BOLD, Arthur (c.1604-77), of Petersfield, Hants and the Inner Temple.

Bold’s ancestors had held property in Petersfield since Tudor times, but as a professional lawyer he resided chiefly in London. He was probably a royalist sympathizer, as he held no office before the Restoration. He was first returned at the general election of 1660, but played no known part in the Convention, though he was probably a court supporter. Re-elected in 1661, he was highly inactive in the Cavalier Parliament. He was appointed to five committees of no political importance during the Clarendon administration. He unsuccessfully petitioned for the stewardship of the New Forest in 1667. He defaulted on a call of the House in 1670, and was named to the committee of elections and privileges in the next session, but he is unlikely to have attended again. He refused the recordership of Portsmouth in 1673 on grounds of age and infirmity. He was noted by Sir Richard Wiseman as absent from the autumn session of 1675, and was buried at Petersfield on 22 May 1677, the only member of his family to sit in Parliament.3VCH Hants, ii. 492; iii. 116; CSP Dom. 1667, p. 135; East, 420; Hants RO, Petersfield par. reg.