John Cole, MP

amily and Education b.c.1376, s. of Adam Cole of Hittesleigh, Devon, by Margaret, da. of Sir Henry Pomeroy (d.1373), of Berry Pomeroy, Devon. m. (1) by 1391, Blanche; (2) aft. 1412, Margaret (d.1421); (3) 1422, Margery.1

Offices Held Sheriff, Devon 22 Nov. 1405-5 Nov. 1406.

Commr. of inquiry, Devon Dec. 1406 (piracy), Devon, Cornw. July, Nov. 1412 (breaches of truces at sea), Devon Dec. 1418 (concealments); oyer and terminer Apr., Oct. 1410, Mar., Dec. 1411; to requisition ships, Devon, Cornw. May 1416.

Biography Cole was described as ‘of Uppetamer’ in 1391 when he and his first wife were confirmed in possession of that manor (presumably situated on the border between Cornwall and Devon), the manors of Nethway and Hittesleigh, the advowson of Hittesleigh, a third part of the manor of ‘Wynston’ near Dartmouth, and lands elsewhere in Devon, as well as in the manor of ‘Respervet’ and property in and near Launceston in Cornwall. If, as seems likely, he had already come of age, then he must have been born before 1376, the date suggested at a subsequent inquisition. These estates, together with the lands he was later holding in East Stoodleigh and Wibbery, made him a person of some substance before his term of office as sheriff of Devon, but his distinction lay rather in his inheritance of part of the Pomeroy estates and in his military exploits. Cole was associated with Sir Thomas Pomeroy*, husband of his cousin, Joan Pomeroy, as early as 1409; indeed, on 24 Dec. that year, after his name had been listed as one of only four witnesses to the parliamentary elections held at Exeter, he stood surety for the appearance of Sir Thomas in Parliament as one of the knights of the shire. Early in 1417, jointly with Sir Thomas and his wife, Cole became heir of the manor of Stockleigh Pomeroy and moieties of the manors of Harberton and Brixham after the death without children of his uncle, Sir John Pomeroy*. It was only now that, having increased his landed holdings in this way, he himself was elected knight of the shire. In 1420, shortly before her death, Sir John’s widow granted Sir Thomas and Cole the family seat at Berry. However, Cole’s interest in the Pomeroy estates seems to have soon disappeared, for Sir Thomas was said to be holding all the property at the time of his death in 1426. Perhaps Cole was bought or forced out.2

Cole normally lived at Nethway, near Dartmouth, and many of his activities were connected with that port and with maritime affairs, including an inquiry into the concealment of a Genoese ship, apparently taken by pirates. There is evidence that he took part in the invasion of France in 1415, and he was closely concerned with later expeditions, too. In May 1416 he was commissioned with a burgess of Dartmouth to muster ships and mariners in Devon and Cornwall for the large force about to put to sea under the command of Edward, Lord Courtenay. Then, in March 1417, he himself was granted royal letters of protection as a member of the retinue of Sir Thomas Carew, the latter having undertaken to guard the sea until the autumn, and make war not only on French shipping, but on vessels of Castile, Scotland and Genoa as well. In January 1418 Cole was in the service of the duke of Clarence, only to obtain, on 16 Apr. following, letters of protection during service with the admiral of England, Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, no doubt also for the safe-keeping of the Channel. Three months later Cole and Thomas Treverak were contracted to be at sea from 25 July until Michaelmas with a force of 58 men-at-arms and 120 archers in their company, their express instructions being to patrol as far as possible up the River Seine, to keep the estuary open for English ships, and to protect the garrison at Harfleur from attack by water.3

This seems to have been Cole’s final period of service. He attended the parliamentary elections held at Exeter castle in the spring of 1421, and he was himself returned again as a knight of the shire two years later. His second wife died in 1421, whereupon he seems to have married a third time and to be the same as the John Cole who, with his wife Margery, received a papal indult for a portable altar in 1422. He was still alive in 1429, but probably died before 1434 when feoffees were in possession of his lands and presented an incumbent for the church at Hittesleigh. Certainly, by the following year Nethway was no longer in Cole’s possession, and ‘Uppetamer’ had come into the hands of John Cokeworthy II* of Yarnscombe.4

Ref Volumes: 1386-1421 Notes Date of birth: C13/21/44.

OR, i. 289, 305; Reg. Stafford ed. Hingeston-Randolph 178.

1.Reg. Brantingham ed. Hingeston-Randolph, 24; CIPM (Rec. Comm.), iv. 64 (the inquisition is now missing); CFR, xi. 378; CPL, vii. 314. The pedigree given by Vivian (Vis. Devon, 213) is erroneous. 2.Cornw. Feet of Fines (Devon and Cornw. Rec. Soc. 1950), 827; CP25(1)45/75/151; CFR, xi. 198, 201, 319; CCR, 1413-19, p. 451; 1419-22, pp. 157-8; 1422-9, pp. 4-5, 83; E.B. Powley, House of de la Pomerai, 67-68; Peds. Plea Rolls ed. Wrottesley, 302; Reg. Stafford, 178; CAD, i. C1397; Feudal Aids, i. 496-7; C219/10/5. 3.CPR, 1405-8, p. 308; 1416-22, pp. 73, 202, 208; DKR, xliv. 595, 601, 604; N.H. Nicolas, Agincourt, 335; E404/34/128; J.H. Wylie, Hen. V, iii. 45. 4. C219/12/5; CP25(1)46/81/61, 83/114, 117; Reg. Lacy ed. Hingeston-Randolph, i. 161, 272-3; CFR, xi. 378; CPL, vii. 314.

The Genealogy of the Family of Cole, of the County of Devon: Of the County of Devon, and of ... by JAMES. EDWIN-COLE

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• 1 WILLIAM COLE, of Hutenesleigh (now called Hittisleigh) in the county of Devon, living in the year 1243, whose son and heir
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• 2 ROGER COLE,* had "his dwelling at Coleton," in Chumleigh, and also held, in 27 Henry III., Hantesford, in that parish.† In 25th of Edward I. he was "returned from the county of Cornwall as holding lands or rents to the amount of £20 yearly value and upwards, either in Capite or otherwise, and as such summoned under the general writ to muster at London, on Sunday next after the Octaves of St. John the Baptist (7 July, 1297), to perform Military Service in person with horses and arms, &c., in parts beyond the Seas ;" ‡ and also again summoned with his son William§ to muster at Berwick-on-Tweed, on the nativity of St. John the Baptist, to perform service against the Scots in 1301. He was father of
• 3 ROGER (of whom immediately), and of the above-named William, who probably perished in this expedition, as there is no further trace of him ; and perhaps his early death may account for the omission of his name in the family pedigree drawn up, in July 1630, by Sir William Segar, Garter, King-at-Arms.
• 3 ROGER was heir to his father Roger, and lived in the reign of Edward II. ; his son and heir was
• 4 JOHN COLE, of the counties of Devon and Cornwall, who, in 1324, was described as "John Cole de Tamer, Man-at-Arms, || and
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• returned by the Sheriff of the county of Devon, pursuant to Writ tested at Westminster, 9 May, as summoned by proclamation to attend the Great Council at Westminster, on Wednesday after Ascension Day, 30 May, 17 Edward II." In the 9th of Edward III (1335) he had free warren in Tamer, Lydeston, Hokesbere, and Hutenesleigh in the county of Devon, and in Rispernatt ;* and it appears by a Fine of 15 Edward III. (1341) that he was possessed of the manors of Respnel in the county of Cornwall, Launceston, and Stokley, and of the manor of Uptamer, Nytheway, and Hutenesleigh, the third part of the manor of Winston, and divers other lands in the county of Devon. He left a son and heir,
• 5 SIR JOHN COLE, knight, of Nythway, in the parish of Brixham, who, on 25th July, 4 Richard II. (1380) was "knighted (before the castle of Ardres) in Fraunce, by the Erl of Buckingham Thomas of Woodstock, Lord Deputy there for the King,"† and who married Anne, daughter and heiress to Sir Nicholas Bodrugan,‡ knt., by whom he had issue,
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• 6 WILLIAM COLE (called Sir William Cole of Tamar, knt., by De la Pole, and also in a Herald's Visitation of Devon), who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Henry Beaupell, knt, and by her was the father of
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• 7 SIR JOHN COLE, knt, who was in "the Retynew of the Duke of Gloucester,* at the Battell of Agincourt on Fryday, the XXVth day of October in the yere of our Lord God, 1415, and in the Third yere of the Reigne of the most Excellent Prince, King Harry the Fifte ;" and it is probable that he received his spurs for his conduct on that glorious field. He married Agnes, daughter of Sir —— Fitzwarine, knt., and had issue four sons, viz : —
• I. Sir Adam Cole, knt., his heir, who succeeded at Uptamer and Nythway, and marrying Elizabeth,† daughter of Sir Richard Weston, knt, had a son John, the father of John, who left issue only two daughters, his co-heirs, viz. : — Elizabeth, married to Sir John Huddy, of Stowell, co. Somerset, Chief Justice of England ; and Joane, married to John Anne of ——— co, Gloucester. Sir Adam also married Margaret,† daughter of Sir Henry de la
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• Pomeroy, knt., and their sole daughter,* married John Holbeame of Holbeame, in co. Devon, esq., and had issue William Holbeame†, Sir William de la Pole adds, "from Margaret, wife of Adam Cole, is descended Baynham of Gloucestershire."
• 8 II. JOHN COLE, of whom hereafter (see p. 12).
• 8 III. WILLIAM COLE,‡ who married and had two sons, William 9 (of whom hereafter), and Stephen, his heir, who married
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• Joane,* daughter and heiress to John White, by whom he had Jane, married to Robert Tozer ; Mary, married John Kestall (or Castell) ; Joane, married to John Truebody ; Thomasine married to John Tucker; and John Cole, his heir, who married Margaret,† daughter and heiress to Thomas Clarke, and by her had issue : — 1. John, his heir (who married Margaret, daughter to John Fortescue of Spriddleston, and had a son, John, who died s. p) ; 2, William, eventual heir ; 3, George ; 4, Edward ;‡ 5, Thomas ; 6, John ; 7, Roger ; 8, Stephen ; and Anne, married to Thomas Jeoffery of Tredineck.
• IV. Robert Cole § (fourth son of Sir John and Agnes) was father of John Cole of Treworgee in St. Cleer, near Liskeard, who had a son Walter, the father of Stephen, who by his wife Jane, daughter and heiress to Robert Wyatt, had John Cole, of Cornwall, || esquire, his heir.
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• 9 WILLIAM COLE (see p. 7) was father of JOHN COLE of Sudbury,* in 10 Suffolk, "where he lies buried," who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Martyn of —— , by whom he had five sons, viz. : —
• I. Martin Cole, M.P. for Sudbury, 14 Queen Elizabeth, who married Ellen, daughter of —— Hancocke, by whom he left, 1, Martin Cole of Sudbury, who married Anna, daughter of —— Andrews, but died s.p. 9 December, 1620, and left by his will, dated 28 September, 18 James 1st, a yearly rent-charge of £14 to be distributed among the poor, and the ministers of Sudbury; 2, Caesar Cole, heir to his brother, 40 years old in 1620, who married Margaret, daughter of —— White, and had Elizabeth, Martin, John, and Thomas; 3, Richard Cole ; and a daughter, married to —— Brown.
• II. William Cole of Sudbury married Catalina, or Catherine, daughter of Ferdinando de Gallegos, a Spaniard of noble extraction, and had two sons, of whom the elder, Robert, married Anna, daughter of —— Cooke of Kersey, in Suffolk, and died s. p, ; and the second, Roger, was, in 1623, of the parish of St. Saviour's, in Southwark, in the co. of Surrey, gent. ; he married Anne daughter of Edward Maisters of Rotherhithe, in Surrey, by whom he had issue, 1 Roger, 2 Roger, 3 John, who all died young, Elizabeth, married to William Oland of London, Susanna married to William Locke of Merton, in Surrey, Anne and Catalina. This William Cole married secondly Elizabeth Rushan, by whom he had 1 John, 2 Martin, 3 William, 4 Edward, 5 Jeoffrey, 6 Parnell, and Elinor, married to James Raye.
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• III. Robert Cole (third son of John Cole and Elizabeth Martyn).
• IV. RICHARD COLE (son of same John and Elizabeth) was of Bishop's Waltham, in the county of Southampton, and father of .... etc.
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• V. Edward Cole, (sometimes called eldest son of John and Eliz.), was principal registrar to the Bishop of Winchester, mayor of that city in 1587, and M.P. for the same in 43 Queen Elizabeth ; he married Christian, daughter of Wm. Holcroft, and by her had issue, four sons, and two daughters, viz : — .... etc.
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• II. We now return to JOHN,* (second son of Sir John Cole, knt.) who married Jane, daughter of Robert Meryot of Devon, and had two sons, viz. : — Simon, his heir ; and WILLIAM, of whom presently, viz., on p. 22. Sir Simon (as he is frequently designated) † was seated at Slade, in the parish of Cornwood, in the county of Devon, and died 12 Henry VII. (1497). He married Alice,‡ daughter and co-heir to — Leuri, of the county of Devon, had a daughter Joane, married to William Hele,§ of South Hele in Copneywood, Devonshire, esq. (by whom she had issue, represented by James Modyford Hele, who died a minor in August, 1716) § and a son, John Cole, of Slade, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the county of Devon in 1512-13, etc., who died 21 Nov., 35 Henry VIII., (1543), having had issue by his wife, Thomasine, || daughter and heiress to Thomas Wallcot of Walcot in the county of
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• The Peerage of Ireland: Or, A Genealogical History of the Present ..., Volume 6 By John Lodge, Mervyn Archdall
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• .... etc.
• William Cole of Hutenefleigh in county of Devon, who was living in the year 1243 † 1 his fon and heir Roger, living in 1295, (24 K. Edward I.) 2 was the father of Roger, living in the time of K. Edward II. 3 whofe fon John of the counties of Devon and Cornwall, had free warren, in Tanner, Liddefton, Hokefbere, and Hutenefleigh, in Devon 4 and it appears by a fine (15 Edward III.) that he was poffeffed of the manors of Refpnel, in county of Cornwall, Launcefton, and Stokley and of the manor of Uptamun ; Nythway ; and Hutenefleigh ; the third part of the manor of Winfton ; and divers other lands in the county of Devon : he left a fon and heir.
• Sir John Cole, Knt. of Nythway, who married Anne, daughter and heir to Sir Nicholas Bodrugan, Knt. ‡ and
  • † .... etc.
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• had iffue William, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Henry Bewpell, and by her was the father of
• Sir John Cole, Knt.— who married Agnes daughter of —— Fitz-Waryn, Knt. and had iffue four fons, viz. Sir Adam his heir; who fucceeded at Nythway and marrying Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Wefton, Knt. had a fon John, the father of John, who left iffue, only two daughters, his coheirs, viz. Elizabeth, married to John Huddy of Stowell in county of Somerfet, chief juftice of England ; and Joan, to John Anne of county of Gloucefter.
• John, of whom hereafter.
• William, who married and had iffue two fons ; Stephen his heir : and William, the father of John, who marrying Elizabeth daughter of John Martyn, had two fons, Edward, and William ; Edward, the eldeft, was principal regifter to the bifhop of Winchefter, and married a daughter of William Holcroft, by her he had iffue four fons, and two daughters, viz. Edward his fucceffor in the regiftry (who married Elizabeth Ebden of Winchefter, and died after 1622, leaving Edward, Jane, Elizabeth, and Sufan) ; William, (who died without iffue) ; Martin, (who married Drufilla, daughter of —— Vaus of Outiam, Efq and had iffue) ; John, (who married a daughter of John Lynch, Efq. and had iffue) ; Anne, (married to Thomas Fryar) ; and Jane, (to Lancelot Thorp, alderman of Winton). William, brother to Edward the regifter, married Catharine, daughter of Ferdinand Galgas a Spaniard, and had two fons, viz. Robert (married to Anne, daughter of —— Cooke of Keofey in Suffolk and died without iffue) ; and Roger (who married Anne, daughter of Edward Mafters of Rotherith in Surrey), Stephen (eldeft fon of William, and grandfon of Sir John) married Joan, daughter and heir to John White, and had John his heir, who
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