BISSE, Edward (c.1588-by 1647), of Spargrove, Som.

Bisse belonged to an extended family scattered among several villages surrounding Wells in Somerset, where in 1608, while still a minor, he inherited a number of tenements.1Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 2), ii. 320; HMC Wells, ii. 345, 386. On his admission to the Middle Temple he was exempted from paying an entrance fine by the special order of William Swanton, a Bencher and fellow Somerset man. In 1615 he was admitted to the chambers vacated by his near neighbour Ralph Hopton*.2MTR, 504, 600. Bisse’s family already had some experience of parliamentary service - his uncles James Bisse† and George Upton† had both represented Wells under Elizabeth. He owed his election at Heytesbury in 1625 to his father-in-law, who had until 1624 been lord of the manor of Heytesbury.3PROB 11/171, f. 256; Vis. Wilts. (Harl. Soc. cv-cvi), 82. Bisse is not recorded as having made any contribution to the work of the House.

Little has been discovered of Bisse’s later years; he does not appear to have stood for Parliament again. He was a defendant in several legal suits during the 1620s and 1630s, variously concerned with the rights of copyholders and the terms agreed for loans and mortgages on Somerset properties.4C78/386/5; REQ 2/308/2; C2/Chas.I/B3/44. In 1638 he was named as a trustee of a hospital in Bruton, Somerset, in the company of Sir Charles Berkeley*, Sir Henry Berkeley*, Ralph Hopton and Sir Edward Rodney*.5Wilts. RO, 383/419. Following the outbreak of civil war he fought for the king as a colonel under William Seymour*, 2nd earl of Hertford, but the restructuring of the royalist forces in the county resulted in his regiment being disbanded in July 1644.6E. Walker, Hist. Discourses, 45; C. Long, Diary of Marches of Roy. Army (Cam. Soc. lxxiv), 36. Bisse drafted his will on 1 Sept. 1644, leaving his household goods to his wife; his stock of cattle to one daughter; and £400, derived from his parsonage at Wells, to another. His date of death is unknown, but his will was proved in February 1647.7PROB 11/199, f. 300; Add. 34568, f. 50; Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 2), ii. 94. Neither of his sons sat in Parliament.