EYRE, William II (c.1617-84), of Neston, Wilts.

Eyre belonged to the senior branch of a family established in north west Wiltshire by the fourteenth century; this branch moved its main seat from Wedhampton to Great Chalfield following a marriage to a Tropenell heiress in 1563.21VCH Wilts. x. 180. His grandfather, Sir William Eyre† (1556-1629), was an active justice of the peace, hereditary constable of Trowbridge castle, sheriff in 1591-2, and deputy lieutenant from 1603, who occupied a county seat in Parliament in 1597 and was MP for Heytesbury in 1604.22HP Commons 1559-1603; HP Commons 1604-1629; The Earl of Hertford’s Lieutenancy Papers 1603-1612 ed. W.P.D. Murphy (Wilts. Rec. Soc. xxiii). However, Sir William’s descendants never quite equalled him in local prominence. His estates were divided to provide for the sons of his second marriage, with Robert (1591-1651) inheriting Little Chalfield and Henry (bap. 1598) Wedhampton, while the sons of his first marriage were largely active elsewhere.23VCH Wilts. vii. 63; x. 180. The elder, Sir John Eyre† (1580-1639), served three times as a Wiltshire MP, but was a gentleman of the privy chamber by 1612 and an ambassador to Constantinople and Transylvania; he inherited Great Chalfield in 1629, but sold it within two years to Sir Richard Gurney, a leading member of the Clothworkers’ Company of London; at his death his estate, valued at £250, was contained in a chest kept in the capital.24House of Commons 1604-1629; VCH Wilts. vii. 61; Wilts. IPMs Chas. I, 370; PROB11/181, f. 20v. His younger brother, the MP’s father, another Sir William Eyre (1584-1663), who had received a modest property at Neston in the parish of Corsham, seems to have spent most of his life in London; his career is obscure, but he was almost certainly the gentleman pensioner of that name knighted in Scotland in July 1633.25Par. regs. Great Chalfield and Corsham; Hoare, Hist. Wilts. v (Frustfield), 56, ped. no. 1; Vis. Wilts. 1623 (Harl. Soc. cv-cvi), 58-62; Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 201.

Nothing is known of Eyre’s early life. On 31 October 1634 aged 17 he matriculated from Pembroke College, Oxford, as from Neston, but his father was given as Sir William of London.26Al. Ox. There are no indications as to how long he stayed at university, or indeed of his occupation over the next eight years. However, latterly at least he seems to have resided in Wiltshire. In 1640 he received a legacy of £10 from Richard Norden of the Inner Temple, a trustee of the 4th earl of Pembroke, Philip Herbert*.27Wilts. N and Q i. 423. A year or two earlier he had been licensed to marry Anne, daughter of Charles Dauntsey of Baynton and widow of John Danvers of Corsham; their daughters Ann and Katherine were baptized at Corsham in April 1640 and June 1641.28Sarum mar. lic. bonds (Wilts. Fam. Hist. Soc.); Corsham par. reg.; Hoare, Hist. Wilts. v (Frustfield), 56, ped. no. 1.

On the outbreak of war in 1642 Eyre’s uncle Robert declared for the king, but like a majority of activists in that area of Wiltshire, and kinsmen including Thomas Eyre* of nearby Bromham, Eyre himself answered Parliament’s call to arms; according to his own later statement, at the outset he was an officer at Devizes.29CSP Dom. 1645-7, p. 476; Wilts. RO, A1/110/A, f. 72. Thereafter his military career is difficult to disentangle from that of his namesake the one-time Ironside, Leveller and author of The serious representation of Colonel William Eyre (1649), who also at some points served in Wiltshire, and he has sometimes also been confused with Thomas, governor of Devizes from September 1645 to January 1646.30‘William Eyre (fl. 1634-1675)’, Oxford DNB. Eyre’s younger brother Edward (b. c.1618, ?bur. 3 July 1645) was probably the Lieutenant Edward Eyre who, while serving under their kinsman Sir Edward Bayntun* of Bromham, was involved in the attempted arrest of rival parliamentarian commander Sir Edward Hungerford* of Corsham at Malmesbury in January 1643.31The Kingdomes Weekly Intelligencer no. 3 (10-17 Jan. 1643), 22 (E.85.15); Speciall Passages no. 23 (10-17 Jan. 1643), 191-2 (E.85.10); Mercurius Aulicus no. 2 (11 Jan. 1643), 17 (E.86.22); Add. 18777, f. 126; Corsham par. reg. It is not known whether our Eyre served under either of these local grandees, but in the constantly fluctuating military situation in the county over the subsequent three and a half years he seems to have had successive commands. It is possible that he was the Captain Eyre in the garrison intermittently maintained from July or August 1644 at Great Chalfield house, still occupied as her jointure by Anne Ernle, third wife of Sir William Eyre (d. 1629); if so, it would have brought him to the attention of the county committee, which sometimes sat there.32Accts. Parlty. Garrisons of Great Chalfield and Malmesbury, 16, 18, 21, 25; Ludlow, Mems. i. 463. It is probable that it was he, rather than the Leveller, who was the Lieutenant-colonel William Eyres captured by royalists at the fall of Chippenham in August 1645 and briefly taken to Oxford; the Leveller’s imprisonment in the same city seems to have been associated exclusively with his participation in the Burford mutiny in 1647.33Mercurius Aulicus 12 Aug 1645 (E.298.23); ‘William Eyre’, Oxford DNB. It is likely that the Wiltshire Eyre was the lieutenant-colonel recorded at Malmesbury in May 1647, and the colonel there in May 1649, and it is certain that this Eyre was a colonel by 8 February 1649, when he was thus referred to in the Commons Journal.34Waylen, ‘Falstone Day Bk.’ 384; Worcester Coll. Oxf. Clarke MS II, 11‘Forces to be continued in pay’ 4 May 1649; CJ vi. 134a.

In the meantime, Eyre had become active in local administration. From his first appearance in the quarter sessions order books on 14 July 1646 he was a frequent attender, especially at northern meetings, sitting with kinsmen like Thomas Eyre and later Henry Eyre*, or alternating with Giles Eyre of Brickworth, who was a regular at Salisbury.35Wilts. RO, A1/160/1 and 2. Between them the Eyres were a notable presence at both sessions and the assizes; Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper* registered on 10 August 1646 at his own swearing-in to the commission the participation of ‘Mr William Eyre the younger’, doubtless so designated to distinguish him from William Eyre I*, the former MP for Downton who was still, until his death later that year, a figure of substance in Salisbury.36J. Waylen, ‘Notes from the diary of Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper, first earl of Shaftesbury’, Wilts. Arch. and Nat. Hist. Mag. xxviii. 23, 24, 26; Western Circuit Assize Orders ed. Cockburn, 189, 237, 248, 261. From February 1648 Eyre also acted as an assessment commissioner.37A. and O.

In the circumstances of late 1648, Eyre’s military and civil record, together with local credibility, may well have rendered him an obvious candidate to occupy the parliamentary seat at Chippenham vacated by the death on 23 October of Sir Edward Hungerford. While the Presbyterian Hungerford had been latterly through illness or disinclination an infrequent attender in the House, Eyre must have looked to be a reliable friend of the army. When, about six weeks after his election, he took his seat on 15 January 1649 as the House returned to a semblance of normality following the purge of the previous month, he did so without taking the oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance.38CJ vi. 117b; Underdown, Pride’s Purge, 186n. As Eyre recalled a decade later, he had ‘refused the oath’ and the commissioners had told the House ‘that I scrupled it’.39Burton’s Diary, iii. 76. His intervention on the latter occasion was in the nature of a quid pro quo on behalf of fellow Wiltshire MP Edmund Ludlowe II*, who, grateful for Eyre’s support when he in turn ‘scrupled’, recounted that in 1649 it was he who had ‘moved the House in [Eyre’s] behalf, and was the person nominated to bring him’ in.40Ludlow, Mems. ii. 53. While conscientious hesitation over the oath may have arisen from a genuine republican commitment at this juncture, it cannot necessarily be taken as such: Eyre may have simply reflected the general perplexity of a House facing the formalities of admitting a new Member with oaths to a monarch on trial for his life. Since the same day Eyre was included on the committee to conduct delicate negotiations with the common council of London, it seems likely that in fact he enjoyed widespread trust where it mattered.41CJ vi. 118a. On 8 February he, Ludlowe and John Dove* of Salisbury were the Wiltshire Members placed on the important committee to review membership of commissions of the peace.42CJ vi. 134a. Surprisingly after such a start, Eyre had no further nominations during the life of the Parliament – although continuing military obligations might supply some explanation – but that he retained general confidence and kept up a respectable attendance is suggested by his only other appearance in the Journal: on 24 November 1652 he was one of the four colonels appointed tellers in the divisions over the composition of the council of state.43CJ vii. 220a, 220b.

In Wiltshire Eyre continued as an assessment commissioner as well as an active magistrate, and may well have been preoccupied by his duties as a colonel of militia, confirmed in April 1650.44CSP Dom. 1650, p. 505. That he was not nominated to the 1653 Parliament may be attributed to the reduction in available seats in the county and to the higher profile of the other loyalist Colonel Eyre, Thomas of Bromham, who was so named. When the following year candidates for the first protectorate Parliament were being mooted, it is not clear which Colonel Eyre it was who according to a contemporary pamphlet was denounced by leading Wiltshire ministers (including William Eyre of St Thomas, Salisbury, brother of Giles and Henry*) as a Leveller and Anabaptist.45A copy of a letter sent out of Wiltshire to a gentleman in London (1654), 1-2 (E.809.18); H. Chambers, A Bifield, J. Strickland, P. Ince, An Apology for the Ministers of the County of Wilts. (1654, E.808.9). The truth of the claim is difficult to establish, but whoever it concerned it was at least an exaggeration. In the event, neither was returned at the election, but William belatedly secured a county seat on 3 January 1655, when Alexander Popham* decided to sit for Bath.46VCH Wilts. v. 151; HMC Buccleuch i. 311. Once again he had only one committee nomination before the Parliament dissolved on 22 January, namely on 14 January and in the company of Wiltshire MPs Alexander Thistlethwayte and Edward Bayntun to that delegated to consider the funds available for navy and army pay.47CJ vii. 419a.

Militia obligations ensured that Eyre played an important role in the suppression of the rebellion of John Penruddock which broke out that March. In his only surviving letter (15 April 1655) he was critical of the methods employed to punish participants by John Dove, the sheriff. Briefly captured by the insurgents, Dove had then been released, after apparently giving undertakings which he was subsequently accused of breaking. Writing to Philip Edes at Whitehall on behalf of an informer who, after confession to Eyre and fellow justice James Hely*, was at first granted immunity by the protector but then condemned by Dove, he argued for moderation and integrity. Dove’s ‘bitterness’ against the man was traced to his submission to Hely instead of the sheriff himself. ‘Now ‘tis a sad thing’, observed Eyre, ‘that a man’s life should be sacrificed to spleen and malice’. It was impolitic, being

of bad consequence for the future, if the like occasion should happen, if they that submit first, and deal most ingenuously, shall fare as bad as any, and worse than most, yea than those that have done ten times more. ‘Tis the way to make men desperate.

But it was above all wrong: ‘I am persuaded you are a lover of righteousness, and hate such practices, whereby justice is made subservient to men’s passions’.48Bodl. Rawl. A.25, f. 425.

Eyre was not elected to the second protectorate Parliament in 1656, but he continued to be active locally as a commissioner and justice. At some point during this period he earned the gratitude of John Aubrey for giving the antiquary sight of the Tropenell leger book in his possession, ‘the best key to open the knowledge of the old and lost families which is my search’.49Aubrey, Wilts. Top. Collections ed. Jackson, 2, 237. By late 1658 he was in good standing with the government. Before 17 December secretary of state John Thurloe* had written to General George Monck* asking him to find Eyre and one Drury Scottish seats in the forthcoming Parliament. Monck expressed himself willing, though ultimately unable, to oblige.50TSP vii. 572, 584. In the event Eyre found a place at Westbury, unrepresented since the Long Parliament, in the company of Robert Danvers alias Villiers*. Yet again his contribution to proceedings was modest, but not insignificant. On 5 February 1659 came his contribution to the debate on Ludlowe’s admission without taking the oath, while on 14 February he was a teller for the minority noes with county MP Richard Grobham Howe* in a division which successfully prolonged the debate on the recognition of Richard Cromwell as lord protector. On the 23rd he obtained leave to go into the country for ten days, although this may have been for military purposes.51Ludlow, Mems. ii. 53; Burton’s Diary, iii. 76; CJ vii. 603b, 606b. He had probably returned some time before 19 April, when he was nominated to the committee to prepare measures to ensure the security of the protector, Parliament and people.52CJ vii. 641b.

For the few months after the recall of the Rump Eyre was a much more visible presence at Westminster than he had been previously. William Prynne* listed him among those sitting on 7 and 9 May.53W. Prynne, A True and Perfect Narrative (1659), 35 (E.767.1). He had eight nominations to committees between 24 May and 8 August. Several were related to military or security matters – the London militia (24 May), shipping (7 June), soldiers’ pay (18 June), strangers and arms in London (9 July) – but he was also called on again to address the question of prisoners for debt (18 July) and to investigate problems in regions outside his normal field of operation – the Forest of Dean (1 June), Thames navigation (8 Aug.), and even the governance of Ireland (9 June).54CJ vii. 664a, 670b, 673b, 678b, 689a, 710b, 722a, 751a. He served twice with John Dove, potentially uncomfortable company, and once each with Edmund Ludlowe and William Ludlowe*, but was not obviously on this evidence part of any particular grouping. The threat of insurrection very probably took him back to Wiltshire, and to effective service, early in August, and kept him there. On 1 September he was confirmed as a colonel of the militia, with William Ludlowe and James Hely as his majors, while on the 5th he was rewarded with a fat buck from Hampton Court Park.55CJ vii. 772b; CSP Dom. 1659-60, p. 567.

Eyre continued loyal to Parliament through the autumn. On 29 December he was, with Dove, among those commended and thanked for their actions during the time of its ‘late interruption’, although his precise contribution is unknown.56CJ vii. 799a. The following week he was appointed a teller in the election of non-MPs to the council of state, and then delegated to destroy the voting papers.57CJ vii. 801a, 802b. It was apparently as a trusted and experienced officer that on 12 January 1660 he was chosen as colonel of the regiment of foot that had once been led by John Lambert*, and that had continued to follow him until the collapse of the military revolt the previous month.58CJ vii. 810b; Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. ii. 528. He was handed his commission in the House on 18 January in company with Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper*, who took on a regiment of horse.59CJ vii. 815a. It was a tough assignment. When Thomas Clarges wrote to Monck on the 19th he included Eyre’s regiment as among those still suspect.60Baker, Chronicle, 679a. Existing officers remained, but were demoted – indeed on 20 January Eyre acted as teller for the yeas in the vote which retained former commander Jeremiah Campfield as lieutenant-colonel – a risky, but perhaps unavoidable strategy.61CJ vii. 816b, 817a. Eyre was evidently still in the House on 31 January to collect his subordinates’ new commissions on their behalf after some companies had been dispersed into Kent, and if he took charge in person at all, he did not exercise it long. He was at St James’s Palace on 21 February to sign the letter from Monck and his assembled officers which was intended to reassure scattered regiments that Parliament would soon be dissolved to enable fresh elections, but he was soon after replaced by Colonel Thomas Birch*.62CJ vii. 818b, 827a, 835b; Baker, Chronicle, 680b; A letter from the Lord General Monck…to the several and respective Regiments (1660, 669.f.23.54). It has been asserted that this was because he ‘was notoriously an extreme republican, and Monck would not trust him’.63Firth and Davies, Regimental Hist. ii. 529; Ludlow, Voyce, 88. However, although it is possible that Eyre’s scrupulosity of 1648-9 had been remembered to his disadvantage, it also looks like another occasion on which the different Colonel Eyres were confused. Colonel William Eyre the Leveller had been and remained a ringleader of trouble in Ireland.64Baker, Chronicle, 679-98; TSP iii. 124, 126, 146-7, 364; iv. 743; ‘William Eyre’, Oxford DNB. In contrast, Colonel William Eyre of Wiltshire was sufficiently in favour to be confirmed as a militia commissioner for his county on 10 March.65CJ vii. 870b. It seems likely that it had been concluded that he could not control the regiment as effectively as Birch, and would be more useful in his familiar local role.

Eyre did not sit again in Parliament, but unlike his namesake, survived the Restoration more or less unscathed. He probably lost for a period the place on the commission of the peace which he still held early in 1660, and in the suspicious days of late 1662 a letter from his kinsman John Eyre of Chalfield appears to indicate that ‘Colonel Eyre’s house’ was under some suspicion as a resort of disaffected ‘separatists’.66A Perfect List (1660), 59; CSP Dom. 1661-2, p. 539. However, he was an active justice again by April 1674 and in August 1683, as a colonel of militia, searched for arms in aftermath of the Rye House plot.67Commonplace Bk. of Sir Edward Bayntun, 32-3, 95; CSP Dom. 1683 July-Sept. p. 316. It was in his capacity as a member of the commission of the peace that he was called to London by 27 January 1684 to testify in the case of a Mr Bradon, whom he had committed for trial in king’s bench – a summons he may have tried to evade.68CSP Dom. 1683-4, pp. 213, 218, 234. On 2 February ‘weak in body’ he made his will from his lodgings at the sign of the One Bell in the Strand, and before 14 February, when an inventory was taken back at Neston, he died.69Wilts. RO, P3/E/128ii.

Like his father 20 years earlier, Eyre gave no indication in the will of his religious beliefs; unlike his father he made no bequest to the poor. He left his estate, including goods and livestock valued at nearly £500, to his third wife Mary for life, with reversion to his only son William, baptized the same day that his second wife was buried in December 1669.70Wilts. RO, P3/E/128ii; Corsham par. reg. It included an apparently thriving mixed farm, with over a hundred sheep, but it was probably smaller than the inheritance he received following the death of his father, a shadowy figure to the end, on 13 March 1663.71Corsham par. reg.; PROB11/311/433. In October 1670 he had mortgaged 150 acres of land in Corsham parish to Edward Bayntun (by now Sir Edward) for £1,000, while at the time of his death there seems to have been a mortgage on Neston Park.72Commonplace Bk. of Sir Edward Bayntun, 31; Wilts. N and Q ii. 269. Further parliamentary service was left to the Brickworth branch of the Eyre family.