Walter Pye (lawyer)

Walter Pye in 1631

Sir Walter Pye (1571 – 26 December 1635) of The Mynde, Herefordshire was an English barrister, courtier, administrator and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 and 1629.

Biography[]

Pye was the son of Roger Pye of The Mynde^[1] at Much Dewchurch in Herefordshire. He was educated at St John's College, Oxford and became a barrister at Middle Temple.

He was elected MP for Scarborough in 1597.^[1] He was favoured by Buckingham and was made justice in Glamorgan, Breconshire and Radnorshire on 8 February 1617. In 1621 he became attorney-general of the Court of Wards.^[2] Also in 1621 he was elected Member of Parliament for Brecon. He was re-elected for Brecon in 1624 and in 1625. In 1626 he was elected MP for Brecon and for Herefordshire and chose to sit for Herefordshire. He was re-elected MP for Herefordshire in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.^[3] He was knighted at Whitehall on 29 June 1630.^[4]

Pye died at the age of 64 and was buried at Much Dewchurch where there is an elaborate alabaster monument to his memory.^[2]

Family[]

Pye married Joan, daughter of William Rudshall of Rudshall, Gloucestershire and had a son Walter. His brother Robert Pye was also an MP.^[1]

Notes[]

References[]

• Ferris, John. P.; Coates, Ben (2010), "Pye, Walter I (1571-1635), of The Mynde, Much Dewchurch, Herefs. and Greyfriars, Christchurch, London.", in Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P. (eds.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629
• Firth, Charles Harding (1896), "Pye, Robert" , in Lee, Sidney (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 47, London: Smith, Elder & Co, pp. 71–72
• Shaw, William Arthur (1906), The Knights of England: A complete record from the earliest time to the present day of the knights of all the orders of chivalry in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and of knights bachelors, incorporating a complete list of knights bachelors dubbed in Ireland, vol. 2, London: Sherratt and Hughes, p. 198
• Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.

Further reading[]

• Atherton, Ian (2004), "Pye, Sir Walter (bap. 1571, d. 1635)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22924 (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)