POLEY, Robert (c.1600-1627), of Boxted, Suff.

Poley travelled on the Continent with his cousin Robert Jermyn*, and if he used his licence to the full he would have returned too late to contest the general election of 1620/1. He may have been introduced to the earl of Montgomery (Sir Philip Herbert*) by Roger Palmer*, whose mother was a Poley of the Badley branch, or by his brother-in-law (Sir) Humphrey May*, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. As one of Montgomery’s ‘special friends’ he was elected for Queenborough in 1624.3 Cent. Kent. Stud. Qb/C1/32. In the next election, however, he was defeated by Sir Edward Hales, despite a letter from his patron describing him as ‘a gentleman every way able to discharge a greater trust’.4 Procs. 1625, p. 696. He regained the seat with Montgomery’s support in 1626, when Hales moved up to represent the county. He left no trace on the records of either Parliament. In the following year he was killed on the Ré expedition, leaving neither wife nor will.5 Vis. Suff. i. 296.