Henry Rolle
English politician
Sir Henry Rolle (c. 1589–1656), of Shapwick in Somerset, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench and served as MP for Callington, Cornwall, (1614–1623–4) and for Truro, Cornwall (1625–1629).
Origins
Henry Rolle was born circa 1589, the second son of Robert Rolle (d. 1633) of Heanton Satchville in the parish of Petrockstowe, Devon, by his wife Joan Hele, daughter of Thomas Hele of Fleet, Devon. Henry was a great-grandson, in a junior line, of George Rolle (c.1486-1552) of Stevenstone, Devon, founder of the influential and wealthy Rolle family of Devon, Keeper of the Records of the Court of Common Pleas and MP for Barnstaple in 1542 and 1545. His brothers included:
Sir Samuel I Rolle (c.1588-1647) (eldest brother) of Heanton Satchville, Member of Parliament for Callington, Cornwall in 1640 and for Devon 1641-1647 and a supporter of the parliamentary side in the Civil War.
John Rolle (1598–1648) (younger brother) a Turkey Merchant and MP for Callington, Cornwall, in 1626 and 1628 and for Truro, Cornwall, in 1640 for the Short Parliament and in November 1640 for the Long Parliament. A supporter of the Parliamentarian side in the English Civil War
Early legal career
He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 20 March 1607, and was admitted on 1 February 1609 to the Inner Temple, where he was called to the bar in 1618. He was elected bencher in 1633 and reader in 1637 and 1638, but owing to the prevalence of the plague, did not give his reading until the Lent of 1639.
Among his contemporaries at the Inner Temple and his intimate friends were Sir Edward Littleton (1589–1645), afterwards lord keeper and created Baron Littleton; Sir Edward Herbert, afterwards attorney-general; Sir Thomas Gardiner, afterwards recorder of London; and John Selden, by whose conversation and friendly rivalry he profited in the study of the law and humane learning.
“Henry Rolle” enters the record as english politician. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Henry, Rolle and English can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 8, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5727686. VIAF identifies the subject as 66815810. The Library of Congress control number is n84184569. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1589, 1656, 1614 and 1623.
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This entry incorporates text from “Henry Rolle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.