Sir John Glanville

Birth, Marriage and Death information

     Sir John Glanville was born circa 1589 at Kilworthy, Tavistock, DEV, ENG.
     He married Winifred Bouchier circa 1615 at ENG.
     He died on 2 October 1661 at Broad Hinton, WIL, ENG.
     He was buried on 3 October 1661 at the Parish Church, Broad Hinton, WIL, ENG, Sr John Glanvil Kt was buried October the 3rd.
The burial register also contains the following entries:
     Sr John Glanvil was elected Speaker of the House of Commons 1640. A person fully acquainted with Parliamentary Proceedings, of a ready conception & a voluble exprefsion dextrous in ye way of disposing ye House, and acceptable bothe to them & his Majestry (Charles ye 1st). he died 1661 & lies buried in the Chancel of this Parish on the north side of the Communion Table.
Mr Laurence Eckard in his History of England gives him the following Character.
     See page 476 & 796 Sr John Glanvill Sergeant at Law was a famous Orator both in the House & at ye Bar excellently skilled in & an Ornament to, his profefions; a Person who bravely stood in the Gap in the late Reign both when the Prerogative was carry'd too high & when it was much deprefsed, and for both which he was a remarkable sufferer. Bishop Burnet in (see it eleven page forward) his life of Judge Hale relates of ye Serjeant a very curious anecdote
     An Anecdote of Sr John Glanvil to him from Bishop Burretts Life of Judge Hale. Page 11
The father of Serj Glanvil that eminent lawyer had a fair estate, which he intended to settle on his Eldest Brother, but he be a vicious young man & there appearing no hopes of his Recovery, he settle it on ye Sergeant, that was his second son. Upon his Death his eldest son finding that what he had before looked on, as the threatenings of an angry Father, was now but too certain, became melancholy & that by degrees forsught so great a Change on him, that what his father could not prevail which he lived, was now effecetd by ye serverity of his last Will so that is was now too late for him to change in hopes of an Estate that was gone from him. But the Sergeant his brother observing ye reality of the change resolved within himself what to do : so he called him with many of his friends together to a Feast & after other Dishes had been served up to ye Dinner he ordered one that was now covered to be set before his Brother, & desired him to uncover it, which he diong the Company was surprized to find it full of Writings. So he told them that he ws now to do, what he was sure his father would have done, if he had lived to see that happy change which they now all saw in his Brother : and therefore he freely restored to him the whole Estate. This is a great instance of a generous & just disposition which I mention of that worthy Sergeant, since he was so instrumental in the happy change that followed in ye course of Sir Matthew Hale's Life.
Sr John Glanvill Knt, was buried at Broad Hinton October the 3d
See in the Register - Anno - 1661.

Other information

     Glanville was brought up as an attorney, but entered Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar on 6 February 1610. He was Recorder of Plymouth from 1614. He was elected Member of Parliament for Liskeard in 1614. In 1621 he was elected MP for Plymouth and was re-elected in 1624. He was secretary to the Lord Admiral of the Fleet during the Duke of Buckingham's assault on Cádiz in 1625, and managed several of the articles of his impeachment over the next three years. He was re-elected MP for Plymouth in 1625 and opposed the Crown in the 1620s, preparing a protest against the dissolution of Parliament in 1625. He was re-elected MP for Plymouth in 1626 and 1628, and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. At some time he was proctor for the dean and chapter of Windsor.
     In January 1630, Glanville became a reader of his Inn. He became serjeant-at-law on 20 May 1637 and bencher of his Inn on 14 June 1637. He was Recorder of Bristol from 1638. In April 1640 he was elected MP for Bristol in the Short Parliament when he served Speaker. He spoke so strongly against ship money during his term as Speaker that the court party contrived to prevent him coming down to the House on the day the Short Parliament was dissolved. Nevertheless, he became King's Serjeant on 6 July 1640 and from then onwards he supported the King. In November 1640, he was re-elected MP for Bristol for the Long Parliament. He was knighted on 7 August 1641. He sat in the King's Parliament at Oxford and was awarded DCL at Oxford on 31 January 1644. In January or September 1644, he was disabled from sitting in parliament. He was also replaced as recorder of Bristol by Edmund Prideaux. In 1645 he was imprisoned by Parliament in the Tower of London until he was released on 7 July 1648. He was fined £2320 for his support for the King. In 1659 he was elected MP for St Germans in the Third Protectorate Parliament but was disqualified.
     Following the Restoration, Glanville was reappointed King's Serjeant on 6 June 1660.
     In 1640 He was Speaker of the House of Commons.
     Sir John Glanville left a will on 27 July 1661 summarised:
In the name of God Amen, I John Glanvill, Knight, doo make this my last will and testament in writing this seaven and twentieth day of July in the thirteenth (?) year of the reign of Our Soverayne Lord Kinge Charles the Second and in the year of Our Lord God 1661 in fforme ffollowing. ffirst I revoke all former wills by me made or intended to be made. I give unto Dame Winifred my wife all money and gold in her custody, I bequeath unto her for life my mansion house and mannor and all my messuages, lands and tenements etc, of and in Broadhinton and Benoll-Woodin (?) in the Countie of Wilts and the Rectory and Tithes of Broadhinton-etc. The landes I bought soo dearly of Mr Robert Constable I will to my sonne William Glanville at whose request I bought the same and the tithes thereof arising during his life paying one hundred pounds by the yeare for the same to the said Dame Winifred his mother during her life. He mentions his sons John and Julius and his cousin Mrs Margaret Southall and his brother-in-law Mr John Bouchier. I give and devise to my sonne William and his heir male of the body of my father, all my lands and tenements in Devon and Cornwall. I give and devise unto my sonne John. all my lesses in Devonshire according to my conveyance thereof to him made, and to my sonne Julius all those to him in Devonshire and Wilts etc. I give and bequeath the manor and lands of Clavency in Wilts etc. to my daughter Elizabeth Glanvill and to the heirs of her body and for want of such heirs to William Glanvill according to the articles under his marriage; and gives Broadhinton after Dame Winifred's death to his eldest son William, etc., etc.
Dame Winifred Glanvill sole executrix.