Henry Dunster (MP) Henry Dunster (MP) Henry Dunster (1618 – 29 July 1684) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1660 to 1679. Dunster was the son of Giles Dunster, yeoman, of Seavington St. Michael, Somerset and was baptised on 6 September 1618. He was apprenticed to a grocer in London in 1636, and became a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Grocers in 1644. He does not appear to have taken part in the Civil War. By 1652 he owned 52 acres in Ilchester and was elected to the corporation. In 1660, he was elected
Yarn Market, Dunster on the motte by the start of the 12th century, and the castle survived a siege during the early years of the Anarchy. At the end of the 14th century the de Mohuns sold the castle to the Luttrell family. Dunster had become a centre for woollen and clothing production by the 13th century, with the market dating back to at least 1222, and a particular kind of kersey or broadcloth became known as 'Dunsters'. The prosperity of Dunster was based on the wool trade, with profits helping to pay for the construction of the tower of the Priory Church