Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Sir Edward Dering
Sir Edward Dering,
POLITICIAN.
Although Hasted, in his history of Kent, says that this gentleman "was born in the Tower of London," yet, as most of his biographers call him a "native of Kent," his name is inserted here. His family is certainly one of the oldest and most eminent in the county, being descended from ancestors who held lands there before the Conquest. Sir Edward Dering was Lieutenant of Dover Castle in 1623, was created a Baronet in 1626, and subsequently represented the county in Parliament. There "the levity of his disposition and his vanity to display his learning got the better of his good and loyal principles," and he distinguished himself by his opposition to the King's party. He brought in a bill for the abolition of Bishops, Deans, and Chapters, and proposed other violent measures. Subsequently, however, he changed his opinion, espoused the royal cause, and became a great sufferer in the civil war, his house at Surrenden being four times plundered by the Parliamentarian soldiers. He died before the Restoration. He founded a great library at Surrenden, and published his speeches in Parliament in a quarto volume.
[See "Hasted's Kent," and "Proceedings in Kent," published by Camden Society (Vol. 80.)]