BURRARD, John (1646-98), of Walhampton, nr. Lymington, Hants.

Burrard’s family had been prominent in the municipal life of Lymington since Elizabethan times. His father played no part in the Civil War apart from a contribution of £40 to the parliamentary garrison. Burrard inherited the family salt-works and other property in Lymington. He and his brother married two of the coheirs to the Buckland estate, and in 1668 Walhampton, just across the river, was acquired and became the principal residence of the family. He was returned for the borough at a by-election five days before the prorogation of the first Exclusion Parliament, but is not known to have taken his seat. He was reelected in August with his father-in-law, and held the seat for the rest of his life. On Button’s death a few months later he succeeded to a moiety of the manor of Buckland, which greatly strengthened his interest in the borough. A moderately active Member of the second Exclusion Parliament he was named to three committees, including that to inquire into the conduct of the judges (25 Nov. 1680); but he left no trace on the records of the Oxford Parliament.4King, 152; Cal. Comm. Adv. Money, 400; PCC 52 Laud; Annals of Walhampton, 9, 23; VCH Hants, iv. 647.

Burrard’s electoral successes inevitably exacted a price. He sold Barby in 1683, three years after inheriting it. By 1685 he had formed a political alliance with the Powletts. He was again moderately active in James II’s Parliament, being appointed to four committees, of which the most important was to reform the bankruptcy laws. In April 1688 he was expected to be re-elected with Richard Holt, but it was not believed that they would comply with the King’s religious policy. By September, however, in order to avoid the threatened quo warranto proceedings, they had ‘fully declared themselves in your Majesty’s interest’. A moderately active Member of the Convention, Burrard twice acted as teller and was appointed to 19 committees, including those to consider the bill for restoring corporations, to inspect the entries in the Journals about the Popish Plot, and to prepare an address about the danger to the Isle of Wight and other areas exposed to attack from France. The Powlett interest procured him a rangership in the New Forest, and, probably about the same time, the governorship of Hurst Castle. After the recess he was among those instructed to draw up charges against the late treasury solicitors and to inquire into the miscarriages of the war. He acted as teller against the 2s. aid and for exempting Quakers from double taxation. He did not support the disabling clause in the bill to restore corporations, but he was appointed to the committee on the bill to impose a general oath of allegiance.5CSP Dom. July-Sept. 1683, p. 391; Baker, Northants. i. 263; CJ, x. 299, 303.

Burrard remained a court Whig in the next two Parliaments. He died on 14 May 1698, leaving debts which required the sale of the Lymington salterns. Nevertheless his brother Paul sat for Lymington as a Whig from 1701 to 1705.6Burrard, 25, 30; Luttrell, iv. 380; S. G. Burrard, Fams. of Borard and Burrard, 67.