MAN, Edward (c.1549-1622), of Poole, Dorset

Man’s father prospered through trade with Spain. Tudor subsidy assessments identified him as Poole’s richest inhabitant, and he served four terms as mayor between 1539 and 1559. Despite being a youngest son, Man himself inherited seven houses in the town, along with £200 in cash and a selection of the best family plate. Spanish Co. 70; Hutchins, i. 34; E179/105/223; PROB 11/60, f. 244. Reputedly a well-meaning busybody, he played an active role in Poole’s affairs, twice representing the borough in Elizabethan Parliaments. However, he proved reluctant to take on municipal office, and in 1590 obtained an undertaking that he should not be elected to a second mayoralty without his own consent. Upon the accession of James I, he took charge of Poole’s loyal celebrations, including the firing of the town cannon, which scored a direct hit on the house of the most prominent local papist. C3/245/112; ex inf. Robert Tittler; Dorset RO, DC/PL/B/1/1, f. 28; STAC 8/104/10.

By now Man was clearly very wealthy, for in about 1604 he was assessed at £30 for a Privy Seal loan. His local standing was presumably further enhanced by the appointment of his brother Bartholomew as treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1603. Returned to the first Jacobean Parliament, he made little impact on its proceedings, merely receiving four committee appointments. His appointment to scrutinize bills relating to cask manufacture and Tunnage and Poundage (24 Apr. and 5 June 1604) reflected his role as a customs collector, in which capacity he was employed by Sir Thomas Waller* in the levy of prisage and butlerage on wine imports. Som. and Dorset N and Q, xiii. 106; MTR, 169, 440; CJ, i. 183b, 232b; E134/7Jas.I/Mich 27. On the opening day of the 1605-6 session Man was nominated to a committee of inquiry into the Spanish Company. Barely a week later he was admitted to the same Company, presumably with a view to lobbying on its behalf in the Commons, although no record of such activity survives. On 23 Jan. 1606 he was also named to the committee for a piece of Dorset legislation, the bill to compensate the vicar of Radipole following the establishment of a new parish church at Melcombe Regis; he attended one meeting (5 February). Man obtained leave of absence on 5 Apr., at about the time when Poole’s corporation secured a patent renewing its lease of the local rectory. He left no further trace on the Commons’ records, though the town paid him £14 10s. ‘for attendance at Parliament’. CJ, i. 256b, 259a, 294a; Spanish Co. 70; C.R. Kyle, ‘Attendance Lists’, PPE 1604-48 ed. Kyle, 183; Dorset RO, Poole bor. audit bk. 5.

In 1609, aged around 60, Man gave evidence in a prisage case before the Exchequer, his deposition being taken at Poole. However, he also maintained some ties with London, becoming a member of the French Company two years later. His brother Bartholomew had retired to Rochester, and it was probably through Man that Sir Thomas Walsingham II*, whose family dominated the Kentish city, obtained a seat at Poole in 1614. E134/7Jas.I/Mich 27; MTR, 611; Arch. Cant. xx. 10. Man died in December 1622. In his will, he left 10s. for a funeral sermon by Nicholas Jeffreys, ‘preacher of God’s word in Poole’, small bequests to the church, the local poor and his servants, and the residue to his widow. His brother-in-law Lewis Pope was named as one of the overseers, and the will was witnessed by his kinsman John Ryves*. According to his epitaph in the parish church, ‘this merchant Man purchased a jewel rare / when to gain Christ (God-man) he took great care’. John Man, who was elected for Weymouth in 1673, was presumably a kinsman, but the precise relationship has not been established. PROB 141, f. 49v; Hutchins, i. 47.