George Rolle

George Rolle (c. 1486 – 1552) of Stevenstone was the founder of the wealthy, influential and widespread Rolle family of Devon, which by 1873 in the person of Hon. Mark Rolle (died 1907), the adoptive heir of John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (died 1842), had become the largest landowner in Devon with about 55,000 acres. He was a Dorset-born London lawyer who became in 1507 Keeper of the Records of the Court of Common Pleas and sat as MP for Barnstaple in 1542 and 1545. He became the steward of Dunkeswell Abbey in Devon, and following the Dissolution of the Monasteries he purchased much ex-monastic land in Devon.

Origins

George Rolle's place of birth is unknown, but he is known to have been related to Thomas Rolle (died 1525) who had been born at Wimborne Minster in Dorset and whose uncle was William Rolle, parson of Witchampton in Dorset. Both George Rolle and William Rolle were joint-remaindermen in the will of Thomas Rolle (died 1525).

Career

The place of his education and legal training is unknown, but by 1507 he had become Keeper of the Records of the Court of Common Pleas, of which office in 1523 by means of a private Act of Parliament which mentioned his "long, good and perfect knowledge and experience" he acquired a life tenure. His patron during his early legal career appears to have been Sir Robert Brudenell (1461–1531), Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1521. In 1545 he became a JP for Devon and the bailiff of the Hundred of Stratton in Cornwall, part of the Duchy of Cornwall.