Sir Walter Erle
1586–1665
Dorset MP; Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance; secluded at Pride’s Purge.
Biography
Of New Inn Hall Oxford and the Middle Temple, Erle entered Parliament in 1614 and sat almost continuously until 1648 as an old-style Puritan gentry MP from Charborough in Dorset. He was Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance for Parliament during the Civil Wars and commanded the unsuccessful 1643 siege of Corfe Castle, repulsed by Lady Mary Bankes. A senior lay assessor at the Assembly and a moderate Presbyterian on church polity, he was secluded by Pride's Purge in December 1648 for refusing to support the regicide. He lived in retirement at Charborough until his death in 1665.
Lay Assessor — House of Commons
Parliament seated lay assessors alongside the divines to represent its interest and keep it informed of the Assembly's progress. The ordinance of 1643 named thirty members of the House of Commons as assessors; they could take part in debate but were not among the voting divines, and their attendance was often occasional as the war and parliamentary business pressed on them.