Robert Pointz

Sir Robert PointzorPoyntz(1588–1665) was an English landowner and politician. He sat in theHouse of CommonsforGloucestershire,between 1626 and 1629.

Life

Church of St James the Less, Iron Acton

Pointz was the son ofSir John Poyntz,Lord of theManor of Iron Acton,Gloucestershire,and his second wife Elizabeth Sydenham, daughter of Anthony Sydenham. He matriculated fromBrasenose College, Oxfordon 15 March 1605, aged 16. He had already in 1604 made a teenage marriage to Frances Gibbons, daughter of his stepmother Grissell Roberts by her first husband Gervase Gibbons. Frances brought him a comfortableinheritancewhich made him financially independent of his father, who was notorious for improvidence and died penniless. As so often in that age, however, a dispute over the Gibbons inheritance led to alawsuit,which dragged on into the late 1630s. In the last stages of the litigation Robert, though generally regarded as a "sober and learned man", became so irritated that he insulted one of the judges, and as a result, was briefly committed to theFleet Prison.

Apart from his father's insolvency, the principal threat to his political career was his family's traditional attachment to theRoman Catholicfaith. Robert himself was a zealousProtestant,but his sisterElizabeth, Lady Thurles,mother of the first Duke of Ormond, was a prominentrecusant.

In 1624 he stood unsuccessfully for Parliament as member for Gloucestershire and petitioned to be declared validly elected, also unsuccessfully. He was made aKnight of the Bathon 2 February 1626, at the coronation ofCharles I.In 1626 he was electedknight of the shireforGloucestershire.He was re-elected MP for Gloucestershire in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He wasHigh Sheriff of Gloucestershirein 1637.

In theEnglish Civil WarPointz visitedBristolwhen it was a garrison for the King and later was called to account as a delinquentRoyalist.On 15 March 1649, he begged to compound for delinquency, claiming that in going there, he "Never bore arms, nor contributed to the maintenance of the war against Parliament". He was fined £748 on 26 April, which was corrected after an error to £723. On 1 September 1651, he was assessed at £200, and on 10 April 1652, a request was made on his behalf for discharge from assessment on the Act of Parliament, which was granted on 13 April. In 1661 Pointz wrote a "Vindication of Monarchy".

Pointz died in 1665, and was buried atIron Acton,on 10 November.

Family

Pointz married firstly Frances Gibbons (died 1638), daughter of Gervase Gibbons ofKentand his wife Grissell Roberts (who was to become Robert's own stepmother), and secondly Cicely Smith of Acton. He had two daughters, Margaret (died 1685) and Grissell (born 1608), by his first wife, and one son John by his second.Margaret married Sir Richard Hastings, first and last of theHastings baronets.After Sir Richard's death, she remarriedSamuel Gorges.Gorges had a successful career as a judge in Ireland, no doubt largely due to the fact that theLord Lieutenant of Ireland,James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond,through his mother Elizabeth Pointz, was Margaret's first cousin. However, he died almost penniless. Her sister Grissell married Richard Porter. Their brother John died in 1680 without issue. Like his grandfather, he died heavily in debt.