Family and Education

b. c.1642, o.s. of John Pollen, merchant, of London and Bristol by Anne, da. of William Bernard, merchant, of Bristol, wid. of Nicholas Venables of Andover. educ. G. Inn 1658. m. (1) lic. 23 May 1667, aged 25, Frances, da. and h. of Edward Exton of Southampton, 1s. 1da.; (2) 30 Dec. 1675, Elizabeth, da. of Philip Jackson, merchant, of London and Pontrilas, Herefs., s.p.; (3) lic. 22 May 1696 ‘aged 50’, Mary, da. of Edward Sherwood of East Hendred, Berks., 2s. 3da. suc. fa. c.1648.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Hants 1669-70, j.p. 1680-Apr. 1688, 1689-?d., commr. for assessment 1689-90.

Biography

Pollen’s father was apparently an interloper in the East India trade. When he drew up his will in Java in 1648, desiring to be buried ‘with those true Christian rites which the true Protestant Church of England cloth allow’, he doubted whether his estate would reach £1,200. Pollen was entered at Gray’s Inn as the son of a Londoner, but on his first marriage licence he gave his address as Andover. He was a tenant of Winchester College and owned the nearby manor of Penton Mewsey. He was deemed qualified to serve as sheriff in 1669, but he was not appointed to the tax commission for another 20 years. However, he stood unsuccessfully for the borough as an opponent of exclusion at the first general election of 1679, and was made a j.p. in the following year. He improved his interest by founding an almshouse in 1686, but gave negative replies on the repeal of the Test Act and Penal Laws in 1688 and was removed from office. He was returned for Andover as a Tory at the contested general election of 1689. According to Anthony Rowe he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant; but he was not an active Member of the Convention, being appointed only to the committees on prohibiting the import of French goods and encouraging the manufacture of white paper. A devout churchman, he was buried on 2 Feb. 1719, according to the directions in his will, in the chancel of Andover parish church, ‘where I frequently use to receive the sacrament’. His son sat for Andover as a Whig from 1734 to 1754.2

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Berry, Hants Genealogies, 66; St. Dionis Backchurch (Harl. Soc. Reg. iii), 38; London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 1071.
• 2. PCC 125 Fairfax, 217 Browning; VCH Hants, iv. 354, 375, 383; Woodward, Hants, iii. 167; CJ, ix. 578; x. 70; Hants RO, Andover par. reg.