John Glanville

Family and Education b. 1542, 2nd or 3rd s. of John Glanville, merchant of Tavistock, by Thomasine, da. of John Brown. educ. L. Inn 1567, called 1574. m. Alice, da. of John Skerret of Tavistock, 7ch. inc. John, Speaker of House of Commons in Apr. 1640.

Offices Held

J.p.q. Cornw., Devon from c.1583; Lent and Autumn reader, L. Inn 1589; serjeant-at-law 1589; recorder, Launceston 1590; justice of the common pleas from 1598.

Biography According to tradition Glanville began his legal career as an attorney and was the first of that branch of the profession to reach the bench. He was a servant of the Russell family, and the inference is that it was the 2nd Earl of Bedford who obtained him his first parliamentary seat. As the son of a local merchant, known to the Russells, Glanville would have had his own claim at Tavistock in 1586. During this Parliament he was appointed to a committee on the continuation of certain statutes (17 Mar. 1587), the only mention of him in the surviving records of the House. By 1592 he was being employed by Sir Walter Ralegh in stannary business. He was interested in his own right in the St. Margaret’s tin works in Cornwall, and probably owned property near St. Germans, for which he was returned in the 1593 Parliament, possibly assisted by Ralegh. In 1599 the 3rd Earl of Bedford addressed him as ‘my very good trusty and loving friend’. While on circuit 27 July 1600 Glanville fell from his horse and with ‘the unwieldy weight of his own body toppled down’ head first, breaking his neck. Administration of his large estate was granted to his widow on 8 Aug. of that year, and an inquisition post mortem was taken at Exeter 12 Aug. 1602. His heir was his son Francis, aged 14 in 1602. His widow married Sir Francis Godolphin.

DNB; Foss, Judges, v. 494; Devon RO, q. sess. order bk. 1592-1600, p. 216; Trans. Dev. Assoc. viii. 381; C. S. Gilbert, Hist. Surv. Cornw. ii. 412; Bodl. Tanner 115, f. 195; PCC admon. act bk. 1600, f. 57; C142/271/158; D’Ewes, 416; N. Pevsner, South Devon, 277.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603 Author: P. W. Hasler Notes

The following article was written by W U S Glanville-Richards and published in an 1884 edition of the Western Antiquary under the above title -

At the head of the Pedigree of Glanville of Tavistock, in the Visitation of Devon in the year 1620, stands John Glanville, father of Sir John Glanville, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1598, but the Heralds have not mentioned the name or parentage of his wife. In the will of John Glanville of Tavistock, "the elder" - to distinguish him from his son Judge Glanville - which was proved in London, the 1st February, 1580, the first clue to the identification of this lady is found; for, amongst other names mentioned is that of "Thomazine" his wife, to whom he bequeaths certain property. Her surname is not alluded to, and it is highly probable that her name and family would still have remained buried in oblivion had not a bundle of old deeds, in the possession of a collateral descendant, been fortunately unearthed. Amongst these deeds was a conveyance of a parcel of land in the Parish of Tavistock from John, the son of William Browne, to his son-in-law, John Glanville of Tavistock, the husband of his daughter Thomazine. This is dated in the year 1548. The said parcel of land appears by another deed to have passed to Nicholas, the eldest son of John and Thomazine Glanville, and brother to Judge Glanville.

The Brownes were a family of consideration and repute. Sir Thomas Browne - son of Sir Stephen Browne, Lord Mayor of London in 1439 - was treasurer of the Household to Henry VI, and also Sheriff of Kent in 1440 and 1460. he married Eleanor Fitz-Alan, daughter and heriress of Thomas Fitz-Alan and Joan his wife (PM 21 Henry 6th) which said Thomas Fitz-Alan was brother to John 14th Earl of Arundel. Sir Thomas and Lady Eleanor Browne had several children born to them, amongst whom were Sir Anthony Browne, Constable of Calais, ancestor to the Lords Montague; Sir George Browne of Bleechwood Castle, Surrey, beheaded in 1483; and William Browne whose son finally settled at Tavistock (Sir B Burkes LG). The name of his son as it appeared by Har. MSS. and Rawlinsons MSS. 6164.287, and also by another MS. in Queens Coll. Oxon, was John Browne of Tavistock, who had William and Thomazine, and probably another daughter who married William (?) Grylls of Tavistock. Thomazine was, as before stated, the wife of John Glanville of Tavistock, and mother of Sir John Glanville, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, whose fine monument is still to be seen in Tavistock Church