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HARBY, Edward (c.1633-89), of Adstone, Northants.
Available from Boydell and Brewer
Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. c.1633, 1st s. of Edward Harby of Adstone by Elizabeth, da. of Henry Freeman of Higham Ferrers. educ. Wadham, Oxf. 1652. m. Frances, da. of John Elmes of Greens-Norton and h. to her bro. Richard Elmes of Stow, Hunts., 1s. 1da. suc. fa. 1674.1
Offices Held
Commr. for assessment, Northants. 1663-80, Hunts. and Northants. 1689; capt. of militia ft. Northants. 1663-bef. 1680; j.p. Northants. 1664-85, 1687-d., Hunts. July 1688-?d.; sheriff, Northants. 1675-6; commr. for wastes and spoils, Whittlewood and Salcey Forests 1679, inquiry into recusancy fines, Leics., Northants., Rutland and Warws. Mar. 1688.2
Biography
Harby’s ancestor acquired the ex-monastic property of Adstone in the mid-16th century. Harby’s father was a Parliamentarian in the Civil War; returned for Higham Ferrers as a recruiter, he acquiesced after some hesitation in Pride’s Purge. In 1660 a double return was decided against him, and he retired into private life. He applied for a licence for Presbyterian worship in 1672. Harby himself must have conformed, since he was appointed to the commission of the peace in his father’s lifetime in 1664. He was listed as the only active Whig j.p. in Northamptonshire in 1682, with an income of £900 p.a. He was removed from the bench in March 1685, when he stood for the county unsuccessfully, but was restored in 1687. Returned as knight of the shire to the Convention, he probably never took his seat, dying on 8 May 1689, aged 56. He was buried at Canons Ashby. No later member of the family was elected to Parliament, and his son sold Adstone in 1720.3