Samuel Enys

Who was Samuel Enys?

Samuel Enys was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.

Enys was the third son of John Enys of Enys and his wife Winifred Rise, daughter of Thomas Rise of Trewardreva, Constantine, and was educated at Truro Grammar School. When he was 16, he was apprenticed to an English merchant at San Sebastian. At the start of the English Civil War he fought a duel "maintaining the King’s honour and dignity" and when he visited England in 1642, he provisioned a kinsman to fight in the Royalist army. He was imprisoned in the parliamentary garrison at Plymouth and was released through the intervention of John St Aubyn and a loan of £100. He stayed abroad until after the last Royalist stronghold in Cornwall at Pendennis surrendered. He became one of the most successful merchants in Penryn and Falmouth and purchased lands to enlarge the family estate. Before the restoration he gave money to support the exiled court and in 1659 arranged the purchase of 300 guns in France which were stored at Trelawne. However the advance of George Monck into England avoided the need to use them.