Edward Herbert (attorney-general)

Sir Edward Herbert (c. 1591–1658) of Aston in Montgomeryshire, was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1621 and 1641.

His grandfather was Sir Edward Herbert (d. 1593) (great-nephew of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423–1469)), Constable of Aberystwith Castle (16 March 1543–4), High Sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1557 and 1568, a member of parliament for Montgomeryshire in 1553 and 1556–57, and an Esquire of the Body to Queen Elizabeth I.

Having been appointed Attorney-General he was instructed by King Charles I to take legal proceedings against various members of parliament who had been concerned in the passing of the Grand Remonstrance.

[2] Later in life he lived in exile with the royal family in Holland and in France, becoming Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to King Charles II in April 1653, an office which he had refused in 1645.

[3] Herbert married Margaret Smith, widow of Thomas Carey of Sunninghill Park, Berkshire and daughter of Thomas Smith of Abingdon-on-Thames and Parson's Green, Middlesex.