READE, Edward, of Wembury, Devon.

Edward Reade ‘armiger’ is named in the election indenture as having been returned for Camelford for the Short Parliament on 20 March 1640, but his exact identity is difficult to ascertain.2C219/42/23. He does not seem to have been a relative of Sir Francis Windebanke’s* secretary and nephew, Robert Reade*, nor is it possible to make a connection between the MP and the newsletter-writer of the same name, who may have been one of the Reades of Gloucestershire.3HMC Cowper, passim; Vis. Wilts. ed. Squibb, 161. The most likely candidate is Edward Reade of Wembury in Devon, who was married into the Clobury family. The Cloburys had lands in Cornwall, and were related to the Kekewich and Trelawny families; they were also connected with the Moncks.4Vivian, Vis. Devon, 200; HP Commons 1660-1690. Sir Thomas Monck† sat for Camelford in 1626 on the interest of Sir Richard Carnsew† – thus providing a possible link between this Edward Reade and his constituency.5 HP Commons 1604-1629. Little is known of Edward Reade’s career. He married before 1609, was resident in Wembury in 1621 when his third son was born, and was still there in 1641 when he and his eldest son, Nicholas, signed the Protestation.6Vivian, Vis Devon, 642; Devon Protestation Returns, 238. No will survives, but it is likely that Reade, who must have been at least 50 at the time of his election, did not survive the civil war and interregnum. The family had disappeared from the parish by the 1670s, when the largest houses were owned by their relatives, Josias Calmady and Christopher Clobury, and by Christopher Monck, 2nd duke of Albemarle.7Devon Taxes, 156. Nothing is known of Reade’s descendants.