Robert Hill (died 1426)

Last updated

Sir Robert I Hill (died before 1426), sometimes written Hull, was an English politician and judge from the West Country.

Contents

Origins

Born before 1350, the son of Robert Hill, a lawyer, he made his home at Shilstone in the parish of Modbury in Devon. He is often confused with another Robert Hill (died 1423), who lived at Spaxton in Somerset and was the son of Sir John Hill (died1408), a Justice of the King's Bench. [1] [2]

Career

He initially entered politics, sitting as MP in the Parliament of England for various Devon constituencies. In 1372 he represented both Dartmouth and Tavistock; then Plympton in 1373, in both Parliaments of 1377, and in 1380; and finally in 1379 Exeter. [1]

Thereafter he followed his father in a legal career, becoming one of the counsel retained by Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, in 1384, a member of the Inner Temple, and in 1388 a serjeant-at-law. [1] By 1399 he was a King's Serjeant, [1] and was called on for a so-called loan of 100 pounds to aid in the King's wars against the Welsh and the Scots. [2] In 1408 he was created a Justice of the Common Pleas, remaining in post for the rest of his life. Though he acted as chief justice following the death of Edward Norton, he was never formally appointed. [1]

In 1415 he was one of the judges in the Southampton Plot treason trial, in which Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge, Henry Scrope, 3rd Baron Scrope of Masham, and Sir Thomas Grey were condemned and beheaded. In 1417 he was appointed to hold sessions in Wales and in 1422 was chief justice of the Isle of Ely. [2]

His salary was last paid at Easter 1423 and he died shortly after, [1] maybe in 1425. [2]

Family

He married Isabella Wadham, sometimes called Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Wadham, of Edge, Justice of the Common Pleas from 1388 to 1397, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of William Shilston, of Shilstone. [1] [3]

Their children included his heir Robert II Hill, born about 1392, who was High Sheriff of Devon in 1428. [1]

By 1419 Isabel had died and he had become the fourth husband of Joan, daughter and only legitimate heir of Sir Otto II Bodrugan, High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1381, who survived him and died in April 1428. [1] She was the granddaughter of Sir Otto I Bodrugan, the half-sister of William I Bodrugan and the mother of William II Bodrugan.

Related Research Articles

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

Modbury is a large village, ecclesiastical parish, civil parish and former manor situated in the South Hams district of the county of Devon in England. Today due to its large size it is generally referred to as a "town" although the parish council has not elected to give itself the status of a town as it could do under s.245(6) of the Local Government Act 1972, so it does not have a town council and cannot have a town mayor. It is also known informally as a "market town", as from at least 1199 the lord of the manor has held the right to hold a regular market. The village is situated on the A379 road, which links it to Plymouth and Kingsbridge. The current parish population is approximately 1,500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609)</span> English benefactor (1531–1609)

Nicholas Wadham (1531–1609) of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton, Somerset, and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon, was a posthumous co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford, with his wife Dorothy Wadham who, outliving him, saw the project through to completion in her late old age. He was Sheriff of Somerset in 1585.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton</span> Member of the Parliament of England

John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton of Stourton, Wiltshire, was an English soldier and politician, elevated to the peerage in 1448.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wyndham (1558–1645)</span> English landowner

Sir John Wyndham, JP, of Orchard Wyndham in the parish of Watchet in Somerset, was an English landowner who played an important role in the establishment of defence organisation in the West Country against the threat of Spanish invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hankford</span> English lawyer

Sir William Hankford KB of Annery in Devon, was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1413 until 1423.

Sir William Bagot was a politician and administrator under Richard II.

Sir Hugh Waterton, was a trusted servant of the House of Lancaster.

The Manor of Shirwell was a manor in North Devon, England, centred on the village of Shirwell and largely co-terminous with the parish of Shirwell. It was for many centuries successively the seat of two of the leading families of North Devon, the Beaumonts and their heirs the Chichesters of Raleigh, Pilton, both of which families were seated at the estate of Youlston within the manor of Shirwell. The manor house which survives today known as Youlston Park is one of the most architecturally important historic houses in North Devon and exists largely in its Georgian form, but retains many impressive late 17th-century interiors.

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

Sir Richard Hankford was holder by right of his wife of the feudal barony of Bampton and part of the feudal barony of Barnstaple in Devon, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merryfield, Ilton</span> Historic estate in Somerset, England

Merryfield is a historic estate in the parish of Ilton, near Ilminster in Somerset, England. It was the principal seat of the Wadham family, and was called by Prince their "noble moated seat of Meryfeild" (sic). The mansion house was demolished in 1618 by Sir John Wyndham (1558–1645), of Orchard Wyndham, a nephew and co-heir of Nicholas II Wadham (1531–1609), co-founder of Wadham College, Oxford, the last in the senior male line of the Wadham family. It bears no relation to the present large 19th-century grade II listed mansion known as Merryfield House, formerly the vicarage, immediately south of St Peter's Church, Ilton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadham, Knowstone</span> Historic manor in Devon, England

The manor of Wadham in the parish of Knowstone in north Devon and the nearby manors of Chenudestane and Chenuestan are listed in the Domesday Book of 1086:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cary (died 1395)</span>

Sir John Cary, of Devon, was a judge who rose to the position of Chief Baron of the Exchequer (1386–88) and served twice as Member of Parliament for Devon, on both occasions together with his brother, Sir William Cary, in 1363/64 and 1368/69.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feudal barony of Dunster</span> English feudal barony

The feudal barony of Dunster was an English feudal barony with its caput at Dunster Castle in Somerset. During the reign of King Henry I (1100–1135) the barony comprised forty knight's fees and was later enlarged. In about 1150 the manors retained in demesne were Dunster, Minehead, Cutcombe, Kilton and Carhampton in Somerset, and Ham in Dorset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Wadham (died 1452)</span>

Sir William Wadham (c.1386–1452) of Merryfield in the parish of Ilton, Somerset and Edge in the parish of Branscombe, Devon came from a West Country gentry family with a leaning towards the law, who originally took their name from the manor of Wadham in the parish of Knowstone, between South Molton and Exmoor, north Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Hill (died 1423)</span> Member of the Parliament of England

Robert Hill (c.1361–1423) of Spaxton, Somerset was four times MP for Somerset, in 1414 and 1415 jointly with Sir Hugh Luttrell (c.1364–1428) of Dunster Castle, and then in 1416 and 1419.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Chichester (died 1627)</span>

Sir Robert Chichester (1578–1627), (KB), lord of the manor of Raleigh in the parish of Pilton in Devon, was Custos Rotulorum and Deputy Lieutenant of Devon.

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

Sir John Wadham (c.1344–1412) was a Justice of the Common Pleas from 1389 to 1398, during the reign of King Richard II (1377–1399), selected by the King as an assertion of his right to rule by the advice of men appointed of his own choice, and one of the many Devonians of the period described by Thomas Fuller in his Worthies of England, as seemingly "innated with a genius to study law".

Sir Otto I Bodrugan, his name often written at the time as Otes, was an English landowner, soldier and politician from St Goran in Cornwall.

Sir Robert Chalons was an English courtier, soldier, administrator and politician from Devon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Howard (judge)</span>

Sir William Howard of East Winch and Wiggenhall in Norfolk, England, was a lawyer who became a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He is the founder and earliest known male-line ancestor of the House of Howard, as is firmly established by historical research.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ramsay, Nigel (2004), "Hill, Robert (d. 1423x5)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, retrieved 25 August 2017
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hamilton, John Andrew (1888), Leslie Stephen (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 26, London: Smith, Elder, & Co.
  3. Pedigree Hill of Shilston https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002002213917&view=1up&seq=500&size=175.