POLE, Sir William, 4th Bt. (1678-1741), of Colcombe Castle, nr. Colyton and Shute, nr. Honiton, Devon.

Pole was descended from an old Honiton family, who purchased Colcombe from the Courtenays in the early sixteenth century; leased Shute, subsequently the family seat, in the time of Elizabeth;2Lysons, Devon, i. pp. cix-cx; ii. 131; A. J. Jewers, ‘The Churches of Colyton and Shute’, Dev. Assoc. Trans. xxxiii. 714; Hoskins, Devon, 374, 476. were largely instrumental in securing the re-enfranchisement of Honiton in 1640; and represented the borough at intervals for almost 100 years.3A. Farquharson, Hist. Honiton, 37. Returned for it as a Tory at a by-election in 1716, he voted against the Administration in all the three chief divisions of this Parliament. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1721 as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.4Stuart mss 65/16. Re-elected after a contest in 1722, when he was also returned for Newport, he was unsuccessful at the poll in 1727, but recovered his seat on petition. In his will, drafted in 1733, he made it his ‘earnest request and recommendation’ to his son that he ‘will never stand as a candidate or if chosen will never be prevailed upon to represent or serve in Parliament for the borough of Honiton.’5PCC 165 Trenley. He did not stand again, dying of ‘gout in his stomach’, 31 Dec. 1741.6M. F. Bridie, Story of Shute, 138.