Individual Details
Sir John William de la Pole 6th Baronet
(Bef 27 Jun 1757 - 30 Nov 1799)
Possibly born at Salisbury
Sir John William Pole was the 6th Baronet, the title probably having been given to the family during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Poles were a Devon family, but were probably related to the Somerset family of the same name, because it is unusual to find two prominent families with the same surname living in the same part of the country. The difference between the two was that the Somerset family had been staunchly Catholic (the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury was from this family, and his mother, Margaret, is a Catholic Saint) whereas the Devon Poles probably benefited from the dissolution of the Monasteries. The timing of the creation of the Baronetcy seems to indicate their support for the Protestant Queens and Kings of England. Furthermore, the family home at Shute in Devon is adjacent to lands that were originally in the possession of the Catholic Bishops of Exeter and it is probable that the Shute estate was part of the same grouping of Church owned Manors, and was given to the family as a reward for 'services rendered.'
Some time after his marriage to Anne Templer in 1781, Sir John changed the family surname to 'De La Pole.' His reasons for doing this aren't clear, but there would appear to be two possibilities.
The first is the possible link to the Catholic Poles of Somerset. The 1745 Jacobite rebellion led by Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) caused an upsurge in anti-Catholic sentiment, exacerbated by the fact that after the Battle of Culloden Moor, the Prince took refuge in Rome which was the seen as the 'Headquarters' of the Catholic Church. It is possible that Sir John wished to distance himself and his family from any 'Popish' connections. Paradoxically, there was at about the same time a move by the Government to relax some of the anti-Catholic legislation, but this was opposed by many prominent land owners, especially those with relatives amongst the Anglican Clergy. Lady Anne De La Pole (nee Templer) had, for example, a brother, three nephews and a nephew-in-law, all of whom were ordained clergy of the Church of England, and this might have lent additional weight to the pressure for a change in the family name.
The second possible reason could have been simply one of appearances. The words 'De La' before an English surname usually implied descent from one of the Norman Knights that accompanied William the Conqueror. In fact there is reason to believe that the original name of the family had actually been 'De La Pole', but with the passage of time the 'De La' part had been dropped. At a time when appearances were very important Sir John would have been aware of the additional prestige of being descended from a Norman Knight as distinct from a mere Elizabethan 'nouveau riche.'
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, ancestry was extremely important in a social structure that classified you according to your origins. The Poles were not alone in the charade, as the Templers were indulging in a similar pretence. Anne De La Pole's father, James Templer of Stover, was a runaway carpenters apprentice from Exeter, who had made a fortune out of Government building contracts and was therefore able to 'buy' his way into society. (It has always been a feature of the English aristocratic system, that, unlike their counterparts on the continent, the English have always admitted new members if they have enough money!) The Templers could not deny James' origins or even his father's, so they invented a completely fictitious grandfather. Instead of the truth that he was an Exeter 'sope boyler' (candle maker), he was reinvented as a 'Colonel of Horse' in the Army of William of Orange who landed in Torbay in 1688. It was a wonderful invention because there was no way it could be checked, and there was some support for the story in the 1688 deaths register of Exeter Cathedral which recorded the demise of a 'Corporal' of Horse shortly after the Torbay landing.
James Templer would have known well before his daughter's marriage into the aristocracy of the need for 'appearances.' As early as 1763 he had applied for and been granted a coat of arms, and the new family home at Stover was a very visible statement of his success and status. Even some of the ceilings were embellished with the family crest - still visible today although the house has been a girls school since the 1920's.
The De La Poles were not short of money themselves. Anne was painted by the famous portrait painter, Romney, and his fee would have been significant. The picture, a full size portrait of Anne standing and leaning on a stone plinth was sold to a Massachusetts Art Gallery in about 1910 for £10,000 - a small fortune today.
In spite of her position Anne was a caring person. In her old age she nursed her elder brother, Reverend John Templer, (whom she adored) in his last illness at Lindridge House (only surviving him a few months herself). She only had one child, a son William Templer De La Pole, who later married his first cousin, Sophia Anne Templer, the only daughter of another of Anne's elder brothers, George Templer. George died in India in 1819 in relatively straightened circumstances, so Anne provided a home for his widow Jane (nee Paul) at Shute until she died in 1847. Both Jane and Anne are buried in the Pole family vault at Shute.
Sir William and Sophia Anne had three children but none of them survived more than a few months, which is not surprising given the close blood relationship. When Sir William died, the title and family estates passed to another branch of the Pole family.
Oil painting on canvas, Sir John William de la Pole,6th Bt of Shute MP (1757 - 1799), after George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal1802). A full-length portrait of SirJohn William de la Pole, in hunting scarlet coat. The original was sold in 1913-14 and is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum (Boston) USA, acquired in 1961.
Sir John was born on 26 June 1757, the son of Sir John Pole, 5th Baronet (c.1733–1760)by his first wife Elizabeth Mills (d.1758), daughter and co-heiress of John Mills, a banker and planter of St. Kitts, West Indies and Woodford, Essex. Thus he lost both his parents when a small infant, his mother when he was aged 1 and his 27 year-old father at the age of 3. He assumed the surname of de la Pole by royal sign manual.
He was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton andappointed High Sheriff of Devon for 1782.He was MP for West Looe 1790 to 1796.He was listed as hostile to the repeal of the Test Act in 1791.
Pole's greatest legacy is his building between1787 and 1789 of the Adam style late Palladian New Shute House near the mediaeval and Tudor Old Shute House, Colyton, Devon, purchased by his ancestor William Pole (1515–1587). He married Anne Templer (1758–1832) the daughter of James Templer (1722–1782)(Senior), of Stover House, Newton Abbot, Devon, by hiswife Mary Parlby (d.1784). Her portrait by George Romney is now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
Sir John William Pole was the 6th Baronet, the title probably having been given to the family during the reign of Elizabeth I.
The Poles were a Devon family, but were probably related to the Somerset family of the same name, because it is unusual to find two prominent families with the same surname living in the same part of the country. The difference between the two was that the Somerset family had been staunchly Catholic (the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury was from this family, and his mother, Margaret, is a Catholic Saint) whereas the Devon Poles probably benefited from the dissolution of the Monasteries. The timing of the creation of the Baronetcy seems to indicate their support for the Protestant Queens and Kings of England. Furthermore, the family home at Shute in Devon is adjacent to lands that were originally in the possession of the Catholic Bishops of Exeter and it is probable that the Shute estate was part of the same grouping of Church owned Manors, and was given to the family as a reward for 'services rendered.'
Some time after his marriage to Anne Templer in 1781, Sir John changed the family surname to 'De La Pole.' His reasons for doing this aren't clear, but there would appear to be two possibilities.
The first is the possible link to the Catholic Poles of Somerset. The 1745 Jacobite rebellion led by Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) caused an upsurge in anti-Catholic sentiment, exacerbated by the fact that after the Battle of Culloden Moor, the Prince took refuge in Rome which was the seen as the 'Headquarters' of the Catholic Church. It is possible that Sir John wished to distance himself and his family from any 'Popish' connections. Paradoxically, there was at about the same time a move by the Government to relax some of the anti-Catholic legislation, but this was opposed by many prominent land owners, especially those with relatives amongst the Anglican Clergy. Lady Anne De La Pole (nee Templer) had, for example, a brother, three nephews and a nephew-in-law, all of whom were ordained clergy of the Church of England, and this might have lent additional weight to the pressure for a change in the family name.
The second possible reason could have been simply one of appearances. The words 'De La' before an English surname usually implied descent from one of the Norman Knights that accompanied William the Conqueror. In fact there is reason to believe that the original name of the family had actually been 'De La Pole', but with the passage of time the 'De La' part had been dropped. At a time when appearances were very important Sir John would have been aware of the additional prestige of being descended from a Norman Knight as distinct from a mere Elizabethan 'nouveau riche.'
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, ancestry was extremely important in a social structure that classified you according to your origins. The Poles were not alone in the charade, as the Templers were indulging in a similar pretence. Anne De La Pole's father, James Templer of Stover, was a runaway carpenters apprentice from Exeter, who had made a fortune out of Government building contracts and was therefore able to 'buy' his way into society. (It has always been a feature of the English aristocratic system, that, unlike their counterparts on the continent, the English have always admitted new members if they have enough money!) The Templers could not deny James' origins or even his father's, so they invented a completely fictitious grandfather. Instead of the truth that he was an Exeter 'sope boyler' (candle maker), he was reinvented as a 'Colonel of Horse' in the Army of William of Orange who landed in Torbay in 1688. It was a wonderful invention because there was no way it could be checked, and there was some support for the story in the 1688 deaths register of Exeter Cathedral which recorded the demise of a 'Corporal' of Horse shortly after the Torbay landing.
James Templer would have known well before his daughter's marriage into the aristocracy of the need for 'appearances.' As early as 1763 he had applied for and been granted a coat of arms, and the new family home at Stover was a very visible statement of his success and status. Even some of the ceilings were embellished with the family crest - still visible today although the house has been a girls school since the 1920's.
The De La Poles were not short of money themselves. Anne was painted by the famous portrait painter, Romney, and his fee would have been significant. The picture, a full size portrait of Anne standing and leaning on a stone plinth was sold to a Massachusetts Art Gallery in about 1910 for £10,000 - a small fortune today.
In spite of her position Anne was a caring person. In her old age she nursed her elder brother, Reverend John Templer, (whom she adored) in his last illness at Lindridge House (only surviving him a few months herself). She only had one child, a son William Templer De La Pole, who later married his first cousin, Sophia Anne Templer, the only daughter of another of Anne's elder brothers, George Templer. George died in India in 1819 in relatively straightened circumstances, so Anne provided a home for his widow Jane (nee Paul) at Shute until she died in 1847. Both Jane and Anne are buried in the Pole family vault at Shute.
Sir William and Sophia Anne had three children but none of them survived more than a few months, which is not surprising given the close blood relationship. When Sir William died, the title and family estates passed to another branch of the Pole family.
Oil painting on canvas, Sir John William de la Pole,6th Bt of Shute MP (1757 - 1799), after George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal1802). A full-length portrait of SirJohn William de la Pole, in hunting scarlet coat. The original was sold in 1913-14 and is now in the Wadsworth Atheneum (Boston) USA, acquired in 1961.
Sir John was born on 26 June 1757, the son of Sir John Pole, 5th Baronet (c.1733–1760)by his first wife Elizabeth Mills (d.1758), daughter and co-heiress of John Mills, a banker and planter of St. Kitts, West Indies and Woodford, Essex. Thus he lost both his parents when a small infant, his mother when he was aged 1 and his 27 year-old father at the age of 3. He assumed the surname of de la Pole by royal sign manual.
He was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton andappointed High Sheriff of Devon for 1782.He was MP for West Looe 1790 to 1796.He was listed as hostile to the repeal of the Test Act in 1791.
Pole's greatest legacy is his building between1787 and 1789 of the Adam style late Palladian New Shute House near the mediaeval and Tudor Old Shute House, Colyton, Devon, purchased by his ancestor William Pole (1515–1587). He married Anne Templer (1758–1832) the daughter of James Templer (1722–1782)(Senior), of Stover House, Newton Abbot, Devon, by hiswife Mary Parlby (d.1784). Her portrait by George Romney is now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
Events
| Birth | Bef 27 Jun 1757 | ||||
| Christen | 27 Jun 1757 | Shute, Devon, England, United Kingdom | |||
| Marriage | 9 Jan 1779 | (possibly Stover House), Teigngrace, Devon, England, United Kingdom - Anne Templer | |||
| Death | 30 Nov 1799 | Shute, Devon, England, United Kingdom | |||
| Alt name | John William Pole | ||||
| Burial | De La Pole Family Vault, Shute, Devon, England, United Kingdom |
Families
| Spouse | Anne Templer (1757 - 1832) |
| Child | Sir William Templer Pole 7th Baronet of Shute, Devon (1782 - 1847) |
| Child | Ann Mary "Marieanne" de la Pole (1784 - ) |
| Child | John George de la Pole (1786 - 1803) |
| Father | Sir John Pole, 5th Bt.of Shute House (1733 - 1766) |
| Mother | Elizabeth Mills (1737 - 1758) |