Edmund Dunch

Edmund Dunch was an English landowner, a prominent Member of Parliament, and was created Baron Burnell of East Wittenham, by his cousin, the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, in 1658.

Edmund came from a prominent family and was elected as Member of Parliament for Berkshire for the first time in 1624. He was reelected in 1625, 1626, 1654, and 1656. He also served as MP for Wallingford in 1628 and 1640. By 1635 he had married the daughter and heir of Sir Anthony Hungerford. The marriage brought him £60,000 on the subsequent death of her father. Also in 1635 he received a post in the privy chamber.

During the English Civil War, Dunch sided with Parliament against Royalists. Because of his family relations with Oliver Cromwell he have been made Governor of Wallingford Castle in 1655, and three years later he was created a baronet. After the Restoration his peerage was not recognized, although he managed to keep his high position in the region of Wittenham, being made Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1668.

Edmund Dunch died in 1678 and was buried in Little Wittenham Church, being succeeded in his estates by his eldest son Hungerford.