In the sheriff’s schedule of the Members elected in Dorset to the Parliament of 1545 the names of those for Lyme Regis were added in a different hand from the rest; and in Bridport’s indenture for Mary’s first Parliament William Pole’s name was inserted in a blank space left for the second Member. As early as 1541 Pole held a judicial appointment in Lyme, being then ‘a young justice’ whose behaviour was criticized by one who declared himself to be ‘a gentleman as Mr. Pole was (putting aside his office) and as well born as he’. Possibly there was opposition to his election in 1545 although later his advice was often sought by the town and he was retained of counsel by 1564. With Bridport he had no direct link; but John Paulet, Lord St. John, was high steward of both Lyme Regis and Bridport in 1553, and his deputy at Bridport, Robert Tytherleigh the younger, was a near relative of Pole.3C219/18C/36, 21/56; Lyme Regis, fugitive pieces, 1, no. 6; Bridport doom bk. 213.
The family residence, Shute, in the parish of Colyton, formerly the property of Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, was acquired by Pole from (Sir) William Petre, to whom it had been granted after Suffolk’s attainder. There Pole died on 15 Aug. 1587.4W. Pole, Description of Devonshire (1791), 137-8; C142/213/72; PCC 62 Spencer.