Rolle Walter (1712–1779), MP, of Bicton and Stevenstone, both sons of John Rolle (1679–1730), MP, of Bicton and Stevenstone. On 27 July 1781 Denys "Walter" Esq. obtained royal licence "to take the surname and bear the arms of Rolle, pursuant to the will of the late John Rolle Walter Esq. of Stevenstone". His brother John Rolle Walter (died 1779) had become the heir of his uncle Sir Robert Walter, 4th Baronet (1680–1731) and had been required to adopt the surname of Walter. Denys Rolle (died 1797) had been left Hudscott and the lordship of the manor of Chittlehampton by his distant childless cousin Samuel Rolle (died 1747), only son of Samuel Rolle (1669–1735), MP, by his wife Dorothy Lovering. Samuel Rolle (died 1735) had himself inherited Hudscott from his mother Jane Lovering. He was the son of Dennis Rolle (died 1671) of Great Torrington (whose tombstone exists in Torrington Church), the younger brother of Robert Rolle (died 1660), MP, who had married Lady Arabella Clinton, both sons of Sir Samuel Rolle I (died 1647), of Heanton Satcheville, MP for Barnstaple. Career He was educated at Winchester College and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and became a country gentleman in Devon. He lived at Tidwell, within the family owned manor of East Budleigh on the south Devon coast, certainly between 1786 and 1796. The estate of Tidwell had been purchased by the Walrond family in about 1730, and hence it may have been the property of Rolle's first wife Maria Walrond. This Georgian country house is now a hotel, in the renamed parish of Budleigh Salterton. When his uncle John Rolle Walter died in November 1779, he was put forward to take up his seat in parliament. At this time, the seat of Devon was controlled by a group of large landowners principally in the families of Courtenay of Powderham, Bampfylde of Poltimore and Rolle, who had so many supporters that no other challenge was possible. Due to the prohibitive expense of mounting an opposition, the county had not seen a contested election since 1712. Rolle was duly elected unopposed on 4 January 1780. House of Commons Because of the control of his county, Rolle was not under any political obligations. Although his family were traditionally Tory, Rolle was not a reliable vote for the Tory Prime Minister of the day, Lord North. He sometimes supported the government but just as often opposed