ERLE, Thomas (1621-50), of Charborough Park, Dorset, and Bindon House, Axmouth, Devon.

Thomas Erle was the son and heir of the veteran MP, Sir Walter Erle*, and his upbringing was dominated by the political and religious views of his father. He was sent to Magdalen Hall, Oxford – a college with a notably puritanical flavour – at the age of 14, before being enrolled at the Middle Temple two years later.16Al. Ox. In May 1639 he married a daughter of William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, in a political match made all the more significant because of its timing, at the height of the first bishops’ war, and shortly after Saye’s imprisonment by the king for openly siding with the rebellious Scots.17Dorset RO, D/BLX/F2. The marriage settlement was witnessed by Oliver St John*, and the trustees included another Dorset-based critic of the crown, Sir John Strangways*.18Dorset RO, D/BLX/F2.

It was probably Strangways who facilitated Erle’s election to the Somerset borough of Milborne Port in the Short Parliament elections on 2 April 1640. The borough was under the influence of Strangways’s friends in the Digby family, and as Sir Walter had stood down in George Lord Digby’s* favour in the contested Dorset county election in the previous month, it is probable that his son’s election was a reciprocal gesture. Despite this arrangement, Erle is not recorded as having played any part in the proceedings of the Short Parliament.

In the Long Parliament elections Erle stood for the borough of Wareham, where his family owned property; his fellow-MP was John Trenchard*, who was closely connected with the Strangways family. The Wareham election was not straightforward, however. The writ sent to Westminster was erroneous, giving the impression that another local gentleman, Edward Lawrence†, had been returned in Erle’s place. The confusion was not resolved until 1 February 1641, when the Commons voted that ‘Mr Erle’s election for the borough of Wareham was good’, and on 12 February the mayor attended the House and amended the writ.19CJ ii. 76b; D’Ewes (N), 306, 351. Erle had taken his seat by 12 March.20CJ ii. 102b.

Erle’s attendance in the Long Parliament was sporadic, with periods of intense activity punctuated by long absences during which (in the words of Sir John Bankes*) he ‘follows his business in the country, where he is a great committee man, punisheth his and his father’s enemies, and rewards himself and his friends’.21G. Bankes, Story of Corfe Castle (1853), 232. Erle certainly seems to have followed his father’s lead politically. He was in the Commons from March until the end of June 1641, when he was given permission to go into the country; in August he was again excused ‘for the reasons offered to this House by Sir Walter Erle’, and in the same month he was made a justice of the peace for Dorset.22CJ ii. 102b, 133b, 189b, 263b; C231/5, p. 475. His leave was extended in April 1642, and he did not return to Westminster until June of that year.23CJ ii. 512b, 636b. Erle remained in London through the summer months, passing on to the Commons information of royalist schemes in Dorset, sent to him by his father and Denis Bond*.24PJ iii. 215, 312; CJ ii. 730b. He also arranged for £800 to be sent down to the local parliamentarians on 10 August.25Bodl. Gough Dorset 14, f. 82. As a result of such activities, he was thrown off the county bench by the 1st marquess of Hertford (William Seymour†) and his supporters.26C231/5, p. 530; Bayley, Dorset, 46. Erle may have visited the south west in late September, when he was given permission by Parliament to carry cavalry weapons to Dorset, but in late October and November he was again in London, being appointed to committees to quarter soldiers and to ensure a sufficient number of horses for the army in the field of Robert Devereux, 3rd earl of Essex.27CJ ii. 777b, 825b, 863b.

During 1643 and early 1644 Erle was based in London, where he was busy organising the defence of the City against royalist attack, and arranging the confiscation of royalist estates to pay for the war.28CJ ii. 925a, 937a; iii. 40a-b, 174b, 187a, 226b. He also attended the Committee for Irish Affairs on a regular basis, although he was never formally added to this body.29SP16/539/127, ff. 14v, 18, 34v, 38, 39, 40v; SP16/539/173, f. 100; Add. 4771, ff. 16, 43v. Erle was well aware of the factions which were emerging in the House, telling Sir Simonds D’Ewes* on 6 December 1643 that there were, in his opinion, ‘three parties or factions’: the pro-Scots lobby led by Sir Henry Vane II*; the supporters of Essex; and those who supported Sir William Waller*, including Edmund Prideaux I*, John Trenchard and the western MPs. Erle’s own position, like that of his father, was equivocal.30Harl. 165, f. 233. His personal attachment to the Fiennes family was clearly very strong. On 18 December 1643 he argued that further legal help should be allowed to his brother-in-law Nathaniel Fiennes I*, to defend him against accusations of cowardice in surrendering Bristol earlier in the year.31Harl. 165, f. 245v. In February 1644 he also intervened to protect the reputation of his father-in-law, Viscount Saye, who had been accused by Sir Henry Mildmay* of helping known papists – an accusation which Erle decried as ‘viciously false’.32CJ iii. 406a; Add. 31116, p. 236; Harl. 166, f. 16v. Yet on 8 March Erle supported Essex’s party in the Commons, acting as teller with Sir John Clotworthy* against proposals, backed by the war party, to sell off the king’s goods at Windsor to fund the army.33CJ iii. 422a. Erle was also active as an agent for the parliamentarians of the west, led by a mixed bag of MPs, including Anthony Nicoll* and Denzil Holles* as well as Prideaux and Trenchard. At first, Erle’s involvement in this group was irregular: although he was added to the Committee of the West on 3 August 1643 he played little part in its business, although in the following November he was sent to the Lords with measures to protect the beleaguered garrisons of Poole and Lyme.34CJ iii. 193a, 301a His engagement with western affairs became more intense in the summer of 1644, when he was involved in attempts to increase the powers of local government, including the Dorset county committee, to which he was appointed on 1 July 1644.35CJ iii. 527b, 546b, 548a. On 27 August Erle was again given leave to go into the country, and by early October he had taken his place on the Dorset committee, which he continued to attend during October and November.36CJ iii. 609b; A. and O.; PRO30/24/2, f. 72; Add. 29319, ff. 21-3.

Erle was back in Westminster by the end of January 1645, and over the next few months he played a more important role in national affairs. In January he was chosen as messenger to the Lords concerning the Uxbridge talks with the king and in March he was named to the committee-stage of the Self-Denying Ordinance – both initiatives supported by the Independent faction.37CJ iv. 36b, 88a. In April he was named to the committee to consider the accounts handled by the Committee of Accounts, and in June he was added to the committee to consider the king’s letters captured at Naseby, and then appointed to the committee to examine them.38CJ iv. 116a, 183b, 191b. He was also drawn into Scottish affairs, being named to committees to consider paying the Scottish army, and acting as reporter on a petition of its officers concerning pay, and he was a messenger to the Scottish commissioners over the Savile affair.39CJ iv. 109b, 121b, 207b.

The apparently Independent bias of his parliamentary activity at this time was tempered by the less partisan demands of the western interest. Erle’s involvement in the Committee of the West became more pronounced from the spring of 1645, when he began to attend meetings and sign letters.40Add. 29319, ff. 29-31; PRO30/24/2, f. 53. A measure of his standing can be seen in the decision of the Committee of Both Kingdoms to send Erle with Nicoll as adviser to Sir Thomas Fairfax* on the relief of Taunton on 25 April.41CSP Dom. 1644-5, p. 433. Erle represented the western interest in the Commons on numerous occasions, acting as messenger to the Lords or reporter from the committee to the Commons, in March, April, August and September.42CJ iv. 71a-b, 109b, 121b, 253a, 285a, 292a. In the last month, Erle was given leave to return to the country for six weeks, and he was back in Dorset by November 1645.43CJ iv. 281a, 292b; Alnwick, Northumberland 547, f. 7v. He stayed in the west until February, when he was again in the Commons representing western issues and investigating army finances.44CJ iv. 447a, 472b, 475b. Again, in local affairs he seems to have favoured moderation. On 14 February he was teller against re-examining the lenient fine set on a Dorset royalist, William Coker of Mappowder, defeating calls for harsher treatment from Sir John Evelyn of Wiltshire* and Sir Arthur Hesilrige*.45CJ iv. 442b. Two days later he represented to the Committee of Both Kingdoms the concerns of his constituents at Wareham, who had been rendered vulnerable to royalist attacks by the removal of its garrison to assist the siege of nearby Corfe Castle; and he succeeded in procuring reinforcements for the area drawn from the Plymouth garrison.46CSP Dom. 1645-7, pp. 344, 348.

On 16 March 1646 Erle was appointed manager of a conference to discuss instructions for various ‘gentlemen’ to be sent into the west country, and an order three days later, giving him leave to go into the country, suggests that he was one of their number.47CJ iv. 478b, 484a. Erle was in Dorset for most of the spring and summer of 1646, attending the quarter sessions and county committee, and dining and bowling with Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper* and Sir Gerard Naper*.48Christie, Shaftesbury, i. appx i. pp. xxxiv-v, xxxviii. On 3 July 1646 Erle was with the county committee at Shaftesbury, and led their complaints against the disorderly conduct of Edward Massie’s* cavalry brigade, which was garrisoned in Dorset prior to disbandment.49Bodl. Tanner 59, f. 392. In detailing the misconduct of the troops, the committee was supporting Independent attempts to disband Massie’s regiments, which they saw as a threat to the dominance of the New Model army. This impression is reinforced by a report of 7 August, in which the Committee of the West nominated Erle, with Trenchard and others, to attend the reduction of Massie’s forces.50CJ iv. 640a. But Erle’s sympathy with the Independents in this matter was again complicated by his local connections. One friend, John Fitzjames*, was a colonel in Massie’s brigade, yet continued to receive Erle’s support during his unsuccessful attempt to secure the Shaftesbury borough seat in October and November 1646.51Alnwick, Northumberland 547, ff. 49v-54, 58v-9, 61v-2. Erle was, however, less willing to help Fitzjames on the national stage, and in early January 1647 he declined a request to intercede for his disbanded officers at Westminster.52Alnwick, Northumberland 547, ff. 74-5.

Erle’s activity in Parliament during the winter of 1646-7 was equally confused. He had returned to Westminster by early September 1646, but for the next few weeks was appointed only to minor committees.53CJ iv. 658b, 671b, 700b, 701b. In December he again played a part in western affairs, reporting to the Commons the claims of Sir Peter Killigrew* to the land occupied by Pendennis Castle.54CJ iv. 737b; v. 4b, 19b. Local business also necessitated two trips to Dorset, in January and March/April 1647, when his attendance at the county committee is recorded.55Dorset Standing Cttee. ed. Mayo, 136, 198, 205, 224-6. When at Westminster, Erle was again drawn into national issues, as shown in his committee appointments. In February these included committees to prevent disbanded officers from coming to Westminster; to decide the fate of royalist prisoners; and to execute the earlier ordinance for the sale of bishops’ lands.56CJ v. 75b, 85a, 99b. In April he was named to the committee to examine the London militia, and in June he was appointed to a committee to meet the Scottish commissioners.57CJ v. 132b, 200a.

With the increasing political divisions at Westminster during the summer months, Erle found it increasingly difficult to reconcile his interests. On 10 June he was added to a committee to receive information against MPs who had been in ‘actual war’ against Parliament – a move to disable the Presbyterian recruiters – but when the issue came to a vote he acted as teller with the Presbyterian Sir Anthony Irby* (against Sir John Danvers* and Sir Arthur Hesilrige) against proceeding with a ban.58CJ v. 205a, 233b. Despite this, on 24 June he joined two ardent Independents, Harbert Morley* and Henry Marten*, in the preparation of instructions to prevent the king’s entry into London.59CJ v. 205a, 222a. Unsurprisingly, Erle did not take part in the Presbyterian ‘forcing of the Houses’ – being absent from Westminster from early July until October 1647.60CJ v. 237b, 346a.

In later months he seems to have been happy enough working with the Independents. On 30 October, on his return to Westminster, he was immediately named to a committee to consider how to formulate the latest peace proposals to be sent to the king.61CJ v. 330a, 346a. In November he was named to committees to prepare a declaration concerning the safety of the king’s person (after the escape from Hampton Court), and to examine attempts by Levellers to spread dissent in the army.62CJ v. 358b, 360a. And on 23 November he was added to a committee to examine the forcing of the Houses, and the key Presbyterians implicated in it.63CJ v. 366b.

On 1 December 1647 Erle was given leave to return to the country for six weeks, and on 23 December his departure was hastened by an order dispatching him (with John Browne I*, Sir Thomas Trenchard* and Francis Chettell*) as Parliament’s agents in Dorset.64CJ v. 373b, 400b. Erle attended the quarter sessions at Blandford on 11 and 14 January 1648, and from 16 February served as assessment commissioner for the county.65Christie, Shaftesbury, i. appx i. p. xlvii. He attended the county committee between January and April.66Dorset Standing Cttee. ed. Mayo, 318, 341, 406.

With the growing threat of royalist unrest in late April, Erle returned to Westminster, where he played an active part in securing London from attack in May and June.67CJ v. 546a, 565a, 574a, 581a. On 19 June he was named to a committee to be sent to Devon to settle the county militia, and he was back in the west country for much of the late summer of 1648.68CJ v. 606b. On 29 July, for example, he joined John and Sir Thomas Trenchard, John Browne I, Francis Chettell, William Sydenham* and Denis Bond in signing a letter from the Dorset county committee (at Dorchester) asking the Commons for more time to settle the militia there, and ‘that they will be pleased to excuse our attendance at the present call’.69Bodl. Nalson VII, f. 208. Erle was in no hurry to return: he was still in Dorchester with the militia commissioners on 10 August, and sat on the county committee until 5 September.70Christie, Shaftesbury, i. appx. p. xlviii; Dorset Standing Cttee. ed. Mayo, 414, 421, 430, 432-3. In fact, there is no indication that he returned to London before October, when he is again mentioned in committee lists.71CJ v. 54b.

On his return to the capital, Erle’s political preferences suddenly became much clearer. Rather than countenancing the actions of an increasingly radical leadership in the Commons and the army, Erle joined his father in backing attempts by the Presbyterians and Independent grandees to make a last-ditch peace deal with the king. On 27 October he was named to a committee to consider the propositions already agreed by the king, and to turn them into bills to present to Parliament.72CJ v. 62b. On 4 November he was appointed to attend the Common Council to ask for improvements to the guard at Westminster.73CJ v. 69b. Erle was teller in two crucial votes: on 11 November he opposed further additions to a vote on the religious terms to be agreed with the king; and on 30 November he opposed moves to debate the army’s remonstrance.74CJ v. 74a, 91b. The remonstrance was the first indication that the army intended to use force against Parliament, and on 6 December, during Thomas Pride’s* purge of the Commons, Erle was secluded while his father was imprisoned.75A List of the Imprisoned and Secluded Members (1648, 669.f.13.62); A Vindication (1649), 28 (irregular pagination) (E.539.5); Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 372-3.

After Pride’s Purge, Erle retired to Dorset, where he died in 1650 at the age of 29. His eldest son, Walter, later married a daughter of Thomas Trenchard* and great niece of Erle’s colleague as MP for Wareham, John Trenchard. His second son, General Thomas Erle†, sat for Wareham from 1679.76Hutchins, Dorset, iii. 502.