Family and Education

b. c.1617, 1st s. of Francis Kyrle of Much Marcle by 1st w. Hester, da. of Sir Paul Tracy, 1st Bt., of Stanway, Glos. educ. Christ Church, Oxf. matric. 25 Nov. 1636, aged 19; I. Temple 1638. m. 16 Dec. 1647, Rebecca, da. of Daniel Vincent, merchant, of Ironmonger Lane, London, 4da. suc. gdfa. Apr. 1650.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment Herefs. 1650-2, 1657, Jan. 1660-d., j.p. Mar. 1660-d., dep. lt. 1661-2, commr. for loyal and indigent officers 1662, oyer and terminer, Oxford circuit 1665, recusants, Herefs. 1675.2

Gent. of the privy chamber (extraordinary) July 1660.3

Biography

Kyrle came from the junior line of a Herefordshire family dating back to the 14th century. To the senior line belonged Walter Kyrle, MP for Leominster in the Short and Long Parliaments and a Rumper, his nephew the Roundhead Colonel Robert Kyrle, who bore an unenviable reputation for treachery and plunder, and his son the philanthropist, celebrated by Pope as the ‘Man of Ross’. The Much Marcle branch were also parliamentarian in sympathy, though they are said to have owed their baronetcy to the good offices of Archbishop Laud. Kyrle’s grandfather, the 1st baronet, though pardoned for rebellion on 10 Feb. 1643, was appointed a commissioner for sequestrations, and served with Kyrle’s father on the assessment commission from the end of the Civil War to their deaths. Kyrle succeeded them in this capacity, but was proposed as knight of the shire in 1660 by Lord Scudamore as ‘one who had never been of either side’, though it is not known whether he went to the poll. His omission from the lieutenancy in 1662 suggests that he was out of favour with the new regime, but he was elected for the county in 1668 on the death of Scudamore’s son, largely through the efforts of (Sir) Edward Harley. He proved an inactive Member, probably infrequent in attendance owing to indifferent health. He was named to only nine committees and made no recorded speeches. On 2 Mar. 1670 he acted as teller in favour of adjourning the debate on supply in order to expedite the second reading of the conventicles bill. Sir Richard Wiseman reported him as generally absent in 1675, and better absent than present from the Government’s point of view, and on Shaftesbury’s list of 1677 he was marked ‘worthy’. Kyrle did not stand again and died on 4 Jan. 1680. His eldest daughter brought the Much Marcle estate to her husband, Sir John Ernle.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Edward Rowlands

Notes

• 1. C. J. Robinson, Mansions and Manors of Herefs. 280-1; W. R. Williams, Parl. Hist. Herefs. 56; Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xvii), 312; PCC 40 Pile.
• 2. Cooke, Herefs. iii. 26-28, 184-9; W. H. Black, Docquets of Letters Patent, 5; Add. 11044, f. 251; 11051, ff. 233-4.
• 3. LC3/2.
• 4. Her. and Gen. vii. 422.