BULLER, John I (c.1632-1716), of Morval, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1661 - Jan. 1679
Mar. 1679 - Mar. 1681
1689 - 1690
24 Nov. 1692 - 1695

Family and Education

b. c.1632, 2nd s. of Francis Buller† of Shillingham by Thomasine, da. of Sir Thomas Honeywood of Elmstead, Kent.  educ. M. Temple 1646; Trinity Coll. Camb. 1647.  m. (1) 22 Dec. 1659, Anne, da. and h. of John Coode of Morval, 1s. d.v.p. 4da.; (2) Jane, da. and h. of Walter Langdon† of Keveral, Cornw., 1s. 1da.  suc. gt.-nephew James Buller* at Shillingham 1710.1

Offices Held

Recorder, West Looe Apr. 1660, Saltash by 1661–2, ?1710–d.; sheriff, Cornw. Nov. 1688–Mar. 1689; freeman, Liskeard c. Oct. 1688–?d.2

Biography

Buller, whose estate at Morval lay near the boroughs of Looe and Liskeard, owned the advowson of St. Stephen-by-Saltash. He acquired the estate at Keveral through his second marriage. In early life he had been a Presbyterian opponent of the Court, and in 1687 James II’s agents still described him as a Dissenter. However, in the Convention he voted against the transfer of the crown. Returned for Grampound at a by-election in November 1692 he took his seat on 3 Dec. and was classed as a Court supporter by Grascome. He was not an active Member. On 2 Jan. 1694 a ‘Mr Buller’ was wounded in a duel following a quarrel between some Cornish gentlemen in a tavern in Holborn. Buller stood down in 1695, being content to foster his son’s parliamentary ambitions at Liskeard in 1698 and at Lostwithiel in 1701. Having succeeded his great-nephew to the Shillingham estates at the very least he acquiesced in the candidature of William Shippen*, an extreme Tory, at Saltash in 1713. Buller died in 1716. In his will he founded charity schools for boys at Morval, Saltash, Liskeard, Looe, Penzance and Grampound to teach basic literacy, numeracy and the Church of England catechism. He placed his lands in the Isle of Thanet in the hands of trustees to sell in order to buy property in Devon and Cornwall for the benefit of his heir, his grandson John Francis Buller†, and in order to raise £6,000 to be divided between his four daughters.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 57; IGI, Cornw.
  • 2. J. Allen, Hist. Liskeard, 271–2.
  • 3. B. H. Williams, Ancient W. Country Fams. 39; Duckett, Penal Laws and Test Act (1882), 379; Luttrell Diary, 286; PCC 210 Box, 131 Fox; Luttrell, Brief Relation iii. 249; Allen, 178–9.