Sir Nathaniel Napier of Middlemarsh Hall and Moor Crichel

Moor Crichel

Moor Crichel is a village and civil parish in East Dorset, England situated on Cranborne Chase five miles east of Blandford Forum. The village has a population of 181 ....

 in Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

, was an English Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP). He was born c.1587, the only son of Sir Robert Napier

Robert Napier (judge)

Sir Robert Napier was an English-born judge in Ireland.. He was High Sheriff of Dorset in 1606 and Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland. He was a Member of Parliament for Dorchester , Bridport and Wareham ....

, a judge and MP, who held the office of Lord Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and his second wife Magdalen Denton. He was knighted in 1617. He represented Dorset

Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)

Dorset was a county constituency covering Dorset in southern England, which elected two Members of Parliament , traditionally known as knights of the shire, to the House of Commons of England from 1290 until 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of...

 (1625), Wareham

Wareham (UK Parliament constituency)

Wareham was a parliamentary borough in Dorset, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1302 until 1832, and then one member from 1832 until 1885, when the borough was abolished.-History:...

 (1625-6) and Milborne Port

Milborne Port (UK Parliament constituency)

Milborne Port is a former parliamentary borough located in Somerset. It elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons between 1298 and 1307 and again from 1628, but was disenfranchised in the Reform Act 1832 as a rotten borough.- MPs 1640–1832 :...

 (1628-9) in the House of Commons during the 1620s, and also served a year as High Sheriff of Dorset

High Sheriff of Dorset

The High Sheriff of Dorset is an ancient High Sheriff title which has been in existence for over one thousand years. The position was once a powerful position responsible for collecting taxes and enforcing law and order in Dorset. In modern times the sheriff has become a ceremonial role, presiding...

. Sir Nathaniel also built the family mansion of Crichel House

Crichel House

Crichel House is a country house located near the village of Moor Crichel in Dorset, England. It is surrounded by of parkland, which includes a crescent-shaped lake covering ....

 at Moor Crichel. He is remembered in Dorchester

Dorchester

-England:*Dorchester, Dorset, the county town of Dorset; central to the organisation of the emigration of Puritans to North America during the 17th century*Dorchester, Oxfordshire, also known as Dorchester-on-Thames-Canada:...

 for building the Napier Almshouses from money left by his father for that purpose: this was one of many charitable projects inspired by the Great Fire of 1613. He married c.1599 Elizabeth Gerrard of Purbeck

Purbeck

Purbeck is a local government district in Dorset, England. The district is named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However the district extends significantly further north and west than the traditional boundary of the Isle of Purbeck along...

 ( died 1624) : according to one historian he was not quite twelve at the time of the marriage and the bride two years younger. They had six sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Gerrard

Sir Gerrard Napier, 1st Baronet

Sir Gerrard Napier, 1st Baronet , of Middle Marsh and Moor Crichel in Dorset, was an English Member of Parliament who supported the Royalists during the English Civil War....

, was also an MP from 1628 and was created a baronet in 1641.