; Mill Stephenson, Mon. Brasses, 154.
• 2. E179/69/63, 64, ex inf. W. J. Tighe; LP Hen. VIII, xiv, xv; LC2/2, f. 42; CPR, 1547-8, p. 84; 1553, p. 354; 1553-4, p. 19; 1563-6, p. 22; APC, vi. 370.
• 3. PCC 26 Holder, 25 Dyngeley; C142/33/123, 79/294; LP Hen. VIII, ii.
• 4. LP Hen. VIII, xiv, xv, xvii, xix, xx; APC, ii. 487; Bath mss, Thynne pprs. 2, ff. 22-23v; CPR, 1549-51, p. 310; LC2/4/1, 2; Stowe 571, f. 316; Add. 30198.
• 5. CSP Dom. 1547-80, p. 110; CPR, 1557-8, p. 123; C142/222/45; Bristol and Glos. Arch. Soc. Trans. l. 209-10; PCC 31 Leicester.