Sir Edmund Prideaux (1648-1720), 4th Baronet Prideaux

Family and Education b. 4 Apr. 1647, 1st s. of Sir Peter Prideaux, 3rd Bt.†, of Netherton by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Bevill Granville† of Stowe, Cornw., sis. of John Granville†, 1st Earl of Bath; bro. of John Prideaux*. educ. Oriel, Oxf. 1663; I. Temple 1667, called 1680. m. (1) 23 Feb. 1673, Susanna (d. 1687), da. of James Winstanley of Branston, Leics., wid. of John Austin of Derhams, Mdx., 2s. 1da.; (2) c.1695, Elizabeth (d. 1702), da. and coh. of Hon. George Saunderson of South Thoresby, Lincs., 1s.; (3) 5 Sept. 1710, Mary (d. 1723), da. of Spencer Vincent, alderman of London, wid. of (Sir) John Rogers (1st Bt.*), of Wiscombe, Devon, s.p. suc. fa. as 4th Bt. 22 Nov. 1705.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Cornw. 1699–1700; stannator, Blackmore 1710.2

Biography Though Prideaux’s father had joined William of Orange at the Revolution, he objected to the Association in 1696. When a list of Devon’s deputy-lieutenants was sent to the secretary of state in March 1701 it was noted that Prideaux was one of a number of gentlemen who had ‘excused themselves’ from serving. Any suggestion, however, that this unwillingness to accept this office stemmed from qualms, of the type exhibited by his father in 1696 relating to the Williamite regime, is undermined by the fact that by 1701 Prideaux had accepted a deputy-lieutenant’s commission for Cornwall. Prideaux’s commission was confirmed on the accession of Queen Anne, and in 1705 he was one those who reported to Cornwall’s lord lieutenant that ‘there are no papists or non-jurors of any worth’ in the county. In either 1708 or 1709 Prideaux was added to the Devon commission of the peace by Lord Cowper (William*), and in April 1713 was appointed a justice in Cornwall. At the election later that year he was returned for Tregony. His partisan allegiance appears to have confused contemporaries: in the Worsley list he was classed as a Tory, but two further comparisons of the 1713 and 1715 Parliaments listed him as a Whig and ‘whimsical’ Whig respectively. In August 1714 Prideaux’s commission as a deputy-lieutenant in Cornwall was renewed. He retained his seat at the election in the following year and thereafter supported the Whig administrations. Prideaux died on 6 Feb. 1720 and was buried at Great Stanmore. He was succeeded in his estates and title by his eldest son and namesake.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715 Author: Eveline Cruickshanks Notes 1. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 522. 2. R. Inst. Cornw. Tonkin’s ms hist. Cornw. ii. 244. 3. HMC 13th Rep. VI, 38; CSP Dom. 1700–2, pp. 251–2; 1702–3, p. 391; HMC Lords, n.s. vi. 418; Herts. RO, Panshanger mss D/EP F152, list of j.p.s added and removed by Ld. Cowper; Buccleuch mss at Drumlanrig Castle bdle. 1303, commission, 20 Aug. 1714; Vivian, 522.

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