Peter Sainthill (MP for Tiverton)

For the earlier MP, see Peter Sainthill (died 1571).

Arms of Sainthill: Or, on a fess engrailed azure between three leopard's faces gules three bezants each charged with a fleur-de-lys of the second in chief a pile of the second semée de lys of the first. These arms were granted in 1546 by Sir Christopher Barker, Garter King of Arms, to Peter I Sainthill (c.1524-1571) of Bradninch.

Peter Sainthill (8 July 1593 – 12 August 1648) of Bradninch in Devon, England, was twice elected a Member of Parliament for Tiverton in Devon, in the Short Parliament 1640 and in the Long Parliament in November 1640. He was a strong supporter of the Royalist side in the Civil War. He was "a man of culture and unaffected simplicity of character, (who) represents the Cavalier cause at its best".

Origins

Sainthill was born on 8 July 1593 at Bradninch, the son of Peter II Sainthill (1561-1618) of Bradninch House (eldest son and heir of Peter I Sainthill (c.1524-1571) of Bradninch, MP) by his wife Elizabeth Martin (d.1613), a daughter of Thomas Martin (1520/1–1592/3) of Steeple Morden in Cambridgeshire, Doctor of Civil Law and Member of Parliament. The Sainthill family originated at the manor of Saint Hill, Devon, 6 miles north-east of Bradninch.

Career

He was educated at the Free Grammar School (now Blundell's School) at Tiverton, 6 miles south-east of Bradninch, founded by the wealthy clothier Peter Blundell (c.1520-1601). As one of the earliest pupils of that school his biography is included in the Worthies of Blundell's by M.L. Banks (1904). He served as Recorder of Tiverton.

In April 1640 Sainthill was elected a Member of Parliament for Tiverton in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected in November 1640 for the Long Parliament but supported the king and was thus disabled from sitting in January 1644. In July 1644 Sainthill entertained King Charles I at Bradninch and lent him money for his military campaigns. He eventually fled the Parliamentarian army and in the early autumn of 1645 sought refuge with his wife and children in the walled City of Exeter. Following the surrender of Exeter to the Parliamentarian forces on 9 April 1646, he received a pass from General Fairfax, which allowed him to leave with "freedom from molestation for himself, with his servants, horses, arms, and necessaries", and in early in May 1646 arrived in Leghorn in Italy to stay with his younger brother Robert Sainthill (d.post-1665) a merchant, who was agent for Ferdinando II de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, where he died soon afterwards from an illness on 12 August 1648, aged 54.

Marriage & progeny

At Bradninch on 12 May 1614 Sainthill married Dorothy Parker, daughter and heiress of Robert Parker of Zeal Monachorum in Devon, by his wife Mary. His progeny included:

• Peter IV Sainthill (born 1618), eldest son and heir apparent, died in infancy.
• Samuel Sainthill (1626-1708), 2nd and eldest surviving son and heir, who recovered much of his father's property sequestrated during the Civil War. He died unmarried and had been expected to appoint as his heir his nearest male relative John Sainthill (1676-1730) of Topsham, Devon, the son of his third cousin. However, "having given some offence, the old Squire made a more natural choice" and left his estates instead to his nephew, Edward Yarde (1637-1732), of Tresbeare (son of his sister Dorothea Sainthill), who adopted the surname of Sainthill by Act of Parliament, and being a bachelor of 71, married, and died in 1732, aged 95, leaving one son Edward Sainthill, whose daughter and heiress Elizabeth Sainthill (1764-1843) married Rear Admiral Thomas Pearse (d.1830), and left a son George Pearse, the representative of the Sainthills of Bradninch and Yardes of Treasbeare.

Monument at Bradninch

His "very neat and tasteful" mural monument survives in St Disen's Church, Bradninch, on the north wall of the chancel. It consists of two elliptical tablets of black marble, set in a carved frame of white Italian marble, surmounted by the Sainthill arms and crest. The right tablet is inscribed as follows:

"To the memory of Peter Sainthill, esq. well knowne in this place fur his piety, charity, and justice, Sonne of Peter Sainthill, esq. and grandsonne of Peter Sainthill, esq. all inhabitants of this ancient Burrough (the 2 last lying in a vault under the Communion-table in this chancel), who having served King Charles I in honourable charges, both civil and military, according to the obligation of his oath; to reserve himself for more successfull service to his King and country, in the yeare 1646 withdrew into Italy to his brother Robert Sainthill, esq. then agent with the greate Duke of Tuscany from King Charles I, where having spent the remainder of his life in the exercise of virtue and devotion, and lamenting the miseries a civil warre had brought upon his country, he resigned his spirit to God who gave it, in the yeare of Grace 1648, and the 54th yeare of his age."

The left tablet is inscribed:

"Samuel Sainthill, his Sonne and heir, both of his fidelity to his Prince and estate, though impaired and lessened by his father's loyalty, dedicates this marble, and desires the memory of the reader for the piety of the act, which he caused to be done in the yeare of Grace 1679. Caetera memorent posteri. The above-mentioned Samuel Sainthill, esq. who erected this monument, lies also buried under the Communion-table of this Church. He departed this life the 14th of November, 1708, in the 83d year of his age"

Satirical Puritan verse

He was the subject of a lengthy Puritan verse satire, known as Peter's Banquet or The Cavalier in the Dumps, written circa 1645, which includes the following lines:

Now when the king was in the West,

And not a little in distress,

He honoured Peter with a call

By night, incog., but that 's not all,

He wanted money for to spend

In waging war, that was the end,

And he knew those that had to lend.

To make the pledge more firm and sure,

Etched his sign manual on the door.

And:

In Peter's great and lofty hall,

Seated in order for to dine,

Swig cyder, beer, and meady wine.

Further reading

• Sainthill, Ammabel, History of the Sainthill Family, London, 1938. (The author was Ammabel Wilson (d.1949), a daughter of Sir Spencer Maryon Wilson, 10th Baronet, and wife of Lt. Col. Collis George Herbert St. Hill (1865-1917), Royal North Devon Hussars, a grandson of Henry Charles St Hill, lord of the manor of Bradninch).
• Croslegh, Rev. Charles, Bradninch: Being a Short Historical Sketch of the Honor, the Manor, the Borough and Liberties and the Parish, Sainthill of Bradninch, London, 1911
• Sainthill, Richard, An Olla Podrida: or, Scraps, Numismatic, Antiquarian, and Literary, London, 1844, pp.292-339, Biographical Memoir of Captain Richard Sainthill, RN, of Topsham[7].