DEVONSHIRE PARISHES,
OR THE
ANTIQUITIES, HERALDRY AND FAMILY HISTORY
OF TWENTY-EIGHT PARISHES
IN THE ARCHDEACONRY OF TOTNES
BY
CHARLES WORTHY, ESQ.,
LATE H.M. 82ND REGIMENT,
AUTHOR OF “ASHBURTON AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD,” “HUNDRED OF WINKLEIGH,”
“NOTES ON BIDEFORD AND THE HOUSE OF GRANVILLE,” “PRACTICAL HERALDRY,”
ETC., ETC.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME II.
EXETER:
WILLIAM POLLARD &Co., PRINTERS, NORTH STREET.
LONDON:
GEORGE REDWAY, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN,
1889
CHAPTER XVI.—PART I.
—
THE PARISH OF LITTLE-HEMPSTON.
The village of Little-Hempston, in the Archdeaconry of Totnes, to which it is now attached for Ruridecanal purposes, is situated in the Hundred of Haytor, and until recently was in the Deanery of Ipplepen. In 1871 it had 231 inhabitants, living in fifty-three houses, upon 1,270 acres of land. The Manor is the “Hamistone” of the Exeter Domesday, and was, originally, the property of Earl Harold, but after the Conquest was held by King William in demesne. At a very early period it acquired the name of Hempston Arundell (by which it is still commonly known) in consequence of its having been the property for several generations of lords of the powerful house of Arundell, to whose descendants in the female line it belonged until late in the fifteenth century, when it passed to the connexions of the husband of one of these, whose posterity still own it. Among the warriors, who came to this country with the Norman William, was a certain “Roger,” called by early historians “De Hirundine,” “Herenile,” or “Arundell.” That the name of Arundell is derived from the Latin there can be no question; and there can be as little doubt that “De Hirundine” is a punning allusion to the arms of the family, Arg. six swallows Sa. But it must be remembered that these arms were almost certainly assumed at a later date than the Conquest, for evidence points to the fact that armorial bearings were not made use of by the Norman invaders, since, to go no further, the Bayeux Tapestry, in which minute details of dress, &c., are carefully depicted, contains nothing which can be looked upon as an heraldic representation, the only approach thereto being a plain cross charged upon the flag of one of the transports. It is, moreover, tolerably clear that in all instances where Norman knights are pictured with heraldic shields, the charges at all events, were added subsequently; that the blazons for them were invented by the monastic chroniclers and others; and that the anachronisms which are constantly met with (such as quartered and impaled coats), show clearly that they must have been devised long subsequently to the Conqueror’s death, as Marshalling by Impalement was not practised for nearly three-hundred years after this date, while quartered coats were not used until the end of the thirteenth century. Armorial distinctions do not seem to have been employed in England at all until the twelfth century, and there was certainly no definite system in respect of them until the reign of Henry III; it is, consequently, necessary to look further than this source for the origin of the name of Arundell; and as the different “Rogers,” “Roberts,” “Williams,” “Baldwins,” and “Ralphs,” who came here in 1066, were all distinguished by some sort of affix, descriptive of origin, office, habitation, or personal prowess it appears to me to be probable that the Roger in question was at first known as Roger “de Arundine,” that is, metonymically, Roger of the arrow or lance; and that in after years the similarity of the words “Arundine” and “Hirundine,” despite their perfectly diverse signification, suggested the adoption of the coat armour I have referred to; in which case the arms were derived from the name, instead of the name from the arms.
It must not be forgotten that the Duke of Norfolk bears the title of Earl of Arundel by feudal tenure, confirmed, however, by special Act of Parliament in 1433, as the owner of the Castle of Arundel, in Sussex. This castle, which is shown by Domesday to have existed in Saxon times, was called after the town situated on the banks of the River Arun, a name probably given it by the Roman soldiers, “de Arundine,” in consequence of the reeds which grew upon its banks. The late Mr. J. R. Planché, Somerset Herald, in his account of the Earls of Sussex says: — “In 1067 the Conqueror, having established himself on the English Throne, passed over to Normandy, whence he returned after a short stay with his Queen, Matilda; and it was on this occasion that he was accompanied by Roger de Montgomery, whom he is said to have made first Earl of Arundel, and subsequently Earl of Shrewsbury.” There is nothing, as far as I can discover, to connect Roger de Montgomery with the Arundells of the West. The first of the latter, as I have already stated, was Roger de Arundell, who is believed to have fought at Hastings, and to have received, in return for his services, a grant, as shown by the Domesday Record, of twenty-eight lordships in Somersetshire, in-cluding the Manors of Halsee, Hiwis, Wiseglestone, Destone, Cerletone, Aixe, Opecedre, and Cedre. His son, Robert, in the 5th of Stephen, 1140, paid tax for lands in Dorsetshire and Wiltshire, and was a benefactor to the church of Taunton. In the 7th of Henry II, Roger de Arundell, who was probably his son, paid £40 for the knight’s fees he then held (I believe this to have been the same Roger who had obtained from King Henry I, a grant of the Manor of Hamistone, or Little Hempston). He was succeeded by his son, Nicholas, who may likewise have been the owner of Yewton, in the parish of Crediton. This Nicholas, appears to have been the father of John Arundell of Little Hempston, who was possessed of that property in 1243 (27th of Henry III), and also of Humphrey Arundell, who in 1231, by his marriage with Alice, daughter and heir of Sir John Lanherne of Lanherne, in the county of Cornwall, became the ancestor of the Arundells of Talvern and Trerice (which last are now represented by Lord Galway), as also of the present Lord Arundell of Wardour. The aforesaid John Arundell of Little Hempston, left two daughters co-heirs; the eldest, Arondella, married Richard Crispin of Wolston, in the parish of West Alvington; the youngest, Joan, a certain Walter de Bradestone. Richard Crispin and Arondella, his wife, had two sons, who both died without issue, William and Roger; the death of the latter occurred in 1314 (7th of Edward I). The Manor of Little Hempston then passed to Walter de Bradestone, son of Joan Arundell, who is shown by the “Feet of Fines,” 18 Edward II, to have been living in 1324. He left a daughter his heir, who manied Stretch, and was the mother of Sir John Stretch, Knight, of Little Hempston and Wolston, who married Matilda, daughter and heir of John Molton, Lord of Pinhoe, near Exeter. Their son, Thomas Stretch of Pinhoe, Little Hempston and Wolston, died childless, and his inheritance descended to his sisters — Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Beauchamp of Lillesdon, county Somerset; and Cicely, who was childless at the death of her first husband, Thomas Bonville, but by her second, Sir William Cheney, had a son, John, who succeeded both to Pinhoe and to Little Hempston. This Sir William Cheney, brother of Sir Ralph Cheney of Upottery, was a great-grandson of William Cheney (and Felicia, his wife), who had obtained the Lordship of Roridge, in the latter parish, by grant of the Chapter of Rouen, in the reign of Henry III. He is described as “Lord of Pinhoe,” “Jure Uxoris,” and Sheriff of Devon in 1408. This office was held in 1434 by his son John, who, by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of John Hill of Spaxton, left issue a son, also called John (High Sheriff of this county in the 32nd year of Henry VI, and in the 1st, 2nd, and 13th of Edward IV; so that he was alive in 1473), and three daughters, married respectively to Strode, Stawell, and Courtenay. John Cheney appears from the Kirkham pedigree to have married Margaret, daughter of Richard Kirkham of Blackdon (who after her husband’s death became the second wife of William Bampfield of Poltimore, whom she survived, and subsequently married Grenville of Stowe). He left by her four daughters (co-heirs), Anne, married to Hussey, by whom she had a son Thomas; Elizabeth, who, by her husband William Clopton, left a son of the same name; Isabel, whose husband was Edward Walgrave, and who had a son called John; and Ellen, the wife of George Babington. It appears from a Latin note appended to one of the Heralds’ Visitations, that in the 23rd of Henry VIII (1532), the whole of the Manor of Pinhoe, together with the property of John Hill of Spaxton, descended to the aforesaid Thomas Hussey, William Clopton, John Walgrave, and Ellen Cheney, after the death of Genevieve, Lady Say, as cousins and co-heirs of Genevieve, daughter of John Hill, the brother of Elizabeth, wife of John Cheney, who, as I have before remarked, was High Sheriff of Devon in 1434. With regard to the marriage of Isabel (one of the daughters and co-heirs of the John Cheney who was alive in 1473), the statement made by Risdon (“Survey,” p. 92), that she, whom he calls Mabel, “was married to Walgrave, as appeareth on a tomb at Buere, in Suffolk, who died in 1306,” is manifestly an error, at least so far as regards the dates. Upon the death of the father of this lady without heirs-male, the Manor of Little Hempston came into the hands of the Willoughby family, according to Lysons, “by marriage with the heiress.” I have found nothing, however, to substantiate this statement, although the family they mention most certainly acquired the property about this time, either by purchase or as next-of-kin to the Cheneys in the male line. In order to explain the connexion between the two houses, I must go back to Sir Ralph Cheney of Roridge and Upottery, brother of Sir WilHam Cheney, the second husband of Cicely Stretch. This Sir Ralph Cheney, married Joan, daughter and heir of John Paveley, Lord of Broke, in Wiltshire, and had issue William, Lord of Broke, 2nd of Henry IV (1401), who married and had issue Sir Edward Cheney, Knight, Lord of Broke, and first cousin, once removed to John Cheney of Pinhoe, who died, as we have seen, without male issue. This Sir Edward Cheney, married Alice, aunt and heir of that Humphry, Lord Stafford of Southwick, son of William Stafford of Hook, who as Risdon tells us (p. 359), was created Earl of Devon, 9th of Edward IV, but who was soon afterwards “conveyed to Bridgwater and had his head smitten off, having been Earl of Devon only three months and odd days.” This Alice, by her second husband, Walter Taylboit, became the ancestress of the Strangways of Dorsetshire. By her first marriage with Sir Edward Cheney, Lord of Broke, she left two daughters co-heirs to their father’s barony — Anne, married to Sir John Willoughby, Knight, of Knolle Adrian, Wiltshire; and Elizabeth, the wife of John Colshull. The former left three sons, Sir Robert Willoughby, Knight, William, and Richard, and the first of these, in consequence of the death of his aunt, Elizabeth Colshull, without offspring, succeeded to the Barony of Broke, dejure, although he is stated by Westcote to have been so created by Henry VII, in whose reign he filled the high office of Steward of the Royal Household. He is mentioned in the Visitation of 1564, as “Senescallus hospitii regis,” and the same authority, with others, tells us that his wife was Blanche, daughter and heir of John Champernon of Beer Ferrers; and that being left a widow, she married, secondly, John Carew. By Lord Broke, she left issue a son, Sir Robert Willoughby, Knight, who succeeded to the Barony of Broke upon his father’s death. He was twice married — firstly, to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of Richard Beauchamp of Powick, by whom he had a son Edward; and secondly, to Dorothy, daughter of Thomas Gray, Marquess of Dorset, by whom he left two daughters — Elizabeth, married to John Paulet, Marquess of Winchester; and Anne, wife of Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, created Earl of Devon, by King James I, at Hampton Court, 24th July, 1603. Edward Willoughby, died in his father’s lifetime without male issue; by his wife, Elizabeth Nevyll, daughter of Lord Latymer, he left three daughters — Anne, who died without issue; Blanche, who married Francis Dawtry, and who also died childless; and Elizabeth, the eldest, who was the wife of Sir Fulk Greville, Knight, of Warwickshire, by whom she had a daughter, Margaret, who married Sir Richard Verney, Knight, and died on the 26th March, 1631, aet. 70. Her grandson, Richard, third son of Sir Greville Verney, Knight, claimed the Barony of Broke in virtue of his descent from the last Lord Willoughby, after the death of William Verney, in 1683; and, the claim being admitted, he was called to the Upper House, on the 13th February, 1695, by the title of Lord Willoughby of Broke.
A pedigree of eleven generations of Knolles (of Knolle, county Somerset), is to be found in the Heralds’ Visitation of Devon, 1564. It varies but slightly from the account given by Westcote of the same family (p. 474 of the printed edition of his work). Edmund, or Edward Knolles, the sixth in descent from Baldwin Knolles of Knolle, aforesaid, is described as of Little Hempston, and Lysons tell us (Magna Britannia, p. 269, vol. ii.), that Robert Willoughby, Lord Brooke, sold the manor of Little Hempston to this Edmund, and that it was held by George Knolles, his son, at the time when Sir William Pole made his collections. According to the Visitation, this George Knolles was twice married — to Elizabeth, daughter and co-heir of John Gaunt of Marchwood, Dorset; and to Mary, daughter of John Rowe of Staverton, Serjeant-at-Law, by whom he had a son named George. Westcote says, however, that it was this latter George, who married Mary Rowe (whose brother, John Row, according to the inscription on a memorial-brass, at Staverton, died in 1592), and that he had issue by her a son, George, and four other children whose names are not mentioned by the Heralds.
Although the Knolles’ appear to have resided at Little Hempston, yet it is unlikely that they had anything more than a long lease of the property there from Lord Brooke, and, indeed, Westcote, the contemporary of Sir William Pole, correctly describes it as being “now” (1627-1642) the property of the Marquess of Winchester (View of Devonshire, p. 405.). It descended to the posterity of Elizabeth Willoughby, who, as stated in my last article, married John Paulet, second Marquess; he died in 1576. They had, among other children, William, third Marquess of Winchester (who married Lady Anne Howard, daughter of the Earl of Effingham), and Elizabeth, wife of Sir William Courtenay of Powderham. William, the fourth Marquess, succeeded his father in 1598, and died February 4th, 1628. By his wife, Lucy, daughter of Thomas Cecil, Earl of Exeter, he had issue, John, third son, who being the eldest survivor, succeeded as fifth Marquess to the title and the family estates. This nobleman was eminently conspicuous in his time for his loyal attachment to King Charles I. He garrisoned his seat known as Basing, in Hants, and sustained a series of sieges which lasted for two years. Waller attempted to carry the house by assault three times within nine days, but was on each occasion repulsed with much loss; and afterwards, when Colonel Norton summoned the garrison to capitulate, the Marquess replied that “if the King had no more ground in England than Baring House, he would maintain it to the uttermost.” His lordship, it is said by Collins (i. 85), caused the words, “Aimez Loyaulte” (now the family motto), to be written with a diamond in every window of his mansion. The siege commenced in the month of August, 1643. About September, 1644, the brave defenders were in sore straits for lack of provisions; but they were relieved by Colonel Gage, who marched from Oxford for the purpose, and succeeded in effecting his object with the loss of eleven killed and between forty and fifty wounded. At last the place was stormed and taken by Cromwell in person, who had under his orders six regiments, three of foot, and three of horse; while the Marquess was then supported by about 300 men, under Sir Robert Peake, who also had ten pieces of cannon in position. The letter to the House of Commons announcing the fall of the place is signed by Cromwell, and is dated October 14th, 1645.
The house was looted by the Parliamentary soldiers, and the effects in it were valued at £200,000. Many of the garrison were put to the sword, including one young lady, a daughter of Dr. Griffiths. The Marquess and Sir Robert Peake were sent prisoners to London. In less than twenty hours after this assault Basing House presented nothing but bare walls and chimneys, a fire-ball said to have been thrown by Cromwell’s orders having caused this destruction. This lamentable incident in the Civil War forms the subject of one of Charles Landseer’s most popular pictures. Among the furniture destroyed, there is mention of one bed valued at £14,000, which had been probably provided for the use of Queen Elizabeth, who visited the first Marquess and was entertained with very great magnificence in 1560. Her Majesty was also the guest of the fourth Marquess in 1601. John Dryden, the Laureate, wrote the epitaph of the fifth Marquess, and feelingly refers to the sufferings he underwent for his allegiance to his Sovereign. His lordship died (being Premier Marquess of England) in the year 1674, and was buried at Englefield, Berkshire. An inscription on a flat stone at the foot of the monument was written and signed by Sir Edward Walker, Garter. This nobleman was thrice married — first to Jane, daughter of Thomas, Viscount Savage; then to Honora, daughter of Richard Burgh, Earl of St. Albans and Clanricarde; and lastly to Isabella, daughter of William, Viscount Stafford, who erected the memorial in the Church of Englefield. By his first wife he had issue a son, Charles, who succeeded him; and his second bore him four sons and three daughters. He obtained no reward for his loyalty to the ill-fated House of Stuart, but his immediate posterity appear to have adopted the principles of their ancestor, the first Marquess, who is said to have explained his successful career under four Sovereigns by remarking that “he was a willow, not an oak.” At all events, Charles, the sixth Marquess, was created Duke of Bolton, by William of Orange, on the 9th of April, 1689, and died February, 1699. His son Charles, the second Duke, went to Holland in the latter portion of King James II’s reign, and was instrumental in effecting the change of Government which followed that Monarch’s abdication, and he afterwards carried the Queen’s orb at the coronation of William and Mary. At the time of Queen Anne’s death he was one of the Lords Justices of Great Britain, pending the arrival from Hanover of King George I; and on the 16th October, 1714, he was made a Knight of the Garter. Like his grandfather, he was thrice married. His first wife, a fair girl of 15 (while he was but 18), was the Lady Margaret, daughter of George, Earl of Coventry. This marriage took place on the 7th July, 1679, and the Duchess died in February, 1682. By his second wife, Frances, daughter of Willam Ramsden of Byrom, county York, his Grace had two sons, each of whom held his title in succession. By his third wife, Henrietta Crofts, youngest (natural) daughter of the Duke of Monmouth, he had a son Nassau, who filled the appointment of Auditor-General of Ireland, and was a Knight of the Bath. His Grace died on the 27th February, 1729-30, and the honours devolved upon his son Charles, born 1685, who married Lady Anne, daughter and heir of John, Lord Vaughan, and died without lawful issue in 1754. He was succeeded by his brother. Lord Harry Paulet of Edington, Wiltshire, and M.P. for Southampton for some years. This Duke, by his marriage with Catherine, daughter of Charles Parry, left two sons and two daughters. Lord Charles Paulet, the eldest son, succeeded as fifth Duke, but died unmarried in 1765, when the title came to his brother, Lord Harry, who left three daughters, co-heirs. His Grace was twice married. By his first wife, Henrietta Nunn of Eltham, he had Lady Mary Paulet, who became the wife of John, Viscount Hinchinbrooke, eldest son of the Earl of Sandwich, and her moiety of the manor of Little Hempston is held by the present Lord Sandwich; the other moiety has descended to the children of Lady Katherine, who was one of the daughters of the Duke’s second marriage with Catherine Lowther, sister of the first Earl of Lonsdale of the creation of 1784. The Duke had also another daughter, Lady Amelia, born 1768, who was alive and unmarried in 1856. She is erroneously stated by the author’s of the “Additions” to Risdon, to have been the wife of Lord Hinchinbrooke. Lady Katherine, married the third Earl of Darlington, who was created Duke of Cleveland on the 15th January, 1833, since which time her three sons have successively inherited the Dukedom. The youngest, Lord Harry Vane, born in 1803, became fourth Duke of Cleveland, 1864, and obtained the Royal License on the 18th November in the same year, to take the name of “Powlett” instead of Vane. He married, on the 2nd August, 1854, Lady Catherine, only daughter of the fourth Earl Stanhope, and widow of Lord Dalmeny, eldest son of the fourth Earl, and father of the present Lord Rosebery. His Grace has no children, and the heir-presumptive to his Barony of Barnard, only, is Henry Morgan Vane, Esq., of East Farndon, Northamptonshire, great-grandson of the Hon. Morgan Vane, brother of Henry, third Lord Barnard, who married Lady Grace Fitzroy, daughter of the first Duke of Cleveland (son of King Charles II), who was grandfather of the first Duke of that name of the creation of 1833, who married Lady Catherine Paulet. Upon the death of the father of the latter lady, on the 29th December, 1794, the Dukedom of Bolton became extinct; but the Marquessate of Winchester, together with the lesser honours, devolved upon George Paulet of Amport, Hants (the youngest of the eight sons of Norton Paulet, great-grandson of William, fourth Marquess, who so honourably entertained Queen Elizabeth, as I have already mentioned), and his descendant is now, with the title of Winchester, premier Marquess of England. With respect to the present title of Bolton, the fifth Duke left a daughter, Jean Mary, upon whom he entailed the greater part of his extensive estates, in failure of the male issue of his brother. She married Thomas Orde, Secretary to the Treasury, in 1782, and also Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1794, when his wife inherited under the settlement, Mr. Orde assumed by sign-manual the additional surname and arms of “Powlett,” and was elevated to the Peerage, 20th October, 1797, as Baron Bolton of Bolton Castle, county York.
The manor of Buckyat, or Bokeyt, within the parish of Little Hempston, appears to be the “Bocheourde” of Domesday, which, at the Conquest, became the property of Robert, Earl of Mortaine, the Conqueror’s half-brother, who was also lord of the soil of the neighbouring parish of Broad-Hempston (Ante p. 32). It was for some years the residence of a family who took their name from it. The names of John de Bokayete and Stephen de Bokeyete occur in the year 1310 (Feet of Fines, 3 Edward II).
This family, whose arms were a stag’s head, cabossed between three broad arrows, terminated with Agnes “Buckert or Buckhort,” who married Richard Huckamore, described in the Visitation as of “Bucket,” Esq. Her father was John Bokeyt. According to the Heralds’ Visitation, she had issue Thomas (but Westcote says John Huckmore), and thus drops one generation. Roger, son of John, according to both authorities, married Joan, sister and co-heir of Gregory Fulkerey of Buckland Baron, in the parish of Combeintinhead, and had issue Gregory, whose wife was Jane, daughter of William Walrond of Bovey. Their son, also named Gregory, married Alice Crewys of Chumleigh, and they had a numerous issue, five sons and seven daughters; of the latter, Mary, the eldest, married Thomas Yarde of Bradley. Her husband, by his first marriage with Agnes Strode of Newnham, had a son, George, who was the father of Edward Yarde of Churston and Dean Prior. This Edward died in his father’s lifetime, when his widow, daughter and heir of Walter Northcote of Uton, Crediton, was re-married to Dr. Barnabas Potter (license dated 27th July, 1615), who was instituted to the Rectory of Diptford, vice Nicholas Sherherd, deceased, Patron, the King, in the minority of Frank Sture, August, 1615, and to the Vicarage of Dean Prior, on the resignation of Scipio Stucley, 4th October that same year (”Episcopal Registers.”). Dr. Potter, who was born in 1578, was a Fellow, and eventually Provost of Queen’s College, Oxon. He was elevated to the See of Carlisle, and was consecrated at Ely House, Holborn, on the 15th March, 1628-9. He died in London, January, 1641-2, and was buried in St. Paul’s Church, Covent Garden. John Huckmore, eldest son of Gregory Huckmore, and Alice Crewys, married Mary Floire, and had issue William, who took to wife Jane, daughter and co-heir of Sir Bartholomew Michell of Canington, Somerset, and had issue Gregory, William, and Charles. Sir Gregory Huckmore, appears to have been the last of the heirs (male) of his family. He died in 1678. His daughter married Sir Henry Gould, Knight, one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, and had issue two daughters, co-heirs. The eldest of these ladies married Luttrell; and the youngest, Honora, became the wife of Richard, seventh Earl of Cavan, July, 1782. She died on the 1st October, 1813. In 1882, Mr. Thomas Whiteway was the owner of this property.
The estate in this parish known as Gatcombe (which must not be confounded with the manor of the same name situated at Colyton, and mentioned in the Exeter Domesday), was in the seventeenth century the property and residence of a family who appear to have lived for several generations at Totnes, and to have acquired money in business there. John Bogan and William Bogan were Mayors of Totnes in 1550 and 1551. Walter “Bougine” was of Totnes, merchant, and according to an inscription on a brass in the Parish Church there, which is mentioned by Prince, he married Prothesy, daughter of John Bodley of London, merchant (sister of the great Sir Thomas Bodley), and died 15th April, 1591, leaving six sons and five daughters. Of these sons, William, who is described as “of Gatcombe, in the parish of Little Hempston,” and whose will is dated April 2nd, 1658, married Joan, daughter and co-heir of Zachary Irish of Chudleigh, and had issue William, Walter, and Zachary. William resided at Gatcombe. Walter, by his will, dated 26th August, 1676, gave £20 to the poor of Little Hempston, as his father had done before him; and Zachary, the youngest, found a place amongst the “Worthies of Devon.” He is said to have been an eminent Oriental scholar. His most elaborate work was a learned treatise on the phraseology of Homer compared with the Old Testament writers, and he was also the author of several devotional tracts. A detailed list of his writings will be found in Wood’s “Athenae Oxonienses” (vol. ii, p. 237). He was born in 1625, and proceeded to the University of Oxford in 1640. At first admitted to St. Alban’s Hall, he obtained a scholarship at Corpus on the 26th November, 1641; but his studies were soon so seriously interrupted by the progress of the Civil War, and his sympathies (judging from the fact that his tutor was Ralph Button, a Puritanical Fellow of Merton) being probably with the Parliament, he retired to his father’s house at Gatcombe and remained there until 1646, when he returned to college. He graduated B.A., October 21st, 1646, and in the year following became Fellow of Corpus, and proceeded to M.A., November 19th, 1650, ten years subsequent to the date of his matriculation. He died on the 1st September, 1659, and was buried by his brother William in the north cloister of his College near the Chapel. In consequence of the distractions of the times in which he lived, he feared to leave money to the foundation of which he was a member, and therefore bequeathed £500 to the poor of the city instead. His portrait, stated to have been an admirable likeness, was placed in the Council Chamber at Oxford. His brother William left £20 to the poor of Little Hempston, and his will was dated April 12th, 1681. He appears to have had two sons — Zachariah and Walter. The will of the latter is dated 18th January, 1702, and his widow, Elizabeth, was alive in 1727. Zachary, by his will, dated 2nd November, 1693, also left £20 to the poor of his native parish; and these sums, together with another £20, left by the last-mentioned Walter (or rather with £9, all that remained of it undistributed), and about £49 arrears of interest, in all £138, were invested in the purchase of a field, the property of John Taylor of Totnes, called Dreadon, and situated in the hamlet of Luciford, within the parish of Little Hempston. The total cost of this field of ten acres, which afterwards formed the parish lands, was £210, and the balance appears to have been procured from the “public moneys and stock of the parish,” £40 of which however, was acquired by a legacy to the poor bequeathed by Christopher Blackhall. William Bogan of Gatcombe, the last male of this family, seems to have died early in the eighteenth century. By his will, dated 25th July, 1723, and proved at Totnes, he left an annuity of £10 out of the great tithes of Berry Pomeroy to the poor of his native village. The heiress of Bogan brought Gatcombe to Nelson, and by the latter family it was sold to James Chaster, whose devisees again sold it to Mr. Charles Cornish, in whose family it has continued; and the present owner is Major Charles Orchard Cornish of Ashridge, Northtawton. Little Hempston is mentioned by Risdon as being free from tax and toll, commonly called “Custom free,” by ancient demesne. This privilege is extended to many other parishes in this county, some of which acquired it, similarly, from their land having been originally in the hands of the King as demesne; others by charter, and a large proportion on account of pertaining to the Duchy of Lancaster.