ROLT, Edward (1686-1722), of Sacombe, Herts., Harrowby, Lincs., and Spye Park, nr. Chippenham, Wilts.

Rolt’s father was the son of Edward Rolt of Pertenhall, Bedfordshire, by Mary, daughter of Sir Oliver Cromwell of Hinchingbrooke, Huntingdonshire, the Protector’s uncle.Genealogist, n.s. xvii. 145-9; Cussans, Herts. Broadwater, 161. After many years in the service of the East India Company, he came home in 1682, buying the Sacombe estate in 1688 for £22,500.HMC Lords, ii. 353-4. Returned in 1715 as a Tory for Grantham, where he owned property, he voted against the Government, except on the septennial bill, when he was absent. He is mentioned in the 6th report of the South Sea committee as having accepted £5,000 stock from the Company on 1 Mar. 1720, in the same circumstances as Sir Robert Chaplin, and another £800 on 23 Mar.CJ, xix. 574, 578. In 1721 his name was sent to the Pretender as a probable supporter in the event of a rising.Stuart mss 65/16.

Before the 1722 election Lord Cardigan wrote to Lord Gower:

I am apt to believe that £300 will do, in case Rolt can be brought to join heartily with anyone ... I have a project in my head to turn out Rolt, in case he does not do us justice.Undated, Leveson Gower letter bk. vii. f. 16.

He was defeated at Grantham, where he stood jointly with Lord Cardigan’s candidate,I. Garner to John Heathcote, 18 Mar. 1722, I Ancaster 13/B/2, Lincs. Archives Office. but was returned for Chippenham, near which his wife had inherited from her brother in 1716 an estate said to be worth nearly £3,000 a year.Bland-Burges Pprs. ed. Hutton, 6. He died of smallpox 22 Dec. 1722.