HASELL, Sir Edward (1642-1707), of Dalemain, Cumb.

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

Dec. 1701 - 1702

Family and Education

b. 27 Nov. 1642, o. s. of Rev. Edward Hasell, rector of Middleton Cheney, Northants. by Martha, da. of Dr Henry Smith, master of Magdalene, Camb.  m. (1) Jane (d. 1695), da. of Sir Timothy Fetherstonhaugh, of the College, Kirkoswald, Cumb., wid. of Bernard Kirkbride of Howe, Cumb. and Ellerton, Yorks., s.p.; (2) 24 Nov. 1696, Dorothy, da. and coh. of William Williams of Johnby and Greystoke, Cumb., 3s.  suc. fa. 1642; kntd. 15 May 1699.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Cumb. 1682–3.

Biography

Descended from an old Cambridgeshire family, though his father held an Anglican living in Northampton, Hasell entered the service of Lady Anne Clifford as steward, and in 1675 purchased the manor of Dalemain, Cumberland, said to be worth £1,000 p.a. That Hasell was quickly accepted as part of the local squirearchy is suggested by his addition to Cumberland’s commission of the peace in 1680, and it was in his capacity as a justice that he gave evasive replies to James II’s questions upon the repeal of the Penal Laws and Test Act. His estate was further enhanced in 1696 by his second marriage, which brought him the forfeited estates of the Dacres of Greystoke, and three years later he was knighted at Kensington. When a Cumberland by-election seemed imminent in the summer of 1700 he demonstrated a loyalty to the county’s lord lieutenant, the 3rd Earl of Carlisle (Charles Howard*), declining to support the candidacy of the Tory Richard Musgrave* and instead signing a circular letter endorsing the candidacy of Carlisle’s candidate Gilfrid Lawson*. At the second election of 1701 Hasell was himself elected for Cumberland with the support of Lord Carlisle. He was classed as a ‘gain’ by Lord Spencer (Charles*) and listed among the Whigs by Robert Harley*. In February 1702 James Lowther* noted that Hasell ‘attends very well but is quite weary of being a Parliament man’, and at a meeting the following month of Cumberland and Westmorland Whigs Hasell declined an offer of support at the imminent election. He died on 12 Sept. 1707, his eldest son and namesake succeeding to his estates.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Richard Harrison

Notes

  • 1. Nicolson and Burn, Cumb. and Westmld. ii. 383; C. Roy Huddleston and R. S. Boumphrey, Cumb. Fams. and Heraldry (Cumb. and Westmld. Antiq. and Arch. Soc. extra ser. xxiv), 149–50.
  • 2. Jefferson, Cumb. i. 193; Ferguson, Cumb. and Westmld. MPs, 372; HMC Le Fleming, 168; Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. and Antiq. Soc. ser. 2, xxxviii. 187; Howard mss at Castle Howard J8/1/681, Lancelot Simpson to Ld. Carlisle, 22 Aug. 1700; Cumbria RO (Carlisle), Lonsdale mss D/Lons/L1/1/46, Cumb. justices and other gent. to freeholders, 17 Sept. 1700; D/Lons/W2/2/4, James to Sir John Lowther, 2nd Bt. I*, 13, 15 Nov. 1701; D/Lons/W2/2/5, same to same, 24 Feb., 14 Mar. 1701[–2]; Hutchinson, Cumb. i. 467, 470.