A Royalist during the 1642 to 1646 First English Civil War, he raised a regiment of cavalry which served in the West Country and sat in the Oxford Parliament.

Heavily fined by the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents, he avoided participation in politics during the Interregnum and after the Stuart Restoration in May 1660 was elected to the Cavalier Parliament.

[1] Following the death of the previous incumbent, he was appointed Sheriff of Devon in January 1636, making him responsible for collecting Ship Money.

[4] When the First English Civil War began in August 1642, Hele supported Charles I; he sat in the Oxford Parliament and was excluded from his Parliamentary seat in January 1644.

He was heavily fined by the Committee for Compounding with Delinquents in 1646 and largely avoided participation in Royalist conspiracies during the Interregnum.