William Trumball

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Sir William Trumball (1639 - December 14, 1716), English politician, was a grandson of William Trumball (d. 1635), who was for sixteen years English resident at Brussels and afterwards a clerk of the privy council.

Educated at St John's College, Oxford, young Trumball became a fellow of All Souls and settled down as a practising lawyer in Oxford and in London. He was made chancellor of the diocese of Rochester and was sent to Tangier on public business in 1683, one of his companions on this errand being the diarist Pepys.

In 1684 Trumball was knighted by Charles II and in 1685 he was sent as envoy to France, where he worked hard on behalf of the English Protestants there who were threatened by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1685 he became a member of Parliament, in 1687 he went as ambassador to Constantinople, and in 1694 he was made a lord of the treasury. From May 1695 until December 1697 he was a secretary of state under William III.

His son, William Trumball (1708-1760), had an only daughter, who became the wife of the Hon. Martin Sandys. She was thus the ancestress of the later marquesses of Downshire.

Many of Trumball's letters are in the British Museum and in the Record Office, London. Trumball was on friendly terms with Pierre Bayle and with Dryden, whom he advised to translate Virgil. He was also very intimate with Pope, whom he influenced in several ways, especially in urging him to make a translation of Homer.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Sir William Trumball", a publication now in the public domain.