Edward Hungerford

Monument to Sir Edward Hungerford (1596–1648) and his wife, St Leonard's Chapel, Farleigh Hungerford Castle. At his feet are shown the heraldic badges of Hungerford sickles and Peverell garb.

Sir Edward Hungerford (1596–1648) of Corsham, Wiltshire and of Farleigh Castle in Wiltshire (now Somerset), Member of Parliament, was a landowner and a Parliamentarian commander during the English Civil War. He occupied and plundered Salisbury in 1643, and took Wardour and Farleigh castles.

Origins and education Hungerford was the eldest son of Sir Anthony Hungerford (1564–1627) of Stock, Wiltshire and Black Bourton, Oxfordshire by his first wife Lucy Hungerford, a daughter of Sir Walter Hungerford (died c. 1596) of Farleigh Castle.

He was educated at Queen's College, Oxford from the age of 12, and admitted to the Middle Temple in 1613.

After taking part with Sir William Waller in the Battle of Lansdowne and Battle of Roundway Down, Hungerford besieged Lady Arundel in Wardour Castle, Wiltshire (2–8 May 1643). He treated the lady with little grace, carrying her with scant ceremony to Hatch and thence to Shaftesbury, and keeping her all the while "without a bed to lie on". he married Margaret Holliday, a daughter and coheiress of William Holliday, an Alderman of the City of London. She was the sister of Anne Holliday, wife of Sir Henry Mildmay of Wanstead, Essex, Master of the Jewel Office from 1620 to 1649.

The marriage was childless. She survived him until July 1672, when she was also buried at Farleigh.

Death and burial Hungerford died in 1648 and was buried in St Anne's Chapel, the north transept chapel of St Leonard's Chapel within the walls of Farleigh Castle. His magnificent tomb chest, with effigies of himself and his wife, survives.

Succession His will was proved on 26 October 1648. In 1653 his widow Margaret petitioned the Council of State to pay her £500, a small part of the sum borrowed from her husband by Parliament. Parliament had ordered repayment in 1649. Oliver Cromwell appears to have interested himself in her case. Sir Edward's reversionary interest in the Farleigh estates passed to his royalist brother Col. Anthony Hungerford (d. 1657).