Background

William Waller was born c. 1597 in Knole, Sevenoaks, Kent, the son of Sir Thomas Waller and his wife Margaret Lennard, the daughter of Margaret Fiennes, 11th Baroness Dacre. His father was a descendant of the Waller family of Groombridge Place, Kent, constable of Dover Castle and member of parliament for Dover.

Education

He was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and served in the Venetian army and in the Thirty Years' War.

Career

Hopton and a relieving force from Oxford inflicted a crushing defeat upon Waller's army at Roundway Down.

Hopton was Waller's intimate personal friend, and some correspondence passed between the opposing generals, a quotation from which (Gardiner, Civil War, i. 168) is given as illustrative of 44 the temper in which the nobler spirits on either side had entered on the war.

Forced to resign his commission by the self-denying ordinance in 1645, Waller turned into a supporter of the Essex–Holles faction in parliament, and an opponent of the religious toleration advocated by the New Model Army.

He was one of eleven MPs whose impeachment the army advocated.

Arrested in 1648, he suffered three years' imprisonment.

With the restoration of the Long Parliament in 1660 he resumed his seat, and was elected to the Convention Parliament the same year.

Achievements

• He received his education at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and served in the Venetian army and in the Thirty Years' War. He received a knighthood in 1622 after taking part in Vere's expedition to the Electorate of the Palatinate.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Roundhead General: The Campaigns of Sir William Waller

    (Sir Waller has been largely neglected in histories of the...)

  • Vindication of the Character and Conduct of Sir William Waller, Knight, Explanatory of His Conduct in Taking Up Arms Against King Charles the First: ... Manuscript. with an Introduction By...

    (Vindication of the Character and Conduct of Sir William W...)

  • Vindication Of The Character And Conduct Of Sir William Waller, Knight: Explanatory Of His Conduct In Taking Up Arms Against King Charles I (1793)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • Roundhead general: a military biography of Sir William Waller
  • ***RE-PRINT*** Vindication of the character and conduct of Sir William Waller, knight ... explanatory of his conduct in taking up arms against King Charles the First

Religion

Being a strict Presbyterian by religion, and a member of the opposition in politics, he naturally threw himself with the greatest ardour into the cause of the parliament when the Civil War broke out in 1642.

Views

Quotations: "44 That great God, " wrote Waller, 44 who is the searcher of my heart knows with what a sad sense I go upon this service, and with what a perfect hatred I detest this war without an enemy; but I look upon it as sent from God. "

Membership

In 1640 Waller was elected Member of Parliament for Andover in the Short Parliament. He was elected MP for Andover for the Long Parliament on 3 May 1642.

Connections

Sir William Waller married three times:

Firstly in 1622 to Jane Reynell (d. 1633), only daughter and heiress of Sir Richard Reynell (d. 1633) of Forde, Wolborough, Devon, where he had built a new mansion in about 1610.

Jane died in 1633 after giving birth to the following progeny:

Richard Waller (b. 1632), only son, heir to his grandfather Sir Richard Reynell (d. 1633)

Margaret Waller (d. 1694), eventual heiress of her brother at Forde, Wolborough, Devon. She married Sir William Courtenay, 1st Baronet (1628–1702), of Powderham, to which family she brought the estate of Forde. Her descendants became Viscounts Courtenay and Earls of Devon

Secondly to Anne Finch, daughter of Thomas Finch, 2nd Earl of Winchilsea by whom he had four further children, including:

William Waller, MP for Westminster in 1680.

Thirdly, in 1652, to Anne, widow of Sir Simon Harcourt.

Father:

Thomas Waller

Mother:

Margaret Lennard

1st wife:

Jane Reynell

2nd wife:

Margaret Waller

3rd wife:

Ann ( Finch) Waller