60 



The Wiltshire Compounders. 



i 



Edward Ernle, of Etchilhampton, Esq. Ernie, a manor near 

 Chichester, in Sussex, gave its name to a family which flourished 

 there before the reign of Edward I. ; one member of which repre- 

 sented that county in Parliament 4 Edw. III. Sir John Ernie, the 

 Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Henry the Eighth's time, was 

 the second son of J ohn Ernie, of Ernie, and Agnes, daughter and heir 

 of Simon Best, which Simon Best held the manor of Etchilhampton 

 through his wife, the daughter and heir of John Malwyn, Esq., of 

 Etchilhampton. From the Chief Justice descended Sir John Ernie, 

 Kt., Chancellor of the Exchequer to Charles II., and also Walter 

 Ernie, of Etchilhampton, who in 1660 was created a baronet. It is 

 Edward, the father of this last-mentioned member of the family, 

 who now comes under our notice as a " delinquent " seeking to 

 make his peace with the victorious Parliament. 



Edward Ernie's offence is — that he was a commissioner for seques- 

 trations acting in the King's behalf in the county of Wilts. He 

 rendered himself before December, 1645. His estate per annum is 

 worth £200, for which his fine at a tenth is £400 ; dated 12th July, 

 1647. While his case was pending, the following statement was 

 forwarded to Goldsmith's Hall from Devizes :— - 



" To the Committee in London. 



" Right honourable, whereas we are directed and required by your Honours 

 to certify the condition and malignancy of Edward Ernie of Echilhampton in 

 this county, We thus certify — First, as touching his delinquency, He was a com- 

 missioner for the King in the commission for sequestration ; and being a justice 

 of the peace, appeared at the assizes of Sarum about two years since, but when 

 the charge was given he immediately departed thence. — Touching bis estate in 

 lands, he hath at Erchfont the moiety of a farm for three lives, worth about 

 £200 a year, out of which he pays £49 to the Marquis of Hertford. At Echil- 

 hampton he hath £100 per annum land of inberitance, of which there is £16 per 

 annum quit rents and rents of assize. He hath fourscore pounds per annum out 

 of Pryor's Court in Cleevely parish in Berks at £4 135. 4sd. rent, holden of the 

 dean and chapter of Westminster by lease for fourteen years to come. As to his 

 personal estate, he hath eight cows, six oxen, five young beasts, and about four- 

 score sheep. — And for other personal estate, we know not of any. Dated at the 

 committee for Wilts sitting at the Devizes 19 Nov. 1645, by Thomas Goddard, 

 John Goddard, Robert Brown, William Jesse, and Edward Martyn." 



Another certificate adds that he resides at Etchilhampton, and by 

 reason of the times is much indebted and behindhand. In his own 



