Peter Speccott

Peter Speccott (around 1595 - March 25, 1655 ) was an English politician who was once elected as a member of the House of Commons .

Origin and youth

Peter Speccott came from the Speccott family , a Gentry family from Devon . He was the eldest son of Sir John Speccott and his first wife Elizabeth Edgcumbe. From 1614 Speccott studied with his younger brother Paul at Oxford University and from 1616 at the Inner Temple in London.

Activity as a politician

Possibly because his father had previously served as sheriff of Cornwall , Speccott was elected in the general election in January 1624 as MP for the Borough of Tregony in Cornwall. Little is known, however, of his work in the House of Commons, and he did not run again in the 1625 general election and in subsequent elections. As a member of a rather insignificant gentry family, he received only minor offices during his father's lifetime, including that of Justice of the Peace in Devon in 1642 . Even before his death in 1644, his father gave him the Thornbury family estate , but Peter did not receive all of his father's goods, who also furnished his younger son Paul with properties. Speccott did not play an active role during the English Civil War , but like his father he seems to have been more of a supporter of Parliament. For unknown reasons, he was replaced as justice of the peace in 1650.

family

After June 20, 1618 Speccott had married Elizabeth Mallett († 1655), a daughter of Sir John Mallett from Curry Mallet in Somerset . With her he had three sons and four daughters, including:

• Charles Speccott († July 1655) ∞ Catherine Wyndham, daughter of John Wyndham from Orchard Wyndham
• Amey Speccott ∞ Anthony Nicoll

His will of March 15, 1655 shows that he was a rather poor country nobleman. His main heir was his only surviving son Charles, who died shortly after him in July 1655 without a legitimate heir. His son's widow married John Tanner from Brannel , Cornwall. The administration of Thornbury was finally given to Tanner in 1681.

Web links

• Paul Hunneyball: SPECCOTT, Peter (c.1595-1655), of Thornbury, Devon. (History of Parliament Online, Ref Volumes: 1604–1629)