HELE, John (1626-61), of Easton in Gordano, Som. and Flanchford, Reigate, Surr.

Hele’s father was a younger son from an old Devon family, who prospered as a result of the generosity of his elder brother, a fortunate first marriage and perhaps practice as a civil lawyer in the Bristol area. He sat for Liskeard, Cornwall, in three Parliaments in the 1620s, and by the time of his death in December 1640 held land in four counties. An interest in his Warwickshire property was left to his second wife, who lived until 1667, and there was also generous provision for his unmarried daughter, but there was still a valuable estate for the heir. In accordance with Nicholas Hele’s wishes, on 22 July 1641 the wardship was bought for 1,000 marks by his kinsman Sir John Hele.15Sales of Wards, 176–7; CSP Dom. 1640-1, p. 229; HP Commons 1604-1629, s.v. ‘Hele, Nicholas’.

During the first civil war Sir John commanded a regiment for the royalists, and consequently was sequestered in February 1646, while his wife’s father, Sir John Hobart*, served parliamentarian local administration in Norfolk before being elected to Parliament as a recruiter in 1645.16P.R. Newman, Royalist Officers (1981), 184; CCC 542, 2894; s.v. ‘Hobart, Sir John’. John Hele himself matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, the same week that it became the king’s headquarters, but apparently without prejudice to his career.17Al. Ox. He was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn as the son of Nicholas, described as ‘late of the City of London’, perhaps in order to play down any awkward connections.18LI Admiss. i. 250. Since he came of age in 1647, it may have been he who was placed on the Somerset commission of the peace that year, although if so, it seems unlikely that he was particularly active.19C231/6, p. 78. He was called to the bar in June 1652, but it is not clear whether he ever practised.20LI Black Books, ii. 395. In May 1653 he was involved with Henry Cary*, 4th Viscount Falkland, and Henry Fitzjames*, high-spirited young men with royalist connections, in a brawl in Hyde Park. Accused of a ‘miscarriage’ against the countess of Lincoln and her son, the trio were despatched by the council of state to face the Middlesex bench.21CSP Dom. 1652-3, p. 322.

About March 1654 Hele married the widow of his former guardian, who had in the meantime been briefly the wife of Hugh Rogers* of Cannington, an MP secluded at Pride’s Purge but readmitted late in 1650. Immediately they were engaged in legal proceedings to pursue the rights of Dame Dorothy and her daughter, or stepdaughter, Helena Rogers.22C6/123/84. On 28 October 1656 Hele petitioned the council of state in connection with an inheritance dispute with his ‘uncle’ Henry Rogers, who was both the uncle and heir of Hugh Rogers and an executor of Sir John Hele.23SP18/130, f. 100; s.v. ‘Hugh Rogers’. That year Hele bought the former estate of Sir Thomas Bludder* near Reigate and thereby gained an interest in the parliamentary borough.24Manning and Bray, Surr. i. 306.

Hele first entered Parliament in January 1659. On 12 February he made his sole recorded intervention in debate over the activities of Brecon Member Edmund Jones* when he observed, on the face of it rather surprisingly, that he would ‘never speak for protecting any delinquent’, but since he went on to say that ‘no law makes a man a criminal’, he probably expressed a disinclination to judge anyone on their previous disloyalty to the regime in power.25Burton’s Diary, iii. 238. It is plausible that he continued to be an associate of Falkland, regarded by royalist exiles as their chief advocate in the House. With Falkland, Hele was nominated to the committee to secure the protector and the nation against dangerous insurgents (18 Apr.).26CJ vii. 642a. His only other appointment was to consider a petition from Lincolnshire (2 Mar.).27CJ vii. 609a.

In June 1659 royalist intelligence reported that ‘Jack Hele’ was ready to engage in insurrection.28CCSP iv. 225. He was re-elected to the Convention Parliament, where he was more active and more moderate than his previous record might suggest.29HP Commons 1660-1690. When he died intestate and without children on 25 January 1661, ‘the great widow Hele’ renounced probate and before 2 April married a fourth husband, William Crofts, 1st Baron Crofts. Administration was granted to Hele’s nephew Christopher Hooke, whose elder brother Sir Humphrey Hooke† was MP for Bristol in 1666-7.30BL M636/17; Manning and Bray, Surr. i. 306; HMC 5th Rep. 185; HP Commons 1660-1690.