John Rolle (died 1706)


Sir John Rolle, KB, of Stevenstone, Devon, was an English landowner, Sheriff of Devon in 1682 and MP for Barnstaple and for Devon. The Travel Journal of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany states of him: "This gentleman is one of the richest in the country, having an estate of six thousand pounds sterling per annum, besides a considerable property in ready money".

Origins

John Rolle was baptised at Week St Mary, Cornwall, on 23 September 1626. He was the son of Andrew Rolle of Marhayes in the parish of Week St Mary in Cornwall, six miles south of Bude, by his wife Grace Roberts. His grandfather was George II Rolle, the second son of the patriarch George Rolle, of Stevenstone, the founder of the Rolle families of Devon and Cornwall. George II Rolle had been left by his father's will the wardship and marriage, which he had purchased from her father, of Margaret Marhayes, the daughter and sole heir of Edmund Marrys of "Marrys", i.e. Marhayes Manor, Week St Mary, Cornwall. The summarised text of his will concerning this bequest is as follows: He grants and bequeaths to George, his son, the wardship and marriage of Margaret Marrys, daughter and sole heir to Edmund Marrys, of the parish of St Mary Wyke in the county of Cornwall, in as ample manner as he had of the gift and grant of the said Edmund Marrys, paying yearly to the said Edmund £ ? during his life. George II duly married his inherited ward and thereby founded the cadet line of Rolle of Marhayes, which eventually itself became the senior line on the inheritance of Stevenstone and Bicton by Sir John Rolle, KB, the subject of the present article.

Inheritance

In 1647 he inherited in tail-male the Devon manors of Stevenstone in the parish of St Giles in the Wood, near Great Torrington and Bicton, amongst many others, following the death of his second cousin Henry Rolle of Beam, near Great Torrington, the last male descendant of John's great uncle John Rolle of Stevenstone, eldest son of the patriarch George Rolle, the founder of the Devon and Cornwall families. This inheritance made him possibly the largest landowner in Devon, a position certainly held in 1873 by his ultimate adoptive heir Hon. Mark Rolle, of Stevenstone, as revealed by the Return of Owners of Land survey.

Career

In 1660 Rolle was elected Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in the Convention Parliament. He was created a Knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles II. In 1661 he was elected MP for Devon for the Cavalier Parliament and held the seat until 1679. He was High Sheriff of Devon in 1682.

Entertains Grand Duke of Tuscany

On 7 April 1669 he entertained Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany at his Exeter townhouse "Abbot's Lodge". Rolle's wife was called Florence, one of the earliest such uses in England, which cannot have escaped the notice of the Grand Duke, whose capital was Florence in Tuscany. Abbot's Lodge, was situated in Cathedral Close, and had been the former townhouse of the Abbot of Buckfast Abbey, and had been acquired in 1545 following the Dissolution of the Monasteries by the patriarch George Rolle, who called it "Buckfast Place" and died there in 1552.. The Grand Duke's visit, which commenced on 6 April 1669 was recorded by his travelling companion Lorenzo, Conte Magalotti as follows:
On the next day, the 7th, having attended a service in Exeter Cathedral, the Grand Duke:

Marriage

In 1648 he married his cousin Florence Rolle, whose mural monument exists in Tawstock Church, the only surviving child of Denys Rolle of Stevenstone and Bicton, by his wife Margaret Paulet, daughter of John Paulet, 5th Marquess of Winchester. The heir-male of Denys Rolle had been his cousin Henry Rolle of Beam who had married Mary Stevens, daughter of Mr Stevens of Vielstone in the parish of Buckland Brewer, the lordship of which latter manor belonged to the Rolles of Stevenstone. Henry Rolle had died childless, his heir thus having become John Rolle the subject of the present article. The Rolle family inter-married further with the Stevens family, which were later of Winscott House in the parish of Peters Marland, Devon, and a Stevens was briefly heir apparent to the vast estates of John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle, the last of the Rolles.

Mural monument to wife

A mural monument exists in St Peter's Church, Tawstock to Florence Rolle, daughter and sole heiress of Denys Rolle of Stevenstone and wife of Sir John Rolle of Marhayes. It was erected by her daughter Margaret Rolle, a spinster who had apparently moved to Tawstock Court, the home of her sister Florence Rolle, the widow of Sir Bourchier Wrey, 4th Baronet. The inscription is as follows:
On top of the monument is an heraldic cartouche showing the arms of Sir John Rolle, namely Rolle of Marhayes with an inescutcheon of pretence of Rolle of Stevenstone, indicating that Sir John's wife was an heraldic heiress. Above that is the crest of Rolle: A cubit arm erect vested or charged with a fess indented double cotised azure in the hand a parchment roll . At the base is a monogram of undeciphered lettering, apparently a doubled and interlaced "R".

Children

By Florence Rolle he had the following children:
Rolle died at the age of 79 and was buried at St Giles in the Wood on 1 May 1706. At the time of his death he owned over forty manors in Devon and estates in Cornwall, Somerset and Northamptonshire.