ROUS, Anthony (c.1605-77), of Wotton, Landrake, Cornw.

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

Constituency

Dates

5 May - 27 June 1660

Family and Education

b. c.1605, 1st s. of Robert Rous of Wotton by Jane, da. of Alexander Pym of Brymore, Som.; bro. of Robert Rous. educ. M. Temple 1621. m. Mary, da. of William Bradshaw of Lancs., 2s. 1da. suc. uncle Francis Rous 1659.1

Offices Held

Capt. of ft. (parliamentary) 1644, col. 1645 6; gov. Scilly Isles 1646-7, Pendennis Feb.-Mar. 1660.2

Commr. for assessment, Cornw. 1644-50, 1652, 1657, Jan. 1660, execution of ordinances 1644; v.-adm. S. Cornw. 1649 July 1660; j.p. Cornw. 1650-July 1660, Devon 1652-7; commr. for sequestration, Cornw. 1650, capt. of militia 1650, farmer of excise 1653-8, commr. for scandalous ministers 1654, oyer and terminer, Western circuit 1655, 1657, security 1656, militia, Cornw. 1659, Mar. 1660.3

Commr. for probate 1653-5, excise arrears 1653-4; Councillor of State Nov.-Dec. 1653; commr. for Admiralty 1654-5, high court of justice 1654.4

Biography

Rous’s father was a younger son, and he himself was said to have been ‘of such low fortune in the world that he lived in a barn at Landrake and lodged on straw till he got a commission to be captain in the parliament army under the Earl of Sussex, which brought him money and credit’. A leading member of the county committee, and heir to his uncle, Speaker of the Barebones Parliament, the Cornish gentry found him ‘very proud, grand, severe, and magisterial’ in the days of his power. He signed the Truro declaration for a free Parliament on 27 Dec. 1659, but in accordance with the wishes of George Monck the custody of Pendennis Castle was transferred to Sir Peter Killigrew. Nevertheless he retained sufficient interest in West Cornwall to stand for Helston at the general election of 1660. There was a double return, but Rous was allowed to take his seat, and marked as a friend on Lord Wharton’s list. During his few weeks in the Convention he was probably appointed to the committee of elections and privileges, and to that for continuing Parliament, and he certainly helped to consider the assessment bill. But his election was declared void on 27 June 1660 and it is unlikely that he stood again. He was buried at Landrake on 1 May 1677. His son Robert, a Presbyterian, was proposed as court candidate for Penryn or Saltash in 1688, but no later member of this branch of the family sat in Parliament.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

  • 1. Boase and Courtney, Bibl. Cornub. ii. 595; Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 413; PCC 63 Dale, 51 Pell.
  • 2. M. Coate, Cornw. in the Gt. Civil War, 311.
  • 3. CSP Dom. 1649-50, p. 521; EHR, xxxiii. 376.
  • 4. CSP Dom. 1653-4, p. 230; 1654, pp. 67, 343.
  • 5. Gilbert, Paroch. Hist. Cornw. ii. 277-8; Add. 22546, f. 97; Coate, 308; Misc. Gen. et Her. n.s. iii. 347.