Edmund Waller

Abstract

Edmund Waller was born at the manor house in Coleshill (which was then in Hertfordshire) and grew up in Beaconsfield. He was educated at Eton College, King’s College, Cambridge (which he left without a degree), and Lincoln’s Inn, where he studied law. At the age of sixteen he entered Parliament, at first as an unofficial Member for Amersham (a seat which was then in abeyance). In 1631 he married, but his wife died three years later. He soon became enamoured of Lady Dorothy Sidney, the ‘Sacharissa’ of Waller’s poems. His affection seems not to have been reciprocated, and in due course they married others. Waller remained in Parliament for much of his life, though on occasion his allegiance changed between king and Parliament.