Robert Culliford

Who is Robert Culliford?

Robert Culliford was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1679.

Culliford was the posthumous son of Robert Culliford of Encombe, Dorset and his wife Margaret Hyde, daughter of Robert Hyde of West Hatch, Wiltshire. He came into the estate at Encombe,on the Isle of Purbeck, at birth and farmed it. During the English Civil War his actions were mainly directed at safe-guarding his property and cattle as he helped the Royalists capture Wareham in 1644 but then raised a force of 250 men in 1646 to blockade the Royalist garrison of Corfe Castle. He was thereby exempted from compounding for delinquency and from the decimation tax in 1656. However he eagerly accepted a post for one of his sons at the exiled Court "as attendant to the young gallant there".

In 1660, Culliford was elected Member of Parliament for Wareham for the Convention Parliament. He was J.P. for Dorset from July 1660 to June 1688 and commissioner for assessment for Dorset from August 1660 to 1663.