Robert Hungerford, MP

Family and Education b. Feb./Mar. 1510, 1st s. of Robert Hungerford of Cadnam by Eleanor, da. of John Yorke of Halthorp; bro. of Thomas. m. by 1536, Margery, da. of Sir Henry Long of Draycot Cerne, 6s. 4da. suc. fa. 9 June 1517.1

Offices Held

Commr. relief, Wilts. 1550; j.p.q. 1554; sheriff 1554-5.2

Biography Robert Hungerford came from a branch of the family which lived in the parish of Bremhill, in north-western Wiltshire. His descent from a younger son of Sir Edmund Hungerford of Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, made him a second cousin of Sir Anthony Hungerford and a more distant relative of Walter, Lord Hungerford of Heytesbury, who was executed with Cromwell in 1540.3

Little is known of Hungerford’s career. He made a will on 27 May 1544 when about to go on active service overseas, mustered with other Wiltshire gentry and supplied eight footmen for the vanguard of the army in France; he may also have been the Robert Hungerford for whom the 3rd Duke of Norfolk signed a warrant at Calais for payment of 100 soldiers sent by the bishop of Lincoln. Although Hungerford had no property in the town of Calne he bequeathed to his third son Thomas a pasture called ‘Berrels’ in the parish. He probably owed his return for the borough to the Long family. His father-in-law, whose own first wife had been a Hungerford of Down Ampney, was a knight of the shire in the same Parliament. Hungerford’s second son and eventual heir, Walter, married Frances, daughter of the John Cock II who had been returned for Calne in 1547. As sheriff, Hungerford was to be responsible for the return of his brother Thomas for Heytesbury in 1555.4

By his will of 1544 Hungerford left Cadnam to his eldest son John, although the widow was to enjoy the manor so long as she did not remarry. The five other sons all had provision made for them: Walter was left the farm of Durford, near Amesbury; Thomas the pasture near Calne, with £20 and livestock; Robert all his father’s property in Westminster; Henry a copyhold in Bremhill, with £20; and Anthony all the lands in Cricklade, also with £20 and livestock. Eleanor, the eldest daughter, was to have £100 towards her marriage, and her sisters Cecily and Mary were given 100 marks apiece. Another daughter, Dorothy, mentioned in the visitations, may have been born after the will was made. Annuities of 10s. went to each of the testator’s brother Thomas and Richard, the first of whom was named executor with the widow and eldest son, the overseers being Sir Henry Long, Sir Anthony Hungerford and the latter’s heir John. Although the will was not proved until 9 Nov. 1558, Hungerford may have died as early as the autumn of 1555 when, after making his return as sheriff to the Parliament of that year, he appears to have been replaced in that office by Henry Hungerford, presumably his fifth son and perhaps until then his under sheriff.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558 Author: T. F.T. Baker Notes 1. Date of birth given at fa.’s i.p.m. C142/32/76, confirmed by Salisbury Dioc. RO, Bishop’s Deposition Bk. 2, f. 15. Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 94; PCC 70 Noodes. 2. CPR, 1553, p. 359; 1553-4, p. 25; E179/198/261; C219/24/190 for shrievalty. 3. VCH Wilts. v. 114, 122-3. 4. PCC 70 Noodes; LP Hen. VIII, xix. 5. PCC 70 Noodes.