He was born c.1641, the fifth son (third surviving) of John Stawell (1600–1662),[1] who was MP for Somerset and one of the leading Royalists in the West Country during the First Civil War.
[2] In 1679, standing in the Tory or "court" interest, Colonel Ralph Stawell was returned as one of the two members of parliament for Bridgwater in Somerset.
[4] In a commission dated from London on 6 November 1688, the day after the landing in England of William, Prince of Orange, King James II appointed Stawell as his Lord Lieutenant in Somerset in place of Lord Waldegrave, who was the husband of the king's illegitimate daughter Henrietta FitzJames.
[6] His parliamentary biography says that despite his appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset by James II, Stawell at once rallied to William of Orange and makes no suggestion that he was imprisoned.
[1] Ralph's widow Lady Abigail Pitt died in 1692, and is buried in St Mary's church, Hartley Wespall, Hampshire.