HERBERT, Sir Arnold (bef. 1575-?1649), of Westminster and Warfield, Berks.

Herbert belonged to a minor branch of a prestigious noble family. Herbert’s branch of the family settled in Monmouthshire, although in 1595 his father mortgaged the estate and the family apparently lived in ‘need and want’, and some obscurity.15C2/Jas.1/H16/3. It has been suggested that, although he does not appear in university matriculation registers, Arnold may have been at Emmanuel College, Cambridge in the 1590s, involved in the circulation of manuscript compositions.16May, ‘Circulation in Manuscript’, 209-11. Perhaps through familial connections, he entered the service first of George Home, earl of Dunbar, and later of Thomas Howard, 1st earl of Suffolk, through whose influence he secured a seat in the 1614 Parliament for Morpeth, a borough which he also represented in 1625.17CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 190. Meanwhile through the Howards he also became one of the gentleman pensioners of the king, with an attendant income.18Lansd. 165, f. 219; CSP Dom. 1611-18, p. 62; PRO30/26/186; LC2/6, f. 47; E179/70/146; Badminton, Beaufort Archives, Fm H2/4/1, f. 16; SP16/180, f. 59 Upon his marriage to the daughter of one prominent merchant, and widow of another, Herbert also secured an estate in Warfield, Berkshire, although this was only secured through a protracted legal battle which lasted into the late 1630s.19CSP Dom. 1628-9, p. 96; C78/265/4; C78/375/3.

Herbert was returned to the Short Parliament as Member for Christchurch in Hampshire, on the recommendation of Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, although Baltimore only announced this on 3 March 1640 after several other candidates had been dropped or had secured seats elsewhere.20Christchurch Bor. Council, Old Letters, nos. 22-3, 29, 31. A week later Herbert secured the first seat, but Baltimore’s other preference was unsuccessful.21Christchurch Bor. Council, Old Letters, no. 24; Dorset RO, DC/CC: F1/8; C219/42ii/144. Herbert made no impression on the records of the Short Parliament, and did not retain his seat in the Long Parliament, when Baltimore favoured other candidates. In November 1640 the Commons considered a bill to reverse the chancery decision in Herbert’s favour concerning his lengthy legal cases, but although the bill was read twice (9 Feb., 15 Feb. 1641), it appears to have been lost in committee.22CJ ii. 35a, 81a, 85a, 99b.

With the coming of civil war Herbert was named by the king as a commissioner of array. As a member of the royal household he went to Oxford with Charles I late in 1642, although in December 1646, when he compounded for delinquency after the surrender of Oxford, Herbert asserted that he had never borne arms against Parliament, a claim which is plausible given his age. His fine was set within a week and was apparently paid promptly.23SP23/193, pp. 555-61; CCC 1592. He seems to have retired to his seat in Berkshire, where he died some time before 1 November 1649, when administration of the estate was granted to a nephew; this was re-granted in 1652 to Herbert’s son Edward, following the latter’s successful defence of charges that he had been a delinquent.24PROB6/24, f. 135; PROB6/27, f. 108; CCAM 1323-4. No further members of this branch of the family sat in Parliament.