#15363, Richard STRODE (VI)

Sir Richard was resident at Chalmington in Dorset but served as MP for Bere Alston from 1604 to 1611; Bridport in 1625/6 and Plympton Erle in 1640.  He was a Puritan and a parliamentarian who raised a force of 3,000 dragoons.  He was knighted on 23rd July 1603.

Sir Richard was a member of the Dorchester Company, sometimes known as the New England Planters Parliament. As a committee menber he was closely involved with the schemes of Rev. John White and actively involved in the foundation of the colony.  Even after the company folded in 1626/27 he and his brother-in-law remained involved, for example, in the transport of 20 cattle to New England.

He married 3 times, firstly to Catherine (Mary), daughter and co-heir of Sir Robert Strode of Parnham, Dorset by whom he had 3 daughters. (see#15364).  His second marriage was to Elizabeth (dies1652), daughter of Thomas Erle of Charborough, Dorset and Dorothy Poole by whom he had eight daughters and a son (? William Strode (1614-1676) MP for Plympton who inherited Newnham).  He was therefore brother-in-law to Sir Walter Erle (1586-1665) another investor in the Dorchester Company and a close friend of the family.  They had a son, Sir William Strode Kt. who continued the family with 7 daughters.  His third marriage was to Anne, daughter of Sir John Drake Kt (died 1636).

After the death of his first wife and the publication of his almanack his mental health deteriorated and he was imprisoned for debt.  The substance of the rift between Newnham and Parnham was that Sir Richard claimed that his son by his 2nd marriage should inherit Parnham in the absence od a direct male heir.  Sir John of Parnham did not see it that way.  After many frustrated attempts to resolve the issue in court Sir John was instructed to pay £3300 in compensation but appears to have got away wuth a lesser sum.

The Strodes was by no means the only family to find itself divided by the Civil War.  Richard Strode and his brother were parliamentarian; William Strode (1594-1645) MP (VI) #15366 was one of the Five Members whose impeachment and attempted unconstitutional arrest by King Charles I in the House of Commons in 1642 sparked the Civil War, whereas the Parnham Strodes, Richard's wife's family were Royalists.  Sir John Strode's widow, Lady Ann was killed by a Parliamentarian soldier while defending her home.