Sir Walter Erle (or Earle; 22 November 1586 – 1 September 1665) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648. He was a vigorous opponent of King Charles I in the Parliamentary cause both before and during the English Civil War.
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Early life
Walter Erle was the son of Thomas Erle of Charborough Park in Dorset and his wife Dorothy Pole, daughter of William Pole of Columpton, Devon. On the death of his father in 1597, aged only ten, Walter inherited the Charborough estate and other holdings totalling some 11,000 acres (4,450 hectares); he was made a ward of the Crown, but was later under the guardianship of his stepfather, Sir Walter Vaughan He matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford on 22 January 1602 aged 15. In 1604 he became a student of Inner Temple.
In 1614, Erle was elected Member of Parliament for Poole. He was knighted on 4 May 1616, and in 1618 served as High Sheriff of Dorset. Like many of the other leading citizens of Dorset, he was an early investor in projects to colonise New England. He and his brother Christopher were both shareholders in the Virginia Company in 1620, and he attended the meeting of that company on 21 May 1621. He was a friend of John White and became a founder member of the Dorchester Company, being described as "Governor of the New England Plantation".