Family and Education

bap. 15 Jan. 1622, 1st s. of Thomas Cole of Liss by Mary, da. of Thomas Waller of Beaconsfield, Bucks. educ. G. Inn 1641. m. (1) Dec. 1651, Elizabeth (d.1659), da. and coh. of Sir Stephen Harvey of Colchester End, Hardingstone Northants., s.p.; (2) lic. 23 Apr. 1662, Judith, da. of Abraham Cullen, merchant, of Great St. Helens, London, wid. of Peter Tryon of Bulwick, Northants., 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 1641.1

Offices Held

Commr. for execution of ordinances, Hants 1645, assessment, Hants 1647-52, 1657, Jan. 1660-80, Northants. 1663-4, 1673-4, militia, Hants 1648, 1659, Mar. 1660; j.p. Hants by 1650-July 1660, 1662-d., Northants. 1670-d.; commr. for security, Hants 1655-6; freeman, Portsmouth and Winchester by Apr. 1660; capt. of militia ft. Hants Nov. 1660, sheriff 1663-4, dep. lt. 1667-d., commr. for recusants 1675.2

Biography

Cole claimed to be a distant cousin of Edward Cole^†, registrar to the bishop of Winchester, who sat for the city in 1601 and 1604. His grandfather, however, was a Londoner who married into the Dering family, and from them his father bought Liss, four miles from Petersfield, in 1612. Cole was appointed to the county committee in 1645, held local office throughout the Interregnum, and sat for Hampshire in 1656. At the general election of 1660 he defeated the republican Thomas Muspratt at Winchester, but chose to sit for Petersfield, thereby leaving a seat vacant for Lord St. John (Charles Powlett I). He was an inactive Member of the Convention. He made no recorded speeches, but may have been appointed to two unimportant committees, though on both occasions his name ways mis-spelt. After his second marriage he resided principally in Northamptonshire, and Lord Montagu of Boughton hoped that he might stand for Stamford in the country interest in 1679. However, he was not removed from local office before his death. He was buried at Liss on 4 Mar. 1681, the only member of this branch of the Cole family to sit in Parliament.3

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / John. P. Ferris

Notes

• 1. J. E. Cole, Gen. of Cole Fam. 29-31; London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 307.
• 2. R. East, Portsmouth Recs. 356; Thurloe, iii. 363; Winchester corp. assembly bk. 4, f. 137; Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 82; SP29/225/101.
• 3. Misc. Gen. et Her. ii. 240-1; VCH Hants, iv. 85; CSP Dom. 1663-4, p. 386; Add. 29557, f. 91.