Edward Herbert (attorney-general)
Sir Edward Herbert (c. 1591–1658) of Aston in Montgomeryshire, was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1641. He was Attorney-General under King Charles I.
Origins
Herbert was the son of Charles Herbert of Aston, Montgomeryshire, and was a first cousin of Edward Herbert, Baron Herbert of Cherbury. His grandfather was Sir Edward Herbert (d. 1593) (great-nephew of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423–1469)), Constable of Aberystwith Castle (16 March 1543–4), High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1557 and 1568, a member of parliament for Montgomeryshire in 1553 and 1556–57, and an Esquire of the Body to Queen Elizabeth I.[1]
Career
He was admitted to the Inner Temple in November 1609 and was called to the bar in 1618. In 1621 he was elected a member of parliament for Montgomery. He was elected MP for Downton, Wiltshire in 1624 for the Happy Parliament and was re-elected in 1626 and 1629.
In April 1640 Herbert was elected MP for Reading and for Old Sarum and chose to sit for Old Sarum in the Short Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Old Sarum in November 1640 for the Long Parliament. Having been appointed Attorney-General he was instructed by King Charles I to take legal proceedings against various members of parliament who had been concerned in the passing of the Grand Remonstrance. The only result, however, was Herbert's own impeachment by the House of Commons in 1641 and his imprisonment.[2]
Later in life he lived in exile with the royal family in Holland and in France, becoming Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to King Charles II in April 1653, an office which he had refused in 1645. He resigned that office the next year. He died in Paris in January 1658, and was buried in the Huguenot Saint-Germain Cemetery.[3]
Marriage and progeny
Herbert married Margaret Smith, widow of Thomas Carey of Sunninghill Park, Berkshire and daughter of Thomas Smith of Abingdon-on-Thames and Parson's Green, Middlesex. Herbert's sons included:
- Arthur Herbert, 1st Earl of Torrington (1648–1716);
- Sir Edward Herbert (c. 1648–1698).
References
- Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 26, Herbert, Edward (1583–1648) by Sidney Lee
- He was impeached for “advising, contriving, and publishing certain false, scandalous, and malicious Articles of High Treason against” John Pym, John Hampden, and others. See Proceedings against Sir Edward Herbert, knt. the King's Attorney General, upon an Impeachment for High Crimes and Misdemeanors, 4 Howell State Trials 119. He was convicted after trial in Lords and sentenced to: “1. That the said sir Edward Herbert, his majesty's Attorney-General, is, by Sentence of this house, disabled, and made incapable of being a Member-assistant, or pleader, in either House of Parliament, and of all offices, saving that of Attorney-General, which he now holds. 2. That Mr. Attorney-General shall be forthwith committed to the prison of the Fleet during the pleasure of this house.” At 130.
- "Volume 179: January 1658 Pages 253-279 Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1657-8". British History Online. HMSO 1884. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .