# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hungerford, Edward (1596-1648)

​HUNGERFORD, Sir EDWARD (1596–1648), parliamentary commander, eldest son, by his first wife, of Sir Anthony Hungerford (1564-1627) [q.v.], was deputy-lieutenant for Wiltshire in 1624, and in 1632 sheriff of that county. He was made knight of the Bath in 1625. He was returned as M.P. for Chippenham in January 1620, and to both the Short and Long parliaments for the same constituency in 1640. At the outbreak of the civil war he took the side of the parliament, and on 11 July 1642 was sent to execute the militia ordinance in Wiltshire. He was excluded from pardon in the king's declaration of grace to the inhabitants of Wiltshire (2 Nov. 1642), and, after being put in command of the Wiltshire forces, made Devizes his headquarters. In December 1642 he attacked Lord Cottington at Fonthill, threatening to bring his troops into the house, where Lord Cottington lay sick, unless he ​paid 1,000l. to the parliament. Against such treatment Lord Cottington appealed to the parliament, and the speaker desired Sir Edward to desist. In January 1643 Hungerford had a violent quarrel with Sir Edward Baynton, the parliamentary governor of Malmesbury, each accusing the other of intended treachery. In February 1643 he occupied and plundered Salisbury, but finding himself unsupported by the county, evacuated Devizes and retired to Bath. "When Waller recaptured Malmesbury for the parliament (22 March 1643) he appointed Hungerford governor, but while Hungerford was still at Bath seeking supplies, Malmesbury was abandoned by the officer whom he had nominated to represent him. Hungerford published a 'Vindication' of his conduct, dated at Bath 28 April 1643 (London, 6 May 1643, 4to). After taking part with Waller in the battles of Lansdowne and Roundway Down (Claredon, Hist. ed. Macray, iii. 82n, 85n), Hungerford besieged Lady Arundel in Wardour Castle (2-8 May 1643) (Mercurius Rusticus, No. 5). He treated the lady with little grace, carrying her with scant ceremony to Hatch and thence to Shaftesbury, and keeping her the while 'without a bed to lie on.' Subsequently Hungerford attacked Farleigh Castle, which was garrisoned for the king and under the command of Colonel John Hungerford, said to be Sir Edward's half-brother. The castle surrendered to Sir Edward in September 1645.
He had a reversionary right to the property under the will of his mother's uncle, Sir Edward Hungerford (d. 1607), but the testator's widow had a life-interest, and she lived there till 1653 [see Hungerford, Walter, 1503-1540, ad fin.'] Hungerford in 1625 lived at Corsham, Wiltshire, but after 1645 he seems to have settled at Farleigh. He died in 1648, and was buried in the chapel of Farleigh Castle. His will was proved 26 Oct. 1648. He obtained a license, dated 26 Feb. 1619-20, to marry Margaret, daughter and coheiress of William Hollidaie or Haliday, alderman and lord mayor of London (Chester, Marriage Licenses, ed. Foster, p. 728). She had no issue by him, and survived him till 1672, when she was also buried at Farleigh. In 1653 she petitioned the council of state to pay her 500l., a small part of the sum borrowed from her husband by the parliament. Parliament had ordered repayment in 1649 (Cal. State Papers, 1652-3 pp. 421, 440, 456, 1653-4 pp. 410-11). Cromwell appears to have interested himself in her case (Carlyle, Cromwell, iii. 210). Sir Edward's reversionary interest in the Farleigh estates passed to his royalist half-brother Anthony (d. 1657)[q.v.]
[Authorities cited; notes supplied by C. H. Firth, esq.; Le Neve's Pedigrees of Knights (Harl. Soc.); Visitation of Oxfordshire, 1634 (Harl. Soc.); Hoare's Hungerfordiana, 1823; Carlyle's Cromwell; Collinson's Somerset; Bibliotheca Gloucestrensis, p. 196.]
W. J. H-y.