BAYNTUN, Edward (c.1659-1720), of Hardenhuish, Wilts.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1705 - 1710

Family and Education

b. c.1659, o. s. of Henry Bayntun† of Bath, Som. and Bremhill, Wilts. by Joanna, da. of Edmund Trimnell of Hanger, Bremhill.  educ. Trinity, Oxf. matric. 12 Mar. 1675, aged 15; L. Inn 1679.  m. by 1692, his. cos. Lucy, da. of Sir Edward Bayntun† of Spye Park, Bromham, Wilts., sis. of Henry Bayntun*, 7s. (4 d.v.p.) 1da.  suc. fa. 1672.1

Offices Held

Biography

Bayntun was from a cadet branch of the family settled at Spye Park, Wiltshire. He was plucked from obscurity partly as a result of his marriage to Lucy, sister of Henry Bayntun, the head of the family, and also by the fact that Henry’s only son, John, showed no apparent interest in parliamentary service. Although it was left to Bayntun to sit for one of the family’s traditional north Wiltshire boroughs, he was already in his mid-40s when elected, by which time there had been five consecutive Parliaments without a Bayntun present.

Although Calne was considered a safe seat for the family, Bayntun’s election met with some difficulties. Having unsuccessfully contested the first Parliament of 1701, Bayntun petitioned, but without success. In the general election of November 1701, while active in support of the Whig candidates for Wiltshire, he again stood on the Whig interest at Calne with Henry Blaake*. While Blaake topped the poll, Bayntun was included in a double return with the Tory Sir Charles Hedges* for the second seat. The committee of elections declared the election void, and Bayntun did not contest the by-election. Meanwhile, Robert Harley had classed him as a Tory in a list of this Parliament, possibly because his late cousin and brother-in-law, Henry, had been a strong Tory. Bayntun was finally successful in 1705 after a contest. He was listed as a ‘Churchman’ in an analysis of the new Parliament, although his election was reckoned a gain for the Whigs by Lord Sunderland (Charles, Lord Spencer*). On 25 Oct. he voted for the Court candidate as Speaker. Marked as both a Whig and a Tory in a list of early 1708, he voted in 1709 for the naturalization of the Palatines, and in the following year for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. After another double return in 1710, his opponents were declared elected on 22 Dec.2

Bayntun wrote his will on 3 Oct. 1720. Describing himself as ‘weak in body’, he died shortly afterwards and was buried in the family vault at Bromham on 10 Oct. He did not detail his possessions or properties, but asked that his executors, Blaake and James Montagu III*, divide these equally between his four surviving children. None of his sons succeeded him in Parliament.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: D. W. Hayton / Henry Lancaster

Notes

  • 1. Wilts. RO, 518/3; PCC 216 Buckingham; Burke, Commoners, iv. 685; Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 32.
  • 2. Wilts. Arch. Mag. xlvi. 80.
  • 3. PCC 216 Buckingham; Wilts. RO, 1046/1.