John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett, (1585 – 20 March 1649) was an English sailor and politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 between 1610 and 1621 and was later raised to the peerage

Peerage of England

The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain....

.

Poulett was the son of Sir Anthony Poulett

Anthony Paulet

Anthony Paulet was Governor of the Isle of Jersey from 1588 until his death in 1600.Born at Hinton St George, Somerset to Sir Amyas Paulet and his wife Margaret Hervey, Anthony accompanied his father to Paris where Amyas was Ambassador.In 1579, Amyas took into his household a tutor, Jean Hotman ,...

 or Paulet, Governor of Jersey

Lieutenant Governor of Jersey

The Lieutenant Governor of Jersey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Jersey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown....

, and Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

 and of Catherine Nooreys, daughter of the Baron

Baron

Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...

 of Rycot, Henry Lord Norreys. He was educated at University College, Oxford

University College, Oxford

.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...

 and was admitted as a student of the Middle Temple

Middle Temple

The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...

 in 1610. He was elected as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Somerset

Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)

Somerset was a parliamentary constituency in Somerset, which returned two Members of Parliament , known traditionally as knights of the shire, to the House of Commons of England until 1707, the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from...

 in 1610 and 1614, and for Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis (UK Parliament constituency)

Lyme Regis was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1295 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1868, when the borough was abolished.-1295-1629:...

 in 1621.

Poulett was raised to the peerage as Baron Poulett of Hinton St George

Hinton St George

Hinton St George is a village and parish in Somerset, England, situated outside of Crewkerne, south west of Yeovil in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 404....

, Somerset on 23 June 1627. He served on the fleet to secure English commerce and bullion ships from Dutch raiding expeditions. As war loomed in England

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

, he put his signature, together with those of other Lords and Councillors, to a declaration disavowing any intention by King Charles I

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

 to wage war against the Parliament

Parliament

A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...

, but as hostilities broke out he sided, on 15 June 1642, with the Royalist cause. He was one of the principal commanders at the siege of Lyme

Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis is a coastal town in West Dorset, England, situated 25 miles west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. The town lies in Lyme Bay, on the English Channel coast at the Dorset-Devon border...

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

. At war's end, Parliament gave him a pardon, but his house was constrained to settle a large sum in reparations. He died on 20 March 1649.

Poulett married Elizabeth Ken of Ken Court in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. His son John

John Poulett, 2nd Baron Poulett

John Poulett, 2nd Baron Poulett , of Hinton St George in Somerset, was an English peer and Member of Parliament who fought on the Royalist side during the English Civil War....

 succeeded to the barony. His daughter Florence married Thomas Smith of Long Ashton

Long Ashton

Long Ashton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. It falls within the Unitary Authority of North Somerset, a few miles south west of the city of Bristol. The parish has a population of 4,981...

 and was the mother of Sir Hugh Smith, 1st Baronet

Sir Hugh Smith, 1st Baronet

Sir Hugh Smith, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660 and 1679.Smith was the son of Thomas Smith of Long Ashton, Somerset and his wife Florence Poulett, daughter of John Poulett, 1st Baron Poulett of Hinton St George, Somerset.In 1660, Smith was elected...

.