Edward Ernle

Sir Edward Ernle, 3rd Baronet (c. 1673 – 1729) of Charborough in Dorset, of Brimslade Park and Etchilhampton, both in Wiltshire, was an English Whig politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1695 and 1729. He had mixed fortunes in finding or holding a seat and often depended on his father-in-law to bring him into his own seat at Wareham when a vacancy arose.

Early life Ernle was a younger son of Edward Ernle of Ashlington and Etchilhampton in Wiltshire (the eldest son and heir apparent of Sir Walter Ernle, 1st Baronet (–1682)) and his wife Anne Ashe, a daughter of Edward Ashe, MP, of Heytesbury, Wiltshire. Both his grandfathers were Members of Parliament. In 1690, he succeeded his brother, Walter, in the baronetcy. He married Frances Erle, the daughter and sole-heiress of General Thomas Erle (1650–1720), MP, of Charborough House, Dorset, by 1698 when he became a Whig.

At the 1715 British general election Ernle was returned by his father-in-law as MP for Portsmouth. He voted for the septennial bill in 1716, but went into opposition with Walpole in 1717. He voted against the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts and the Peerage Bill in 1719. In 1720, on the death of his father-in-law, he inherited the electoral interest at Wareham, and returned himself as MP for Wareham in 1722 and 1727.

Death and succession Ernle died on 31 January 1729, leaving two daughters. Without male progeny, he was succeeded in the baronetcy by his kinsman Sir Walter Ernle, 4th Baronet (1676–1732) of Chirton, Wiltshire.