Henry Squire

Last updated

Henry Squire (or Squier) was an English poet and clergyman, and Archdeacon of Barnstaple from 1554 to 1582.

Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford

Henry Squire or Squier was born in 1532 in Warwickshire. He was admitted to Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1548 or 1549, and was sworn in in November 1549, aged 16. [1] He took his B.A. in 1551, and he later took an M.A., though there is no record of this. After the death of Henry Brandon and Charles Brandon, dukes of Suffolk, on 14 July 1551, Squire wrote a Latin verse for the memorial volume Vita et obitus duorum fratrum Suffolciensum [Life and Death of the Two Suffolk Brothers]. [2] In 1552, he was elected a fellow of Magdalen. On 16 June 1553, he was punished by his college ‘for reading a declamation from a book’. On 26 May 1554, at the age of about 21, he was installed as Archdeacon of Barnstaple. His patron was John Veysey, bishop of Exeter. [3] Veysey may have been a relative, for his mother was Joan Squier, daughter of Henry Squier of Handsworth in Staffordshire. [4] In 1555, Henry Squire resigned his fellowship at Magdalen.

Squire the Clergyman

Henry Squire kept the archdeaconry of Barnstaple until he resigned it in 1582 to Robert Lawe. In the meantime, he picked up three other church livings, and held on to them quite as tenaciously. He seems to have kept all of them until his death in 1587. On 2 January 1559, he was instituted to the rectory of Northfield in Worcestershire, in the diocese of Worcester. His patron was Edward Leveson, who was a relative of John Leveson, who married Amice Harman, the sister of Squire’s early patron, John Veysey. [5]

On 9 September 1562, Squire was instituted to the vicarage of Witheridge in Devon. His patron on this occasion was Lewis Stukeley of Affeton, a few miles to the south-west of Witheridge. (He was the brother of the famous adventurer Thomas Stukeley.) Stukeley’s mother was Jane Pollard, daughter of sir Lewis Pollard of Grilstone, Devon. He was the son of Robert Pollard and Agnes Lewkenor, but Robert's first (or second) wife was Joan Marwood, whose mother was Agnes Squire. [6] These Squires were seated at Heanton Punchardon, near Barnstaple; and there may be some old connection between them and the Squires of the west midlands as yet to be discovered.

On 24 October 1562, Squire was collated to a prebend in Exeter Cathedral by William Alley, the new bishop of Exeter.

On 29 July 1563, Henry Squire was instituted to the rectory of Iddesleigh in Devon. His patron on this occasion was Anthony Harvey, esq., but the true patron was sir John St Leger of Annery in Monkleigh, Devon. [7] His daughter Frances was the wife of Lewis Stukeley’s son and heir, John Stukeley. So Henry Squire certainly seems to have made good of whatever connections he had to the gentry of this part of central Devon. Henry Squire, M.A., died at Iddesleigh in 1587, and was buried at his church of St James on 21 May. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rashleigh family</span>

Rashleigh is a surname of a prominent family from Cornwall and Devon in south western Britain, which originated in the 14th century or before at the estate of Rashleigh in the parish of Wembworthy, Devon. The principal branches were:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Vesey</span>

John Vesey or Veysey was Bishop of Exeter from 1519 until his death in 1554, having been briefly deposed 1551–3 by King Edward VI for his opposition to the Reformation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John St. Leger (died 1596)</span> English politician

Sir John St Leger, of Annery in Monkleigh, Devon, was an English landowner who served in local and national government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Rashleigh (1554–1624)</span> Sixteenth century English merchant and member of Parliament

John Rashleigh II of Menabilly, near Fowey in Cornwall, was an English merchant and was MP for Fowey in 1588 and 1597, and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1608. He was the builder of the first mansion house on the family estate at Menabilly, near Fowey, Cornwall, thenceforth the seat of the family until the present day. Many generations later the Rashleigh family of Menabilly in the Return of Owners of Land, 1873 was listed as the largest landowner in Cornwall with an estate of 30,156 acres (122.04 km2) or 3.97% of the total area of Cornwall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Pollard (sheriff)</span>

Sir Hugh Pollard lord of the manor of King's Nympton in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1535/6 and in 1545 was appointed Recorder of Barnstaple in Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Monck</span>

Sir Thomas Monck of Potheridge in the parish of Merton, Devon, was Member of Parliament for Camelford, Cornwall, in 1626. He was the father of George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle (1608–70), KG and of Nicholas Monck, Bishop of Hereford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Chichester (died 1569)</span>

Sir John Chichester (1519/20-1569) of Raleigh in the parish of Pilton, near Barnstaple in North Devon, was a leading member of the Devonshire gentry, a naval captain, and ardent Protestant who served as Sheriff of Devon in 1550-1551, and as Knight of the Shire for Devon in 1547, April 1554, and 1563, and as Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1559, over which borough his lordship of the manor of Raleigh, Pilton had considerable influence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lewis Pollard</span> Member of the Parliament of England

Sir Lewis Pollard of Grilstone in the parish of Bishop's Nympton, Devon, was Justice of the Common Pleas from 1514 to 1526 and served as MP for Totnes in 1491 and was a JP in Devon in 1492. He was knighted after 1509. He was one of several Devonshire men to be "innated with a genius to study law", as identified by Fuller, who became eminent lawyers at a national level. He was a kinsman of the judge and Speaker of the House of Commons Sir John Pollard.

John Northcote (1570–1632) of Uton and Hayne, Newton St Cyres, near Crediton, Devon, was a member of the Devonshire gentry, lord of the manor of Newton St Cyres, who is chiefly known to history for his artistically acclaimed effigy and monument in Newton St Cyres Church. Little or no documentary evidence concerning his career as a soldier or county administrator has survived, but either he or his identically named son was Sheriff of Devon in 1626.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devon heraldry</span>

The landed gentry and nobility of Devonshire, like the rest of the English and European gentry, bore heraldic arms from the start of the age of heraldry circa 1200–1215. The fashion for the display of heraldry ceased about the end of the Victorian era (1901) by which time most of the ancient arms-bearing families of Devonshire had died out, moved away or parted with their landed estates.

The Manor of Combe Martin was a medieval manor estate in Combe Martin, Devon, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monkleigh</span> Village in Devon, England

Monkleigh is a village, parish and former manor in north Devon, England, situated 2 1/2 miles north-west of Great Torrington and 3 1/2 miles south-east of Bideford. An electoral ward exists titled Monkleigh and Littleham. The population at the 2011 census was 1,488.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Annery, Monkleigh</span> Historic estate in Devon, England

Annery was an historic estate in the parish of Monkleigh, North Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manor of Monkleigh</span>

The Manor of Monkleigh was a mediaeval manor centred on the village of Monkleigh in North Devon, England, situated 2 1/2 miles north-west of Great Torrington and 3 1/2 miles south-east of Bideford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Prust</span>

Joseph Prust (1620–1677) of Annery, in the parish of Monkleigh, Devon, was a royalist military commander during the Civil War. He was a lieutenant colonel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John St Leger (died 1441)</span> High Sheriff of Kent

Sir John St Leger of Ulcombe in Kent, was Sheriff of Kent in 1430 and 1433.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawkridge, Chittlehampton</span> Historic estate in north Devon, England

Hawkridge in the parish of Chittlehampton in North Devon, England, is an historic estate, anciently the seat of a junior branch of the Acland family which originated at nearby Acland, in the parish of Landkey and later achieved great wealth and prominence as the Acland Baronets of Killerton, near Exeter. The former mansion house is today a farmhouse known as Hawkridge Barton, a grade II* listed building. The Devon historian Hoskins (1959) stated of Hawkridge: "Externally there is nothing remarkable except a decaying avenue of ancient walnuts, so often the first indication of a 16th or 17th century mansion". The interior contains a fine plaster heraldic overmantel showing the arms of Acland impaling Tremayne, representing the 1615 marriage of Baldwin Acland (1593–1659) of Hawkridge and Elizabeth Tremayne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bampfield</span>

Richard Bampfield (1526–1594) of Poltimore and Bampfylde House in Exeter, both in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon in 1576. He began construction of the Tudor era Poltimore House in 1550, and completed the building of Bampfylde House, Exeter, along with The Great House, Bristol one of the finest Elizabethan townhouses in the West Country, in 1590. He is the ancestor of the Bampfylde Baronets and Barons Poltimore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Recorder of Barnstaple</span>

The recorder of Barnstaple was a recorder, a form of senior judicial officer, usually an experienced barrister, within the jurisdiction of the Borough of Barnstaple in Devon. He was usually a member of the local North Devonshire gentry. The position of recorder of any borough carried a great deal of prestige and power of patronage. The recorder of a borough was often entrusted by the mayor and corporation to nominate its Members of Parliament, as was the case with Sir Hugh I Pollard, Recorder of Barnstaple, who in 1545 nominated the two MP's to represent the Borough of Barnstaple. In the 19th century a recorder was the sole judge who presided at a Quarter Sessions of a Borough, a "Court of Record", and was a barrister of at least five years' standing. He fixed the dates of the Quarter Sessions at his own discretion "as long as he holds it once every quarter of a year", or more often if he deemed fit.

The recorder of Exeter was a recorder, a form of senior judicial officer, usually an experienced barrister, within the jurisdiction of the City of Exeter in Devon. Historically he was usually a member of the Devonshire gentry. The position of recorder of any borough or city carried a great deal of prestige and power of patronage. The recorder was often entrusted by the mayor and corporation to nominate its members of parliament, as was the case with Sir Hugh I Pollard, Recorder of Barnstaple, who in 1545 nominated the two MP's to represent the Borough of Barnstaple. In the 19th century a recorder was the sole judge who presided at a Quarter Sessions of a Borough, a "Court of Record", and was a barrister of at least five years' standing. He fixed the dates of the Quarter Sessions at his own discretion "as long as he holds it once every quarter of a year", or more often if he deemed fit.

References

  1. ↑ W. D. Macray. A Register of the Members of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. Vol. II, p. 131. 1897 @ Internet Archive.
  2. ↑ Thomas Wilson, ed. Vita et obitus duorum fratrum Suffolcensum, images 54—55 (sigs. I2 r-v). 1551 @ Early English Books Online
  3. ↑ Person ID 66588 : Squier, Henry (1554—1587) @ Clergy of the Church of England Database. All clerical details are from this record.
  4. ↑ John Fetherston. The Visitation of the County of Warwick in the Year 1619, p. 105. 1877 @ Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ Nicholas Orme. ‘Veysey [formerly Harman], John (c. 1464–1554)’. Oxford Dictionary of English Biography. Cf. William Dugdale. The Antiquities of Warwickshire Illustrated. Vol. II, p. 913. 1730 @ Google Books.
  6. ↑ J. L. Vivian. The Visitations of the County of Devon, p. 721. 1885 @ Hathi Trust | F. T. Colby. The Visitation of Devon in the Year 1564, pp. 190-191. 1881 @ Google Books.
  7. ↑ Roger Virgoe. ‘ST LEGER, Sir John (by 1516—1593/96), of Annery in Monkleigh, Devon. History of Parliament Online.
  8. ↑ G. C. Easton. ‘Monumental inscriptions at Idysleigh, N. Devon’. Genealogist, Vol. VII, pp. 262-264. 1883 @ Internet Archive.
Church of England titles
Preceded by Archdeacon of Barnstaple
1544–1554		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.