Sir Robert Reynolds (c. 1601–1678) was an English lawyer andMember of Parliament (MP) in theLong Parliament who took the parliamentary side on the outbreak of theCivil War. He served asSolicitor General andAttorney General during theFirst Commonwealth and supported the restoration of the Monarchy during theSecond.[1]
Robert was son of Sir James Reynolds ofCastle Camps in Cambridgeshire (knighted 28 April 1618), and brother of SirJohn Reynolds (d. 1657), represented Hindon, Wiltshire, in the Long parliament, and took the parliamentary side from the beginning of the civil war.[2]
Robert is described in his marriage licence in 1634 as a member of theInner Temple, but his name does not appear in the list of admissions to that body.[3] He was probably a member of the Middle Temple, for on 26 October 1644 the House of Commons voted him the chambers and library of Sir Edward Hyde in that society.[4]
In October 1642 Reynolds andRobert Goodwin were sent by the House of Commons to Dublin as commissioners representing the parliament. They were allowed by the connivance of the lords justices to be present at the meetings of theIrish Privy Council, and used their opportunities to endeavour to make a party for the parliament among officers and officials. Charles rebuked the lords justices, and ordered the arrest of the commissioners (1 March 1643), but they left Ireland before the order could be executed.[5] On 3 January 1644 Reynolds was appointed a member of the Westminster assembly.[6] of whose exaggerated claims he subsequently expressed his disapproval.[7] When the quarrel between theNew Model Army and the parliament came to a head he endeavoured to maintain a neutral position, and, though nominatedone of the commissioners for theking's trial, refused to act. Nevertheless, he returned to his place in the house of Commons after the king's death, thinking, as he said, that he might do some good, and resolving to "keep as much of the people's rights as I could".[8] Reynolds was pledged to the republican cause by his purchases of confiscated lands. "Besides Abingdon Hall and the lands worth £400 per annum, he hath bought a good pennyworth of bishops' lands", says a contemporary libeller, and in one of his speeches he refers to an investment of £8,000 in such property.[9] On 6 June 1650 Reynolds was appointed solicitor-general to theCommonwealth, but failed in the succeeding February to be elected to theCouncil of State.[10]
With the expulsion of theRump Parliament byOliver Cromwell in 1653, Reynolds for a time disappeared from public life. In 1659 he sat inRichard Cromwell's parliament as member forWhitchurch, Hampshire, and distinguished himself by a long speech against the bill for recognisingRichard Cromwell'sProtectorship, while professing the greatest esteem for Richard's person. If proper constitutional securities were given for the rights of the people, he was willing to accept the new Protector. "Against the single person there is not one exception; not any other man in this nation would pass so clearly".[11] After Richard's fall, Reynolds took his seat in the restoredRump parliament, and was elected a member of the Council of State on 14 May 1659, and again on 31 December 1659.[12] He also became again solicitor-general, and on 18 January 1660 was raised to the dignity of attorney-general.[13] As he had been one of the nine members of the Council of State who promised to assistGeorge Monck in his action againstJohn Lambert (General) (19 November 1659), "promoted Monck's policy by his action in Parliament, and laboured for the readmission of the members" to reconstitute theLong Parliament, he found no difficulty in making his peace at theRestoration,[14] On 31 May 1660 Reynolds petitioned KingCharles II for leave to retire with pardon and protection into the country. Charles granted his request, and even conferred the honour of knighthood upon him on 4 June 1660.[15]
Reynolds married, first, in 1635, Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Deards of Dunmow, Essex;[16] secondly, on 23 May 1646, Priscilla, daughter of Sir Hugh Wyndham of Pillesdon, Dorset.[17] His second wife remarried, in 1683,Henry Alexander, 4th Earl of Stirling, and died in 1691.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Firth, C. H. (1896). "Reynolds, Robert (fl.1640-1660)". InLee, Sidney (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 48. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 71. Endnotes:| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Solicitor General for England and Wales 1650–1654 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Attorney General of England and Wales 1660 | Succeeded by |
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