PYNE, Arthur (1600-1639), of Tarrant Monkton, Dorset and Lincoln’s Inn, London; later of Cathanger, Fivehead, Som.

Pyne was born at Micheldever, Hants, but grew up at a house in Tarrant Monkton subsequently bequeathed to him by his paternal grandfather.12 PROB 11/154, f. 244v; 11/115, f. 135. Shortly after being called to the bar at Lincoln’s Inn, he became the first member of his immediate family to enter the Commons, sitting in three consecutive Parliaments for Weymouth through the influence of his father, the borough’s recorder. He attracted no committee appointments, and contributed only rarely to debates. During the 1624 session, he sought on 7 May to defend lord keeper Williams’ conduct over the advowson of Sutton parish, Surrey. However, his argument was abruptly dismissed by George Smyth, who considered that ‘it did better become young men to hear than speak’.13 Holles 1624, p. 90. Pyne seemingly took this message to heart, and held his tongue throughout the 1625 Parliament. By the time of the 1626 session, his father had emerged as a vocal opponent of arbitrary taxation, and unsurprisingly Pyne argued on 23 Mar. that military expenditure should be restricted to what taxpayers could readily afford. It may also have been this Member, rather than his cousin John Pyne, who contributed at length to the debate on 27 Feb. about the nation’s ills, addressing six areas of mismanagement in the conduct of the present war, and condemning ‘ill government at home’. Certainly, he was reported in June 1627 to have called for the execution of the royal favourite, the duke of Buckingham.14 Procs. 1626, ii. 137, 143, 351; CSP Dom. 1627-8, p. 213.

Shortly after the 1626 Parliament’s dissolution, Pyne got into a brawl at Lincoln’s Inn with two fellow lawyers, the Somerset gentleman Sir Francis Dodington, and Harbottle Grimston*.15 LI Black Bks. ii. 263. Around this time Pyne began to pay court to an Essex heiress, Grace Barley. Although she responded favourably, he faced competition from two rivals, the elderly Sir William Fleetwood II*, and a son of Viscount Saye and Sele, possibly James Fiennes*, whose suit was supported by the 2nd earl of Warwick (Sir Robert Rich*). By January 1627 Pyne had won Warwick round to his own cause, but Grace’s guardian refused to approve the match, and the couple probably eventually eloped, marrying in London two months later.16 CSP Dom. Addenda, 1625-49, pp. 724-5.

Pyne did not sit for Weymouth in the next Parliament, his place being taken by his father, who represented the borough until his death in November 1628. Now possessed of a substantial estate in Somerset, Dorset and Devon, Pyne settled at Cathanger, and became active in local government, but he never achieved his father’s prominence. He died childless and intestate in 1639, whereupon his lands descended to his sister Christabel, the wife of Edmund Wyndham*, though administration of his goods was granted on 20 July to his widow Grace.17 WARD 7/78/139; 7/98/9; PROB 6/17, p. 57.