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PRIDEAUX, John (1655-1706), of Soldon, Devon
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Biography Detail
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Constituency
Dates
Family and Education
b. 22 July 1655, 3rd s. of Sir Peter Prideaux, 3rd Bt.†, of Netherton, Devon; bro. of Sir Edmund Prideaux, 4th Bt.* educ. Exeter, Oxf. 1672; I. Temple 1675. m. (1) Anne (d. 1703), da. and h. of Humphrey Prideaux of Soldon, s.p.; (2) 28 Mar. 1706, Katherine (d. 1709), da. of John Kelland† of Painsford, Devon, wid. of John Coffin of Portledge, Devon, s.p.1
Offices Held
Lt. 10 Ft. by Nov. 1687, capt. 1688.
Biography
An officer in the regiment of his maternal uncle the 1st Earl of Bath, Prideaux had his commission renewed in December 1688 by William of Orange, whom his father had recently joined in the West country. Prideaux’s marriage to a cousin brought him a substantial estate, and in January 1699 he contested the Newport by-election. Defeated at the poll, Prideaux petitioned against this reverse on 16 Feb. Frustration with the delay in hearing his petition led him to bring an action in the court of common pleas against one of Newport’s returning officers but without success (see NEWPORT, Cornw.). In January 1701 he was successful at Newport, and the following month was listed as likely to support the Court over the ‘Great Mortgage’. During this Parliament Prideaux was nominated to four committees concerned with investigation of the alleged abuses of the former Whig ministers, and on 20 Mar. was nominated to prepare the bill to prevent corruption and bribery at elections. In the summer of 1701 he was blacklisted as having opposed the preparations for war against France, but he does not appear to have stood for election again. In March 1706 Prideaux married for a second time, thereby becoming the brother-in-law of William Courtney*. Only three months later, however, on 16 June 1706, he died and was buried at Sutcombe. His Devon and Cornwall estates were left to his nephew Peter, younger son of Sir Edmund Prideaux, 4th Bt.2
