BULLER, Anthony (1613-79), of Weybridge, Surr.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

bap. 14 Nov. 1613, 5th s. of Sir Richard Buller (d.1642) of Shillingham, Cornw. by Alice, da. of Sir Rowland Hayward, Clothworker, of Elsing Spittal, London, bro. of Francis Buller and George Buller. m. Anne, da. of Sir John Wyndham of Orchard Wyndham, Som., 1s. 2da.1

Offices Held

Capt. of horse (parliamentary) to 1645, maj. 1645-6; gov. Scilly Isles 1647-8, dep. gov. 1666-7; col. of ft. 1654-5; capt. Duke of York’s Horse Gds. July 1660-1, Admiralty Regt. (Duke of York’s Ft.) 1667-d.2

Biography

Buller’s valour in the service of Parliament was well known, though his troopers gave great offence by their disorderly and licentious conduct. He was given the governorship of Scilly after Francis Godolphin surrendered the islands to Parliament in 1646; but he was taken prisoner when the islands revolted to the Royalists two years later, though treated with ‘special kindness’ as ‘a gallant soldier’. During the Protectorate he served on the ill-fated expedition to the West Indies.3

Buller sat for Callington in Richard Cromwell’s Parliament, but transferred to the family borough of Saltash in 1660. Marked as a friend by Lord Wharton, he was probably a court supporter, being commissioned in the Duke of York’s regiment at the Restoration. An inactive Member of the Convention ‘Col. Buller’ was named only to the committee of 6 Sept. to regulate the Post Office, which was earmarked to provide the Duke with an independent income. Parliament accepted his claim of £3,436 for his military service as a charge upon the excise, but interest was still being paid to his executrix after his death. Buller apparently challenged the Robartes interest at Bossiney in 1661, when he was returned by the ‘free burgesses and commonalty’; but his opponents were seated on the merits of the return, and he did not press his case. During the second Dutch war he raised 300 ‘comely, well-apparelled young men’ for the defence of Scilly, and was rewarded with the grant of the newly built sloop Portsmouth and a permanent commission, though despite his long experience he remained an ineffective disciplinarian. In his will, proved on 7 Aug. 1679, he provided for portions of £2,000 each to his daughters, and left the residue of his personal estate in Weybridge and Westminster to his only son. But nothing further is known of his descendants.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 56; PCC 125 King.
  • 2. CSP Dom. 1644-5, p. 411; 1648-9, p. 366; 1655, p. 326; 1665-6, p. 495; 1679-80, p. 232; Parl. Intell. 23 July 166O.
  • 3. M. Coate, Cornw. in Gt. Civil War, 241; CSP Dom. 1644-5, pp. 407, 561; HMC 6th Rep. 184; HMC Pepys, 230, 274; HMC 7th Rep. 571, 574.
  • 4. CJ, viii. 234; CSP Dom. 1666-7, p 92; 1667, p. 382; 1667-8, p. 435; 1673, p. 439; Cal. Treas. Bks. iv. 84, 135; vii. 425; PCC 125 King.