William Woollcombe

HISTORY OF THE WOOLLCOMBE FAMILY

These notes apply to the Woollcombe family and not just to William Woollcombe.

FROM THE HAND-WRITTEN NOTES OF CHARLES LOUIS WOOLLCOMBE

(1857-1934) (The following is the main body of the text, some peripheral details have been left out so as to reduce the length of the document).

(Important- the page numbers in brackets refer to the page numbers of Charles Louis Woollcombe's notes - by using the search command it is possible to access that page reference directly. Where it states (see page ..) This indicates page references made by C.L. Woollcombe and refers to the page on which a particular individual is described.

Where [ ] surround some these are comments I have inserted for clarification. The same numbers are used in this document)

(page 21)

Woollcombe (Hemerdon and Ashbury, C. Devon) derived from a common ancestor with the Wollacombes of Wollacombe; the present John Morth Woollcombe of Ashbury Esq. [killed in action in 1917 in Iraq] is the representative of younger branch of this ancient family.

Ar. three bars gu. a mullet for diff. Crest-a falcon ppr wings expanded and inverted, charged with three bars gu. beaked, belled and legged ar.

Burkes General Amoury 1844

(page23)

Woollcombe of Hemerdon and Ashbury. There can be little doubt that the Woollcombes are descended from the same common ancestor as the ancient family of Wollocombe. Two hundred years ago the name was spelt Wolcombe, and in the visitation of 1620 the arms of Wollocombe are assigned to this family1, with a mullet for difference. The first of the Woollcombes or Wolcombes, of whom we find mention, is William Wolcombe, of Holland in Plympton, who married the heiress of Baldwin 2 in the reign of Henry VIII: his two sons married the coheiresses of Pitts of Pitton Yealmpton.

Thomas Woollcombe, Esq. now of Plymouth, is the representative and the seventh in linial descent from the elder. His son, George Woollcombe, Esq. possesses and resides at Hemerdon. The heiresses of Winston, Stokes and Avent, and a coheiress of Bedford.4

The youngest branch resided for some generations at Pitton: in consequence of a marriage with the heiress of Walter, they removed to Ashbury. The heiress of Morth, and a coheiress of Pascoe, married into this branch, of which John Morth Woollcombe, Esq. (died 1866) is the representative.

Arms:- The same as Wollocombe, with a mullet for difference. Crest:- A falcon, proper, with wings expanded and inverted, charged with three bars, gu., beaked, belled and legged ar.5

Lypsons' History of Devonshire, 1822, page CL1X.

1 Confirmed "as descended from his ancestors."

2 There is no authority for this. In the Visitation of 1620 she is called "filia Dunne".

3 William the younger son married Joan, sole heiress of John Pittes. Robert, the elder, married Emma, but it is not known whose daughter she was. She was the widow of John Pittes, the father of this Joan, the last male of his family.

4 There was a second son Baldwin Wolcombe, named in the will of his father, William Wolcombe. His will was dated 1580 and in it he was described as of Newton Ferrers.

He had a son John Wollcombe of Yeo in Meavy, and a grandson William Wolcombe, Minister of Bickinton for 58 years, who died in 1691. His descendents resided at Yeo for four generations and spread into Bickinton, Holcombe Burwell, Exeter, Topsham, in Devon, and into Rotherhithe in Surrey, and are believed extinct.

5 The wings should not be inverted: beak and legs proper; bells and gesses or.

(page 27)

Robert Wollocombe is said to have been descended from the ancient and gentile family of the Wollocombe in the County of Devon. This indeed is an ancient as well as gentile family, which takes its name from the place of its first habitation, s.c. Wollocombe in the parish of MortHo! In the north part of this province; where are the hamlets of Over-Wollocombe and Nether Wollocombe, from whence the shoar adjacent takes the name of Wollocombe sands. Here this family inherited anciently and inheritith to this day. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on therefore with Mr Robert Wollocombe. I must acknowledge tis possible and probable enough, after all hath been spoken, that he was not descended from this family. For however my author derives him from it, yet his giving him an alias, shakes the credit of his authority; he calls him Wolcombe or Woollocombe. Now these are two distinct families as well as names, and most likely this gentleman's name was Wolcombe, and not Wollocombe. xxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxHowever, it may not be denied that he was a Devonian born, there being a reputable family of his name still flourishing in this County; and certain it is he was a considerable writer, for which reason he amy challenge a place in the catalogue of our Worthies. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Note- It is not only most likely, but quite certain, that this gentleman's name was Wolcombe, since he subscribes that name to his dedications to Sir Edward Seymour and Sir Edward Giles in his Glasse for the Godly, a copy of which is in the Bodlian Library. At the period when this Robert Wolcombe lived, there were two families of that name in the county; the one situated in the parish of Plympton St Mary, the other in the parish of Chudleigh. Of the former family was William Wolcombe, residing at Holland, in the first of these parishes, in the reign of Henry the Seventh, who, by his wife, the daughter and heiress Bawden of Leeham, had issue two sons, Robert and William, who married the two daughters6 and coheirs of John Pitts Esq., of Pitton in the parish of Yealmpton. From Robert, the eldest (page 28) son,whose descendents resided for several generations at Challousleigh, also in the parish of Plympton St Mary, the eighth in lineal descent is George Woollcombe, of Hemerdon, Esq.. The descendants of William, the younger son, resided at Pitton during four generations, until the death of John Woollcombe, who represented Plymouth in the last parliament of King William, and first of Queen Anne, and was Sheriff of Devon in the 11th year of her reign. He dying without issue in 17?, left Pitton and Ashbury, which he had inherited from his uncle Henry of Ashbury, to his brother the Rev. Philip Woollcombe, vicar of Zeal Monachorum, whose posterity made Ashbury their residence, of which place his great grandson and representative, John Morth Woollcombe Esq. is the present

possessor.

It does not appear that Robert Wolcombe was of either branch of this family. With much more probability he may be assigned to the second family above mentioned, who resided in the parish of Chudleigh, in the church of which place are several monumental inscriptions to persons of this name, among others to Robert Wolcombe, who was vicar of Chudleigh sixty three years, and died in 1654, who seems to be the person mentioned by Wood, as having been matriculated at Exeter College on 1574, not improbably the son of the subject of this article.

Of these two families of Wollocombe and Woollcombe, so near akin in name, though apparently not in blood, the arms are also nearly similar. Those of Wollocombe are Argent three bare gules, in chief a label of three points of the last. The label is not mentioned by our author, or in ancient manuscripts, or recent printed catalogues of Arms; yet has it been borne by that family from the time of Henry the Eighth, at least, to the present time. The Arms of Woollcombe have always been Argent three bars gules only. These were confirmed in 1611 by Camden Clarencieux to the Pitton branch of this family, with the addition of a mullet sable as its difference. The Crests are quite different; that of Wollocombe being a spur; that of Woollcombe a falcon, bearing the arms on its expanded wings. The Chudleigh family bare the (page 29) arms of Woollcombe.

Princes' Worthies of Devon Edition 1810 pages 767-769

(It should be noted that Dr. William Woollcombe of the Hemerdon branch was one of the editors of last edition of Prince, many of hisstatements are not correct.)

As far as I am aware, Robert Wolcombe, the subject of the above article has never been traced as belonging to any branch of the family. He may have belonged to the Chudleigh branch but he certainly was not the father of Robert Wolcombe, as is suggested, who was vicar of Chudleigh sixty three years, as the latter was , according to the Chudleigh parish registers, the son of the Rev. Bennett or Benedidct Wolcombe, who was vicar of St Mary Major, Exeter, 1570, and became vicar of Chudleigh 1571.

Robert Wolcombe was a contemporary of William Wolcombe of Holland, (see page 141). He may have been one of the persons mentioned in the latters will, or a son of one such person.

I have no doubt that, as stated by Burke and Lysons that the Wollocombes and Woollcombes are descended from a common ancestor, though so far the connection has never been traced. It seems improbable that there should be two families in Devonshire so near akin in name and bearing the same arms without their being related.

Instances have occurred of persons who were undoubtedly Wollocombes being descruibed as Woollcombes. For instance "Over Wollocombe had far lords x x x x 1428 William Wolcome" (Feudal aids) and vice versa. This may be due to ignorance or carelessness. It will be observed that in the pedigrees the name is spelt in variety of ways. In pedigree No 1 there is no doubt that the name Wollocombe is wrong as the person who entered the pedigree signed it Woollcombe (see page 85) and even he allowed the name to be spelt Woolcom and Woollcombe and his own name Wollcomb in a document to which he put his signature. In pedigree No 1 there is another error in stating that the coat and crest were confirmed (page 30) to John Woollcomb of Pitton.

In the original deed the name is spelt Woollcombe and is so given for three generations.

The earliest Wolcombes on record are Robert de Wolcombe (see page 129), 1271.

Thomas de Wolcombe,1339, (see page 131) and Richard Wolcome, 1378, (see page 133). The next we have is Baldewyn Wocombe 1429 (see page 135) probably the great grandfather of William Wolcombe of Holland in Plympton St Mary, from whom our descent is traced in an unbroken line. This William Wolcombe only made his mark but in his will he is described as William Wolcombe. His sons and some of his grandsons, called themselves Wolcombe, Wolcomb or Woolcombe. Of the Hemerdon branch his great grandson William Woollcombe of Challousleigh, in 1617, and of the Pitton branch his grandson John Woollcombe of Pitton in 1612, seem to have been the first members of their respective branches to use the name as at present spelt. The Chudleigh branch stuck to the spelling of Wolcombe and the Bickington and Holcombe-Burnell branches, descendants of Baldwin Wolcombe, 2nd son of William of Holland, and a large number of other branches used the name Woolcombe.

The arms of both families have always been argent three bars gules. The label was assumed by the Wollocombes in Henry the Eighth's reign possibly to assert the fact that they were the elder family.

Lyson's is wrong in stating that in the visitation of 1620 the arms of Wollocombe were assigned to the Woollcombes with a mullet for difference. In 1612 the arms were confirmed to John Woollcombe of Pitton "as descended to him from his ancestors", with a mullet sable for difference. There is no record of the grant of arms to either family.

The crest, I presume of both families, was a spur ar, rowells gules. This is the Wollocombe crest and was also borne by the Wolcombes of Chudleigh and should be borne by the Woollcombes of Hemerdon as well, but they have appropriated the falcon which was ganted to John Woollcombe of Pitton, a junior branch, and the Heralds have recognised it by placing it on a pedigree of that branch of the family.

As recently as 1717, more than 100 years after the crest of the falcon had been assigned to the Pitton branch, the Rev. Philip Woollcombe on his marriage settlement used a seal with the arms and the crest of a spur on it. But the settlement was prepared by Robert Wolcombe, one of the Chudleigh branch, the seal was no doubt his, i.e. of the Chudleigh branch.

(page 33).....

Ashbury.

Ashbury in the hundred of Black Torrington, and in the deanery of Okehampton, lies about five miles from Hatherleigh and sevem from Okehampton. The manor belonged to the familye of Ashbury in the fourteenth century; and afterwards successively to those of Speceatt and Walter. It is now the property and seat of John Morth Woollcombe, Esq. whose ancestor became possessed of it in consequence of a marriage in 1685 with the heireess of Walter, who had previously married Stuckey. In the parish church are monuments of Walter and Woollcombe.

The church of Ashbury belonged to the priory of Launceston; the rectory is now in the gift of the crown. There is no endowed school in this parish, but the children are educated in a school at North Lew, conducted on Dr. Bell's system, and supported by subscription.

The parish, five miles from Hatherleigh, has only 65 souls and 1650 acres of land, nearly all the property and manor of John Morth Woollcombe,Esq, of Ashbury House a fine old mansion with tasteful (page 34) grounds, where his family has been seatesd since 1685.

The church of St Mary is a small structure which has been lately repaired by Mr. Woollcombe.

The rectory is valued in K.B. at #5-13-4 and in 1831 #109, and in the incumbency of the Rev: H. Woollcombe, who is also Rector of High Hampton and Pillaton.

HIGHAMPTON (see Page 271 [this shows a family tree of the Cornish-Bowden family; the wife of the Rev. Arthur Augustus Woollcombe 1860-1921, was Miriam Sibylle, 5th daughter of Admiral William Cornish-Bowden])

The manor was successively in the families of Moels, Filleigh, Haleway, and Carey. It was afterwards in the Walters, whose heiress, in the seventeenth century, brought in marriage to the ancestor of John Morth Woollcombe, Esq. the present proprietor. Mr. Woollcombe is patron of the Rectory.

INWARDLEIGH (see page 293)

The other moiety of Garhuish belongs to John Morth Woollcombe, Esq. NORTH LEW

(see page 311)

A manor, which belonged to the Arundells, was purchased of their representative, Lord Viscount Galway, by Mr. Carpenter, and is now, by a subsequent purchase, the property of John Morth Woollcombe, Esq. The barton of Redcliffe, Ritcliff or Rutleigh, on which are the remains of a chapel, belonged formerly to the Prideause family, afterwards to Sir Thomas Lethbridge, Bart., and now to John Morth Woollcombe. On this barton is a quarry of remarkably fine freestone. The King is patron of the rectory.

BLACK TORRINGTON (see page 526 [ this page doesn't exist])

Whitlegh, partly in this parish and partly in that of Halwell, belongs to John Morth Woollcombe, Esq., of Ashbury. [There follows several several pages of extracts from various sources, e.g. Risdon's Survey of Devon. These have not been included here.]

(page 81)

Pages 83 to 102, except pedigree no 6 on page 93, are from a book written by Dr. William Woollcombe, a member of the Hemerdon family, who lived between 1765 and 1831. This book now belongs to William John Woollcombe of Plympton. He lent it to me in January 1896 when I copied most of it at Paignton, I again borrowed it in August and September 1908 when I painted a few more coats of arms, and I finally finished copying the last coat of arms at Blackheath 10th May 1910.

Pedigree no. 6 copied from the original among the Ashbury papers.

Recent discoveries have shown that many of his statements in the book were incorrect.

(page 95)

ON THE SPELLING OF THE NAME

In the preceding tables it may have been observed that there is not only such a variation in the spelling of the family name as is generally met with in a long course of years in such names as admit the expression of the same, or a nearly similar, sound by a difference in the number or disposition of letters, but such an alteration one instance as occasions a difference of sound and constitutes an essential difference of name. This occurs in the table no. 1, [these tables refer to family trees] where the name is spelt Wollocomb. But from a comparison of the three first tables it will be evident that this is an error, attributable either to the carelessness of transcribers, or to a studied design, not of the family but of the Heralds, of identifying us with the family of Wollocomb, whose pedigree precedes the original entry of ours in the books of the College of Arms. For the College record, no. 1, is evidently taken from the Visitation manuscript no. 2 in the British Museum, the foundation of which is clearly the entry, no. 3, to which the signature is attached, in both of which the name, though variously and carelessly spelt, is always dissylabic, and some modification of the true sound; but in no instance, except in that of no. 1, do we find the name tusyllabic, as in Wollocomb. The signature of the party making the entry is bowever decisive that the name is of two syllables, and at the time it was spelt with the full complement of letters, although at an earlier and also at a later period it has been spelt with fewer.x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x Enough has been addressed to establish the orthography of the name. It's etymology will not long detain us. On this point there may be no ground for distinguishing it from Wollocomb with which it doubtless has a common origin. The final syllable of each name, so descriptive of the prevailing feature of the county, is everywhere acknowledged in the denominations of places and of persons derived from places. But of the import of the prefix, which in this instance gives to the valley it's specific distinction, I must confess ignorance.

The name, and perhaps are finally kindred sound of Owlacombe in the adjoining county, admits of the double interpretation of the valley of the owls and of elms. How far either (page 97) of these appelations is appropriate to the places denominated Wollocomb in the northern, and Woolcomb in the southern parts of the county, is to me unknown. Of the former are the hamlets of Over and Nether Wollocombe, and the manor of Wollocombe Tracey; of the latter are two estates near Marley, in the parish of, the other

in the parish of Woodleigh, the situation of which favourably entitles it to its distinctive termination.

Note by George Woollcombe of Hemerdon:- This is my brother's etymology, for my own part I am inclined to think the name was either taken from being the chief of the clan or still more probably from the situation of the residence from which the name was derived. Comb, British Kume, and as adopted by the Saxons Comb or Combe, was a valley. Wold is Saxon for a chief, or more correctly perhaps, the head, or high situation still within but above the Combe or valley.