John Chichester (d.1669)
Sir John III Chichester of Hall was Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel in Cornwall in 1624.
Origins
Chichester was baptised on 10 December 1598. He was the son and heir of John II Chichester of Hall, Bishop's Tawton, Devon by his wife Anne Basset, daughter of Sir Arthur Basset of Umberleigh House, about 1 1/2 miles south of Hall on the opposite bank of the River Taw, and of Heanton Punchardon, by his wife Elinor Chichester, daughter of Sir John Chichester, knight, of Raleigh, the head of the senior line of the Chichester family of Devon, possibly the leading gentry family in North Devon. The Chichesters of Hall were descended from the Chichesters of Raleigh, namely from Richard Chichester, a younger son of that house, who married the heiress Thomasine de Hall.Education
He subscribed at Oxford University on 18 November 1614 and was awarded a BA from Exeter College, Oxford on 28 February 1617. He was a student of the Inner Temple in 1617.Career
In 1624, he was elected Member of Parliament for Lostwithiel in Cornwall. He was knighted on 17 September 1625.Marriages and children
He married three times:- Firstly to Ursula Strode, daughter of Sir William Strode, MP, of Newnham, Plympton St Mary, whose monument in Plympton St Mary's Church shows his effigy with that of his two wives and ten children. Her brother was the parliamentarian William Strode, one of the Five Members whose attempted arrest in the House of Commons of England by King Charles I in 1642 sparked the Civil War. Ursula's mural monument exists in Bishops Tawton Church, showing her effigy kneeling at a prie dieu with two babies side-by-side wrapped in swaddling clothes in front of her. At the top within an elaborate gilded frame within a broken pediment is a lozenge showing the arms of Strode: Argent, a chevron between three conies courant sable. On the arch above her is shown on the dexter the arms of Chichester and on the sinister the arms of Strode. Below underneath an inscribed tablet is a cartouche bearing the arms of Chichester impaling Strode. The tablet is inscribed as follows:
To the memorie of the truly vertuous and religious the Lady Ursula Chichester daughter to Sr. William Strode of Newingeam, Knight, and wife to Sr. John Chichester of Hall, Knight, by whome she had issue seven sonnes and two daughters whereof survive fower sonnes, two sonnes & one daught. heere buried. She departed this life in the true faith of Christ Jesus and was heere enterred the 6th day of July Anno Dni 1635 aetat suae.
Fayre virtuous sainct injoy thy peacefull sleepe,
While wee that live employ our foes to weepe,
But when thou wak'st let glory shew thy grace,
Let Heav'n, which only can, enrich thy face.
They had six sons, all of whom died childless, although two of them inherited successively the estate of Hall:
- *John IV Chichester, eldest son by Ursula Strode, who died without children and was buried at Bath Abbey, where exists a monument to his memory.
- *Francis Chichester who died childless.
- Secondly he married Elizabeth Pollard, daughter of Sir Lewis Pollard, 1st Baronet of King's Nympton, by whom he had a daughter Susannah Chichester, whose monument exists in Swimbridge Church and who married her cousin Henry Chichester of Stowford, also descended from Hugh Chichester of Tavistock.
- Thirdly he married Susannah Stevens, daughter of William Stevens of Great Torrington and widow of either Henry Rolle of Beam, later the heir of the great estate of Stevenstone or of Alexander Rolle of Tawstock. The Stevens family were seated at Vielstone, Buckland Brewer, Cross, Little Torrington and at Winscott, Peters Marland. In the early 19th. century they were for a while heir presumptive to the vast estates of John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle of Stevenstone.
Death and burial
Mural monument
A baroque mural monument exists in Bishop's Tawton Church to Sir John III Chichester, on top of which in the centre is shown an escutcheon of twenty quarterings with on the dexter the arms of Chichester impaling Strode, with on the sinister, more recently restored, Chichester impaling Courtenay, with which families no close connection of his is recorded and which is therefore inexplicable. In this position might be expected to have been placed the arms of one of his later wives, Pollard or Stevens. The Latin inscription is as follows:
Memoriae Sacrum. Hic jacet vir admodum venerabilis D Joannes Chichester de Hall, Eques, qui fuit erga deum pius, regi suo fidelis, patriae dux publicus dilectus, ecclesiae filius, pacis amator, pauperum patronus, omnibusq tum justitiae necnon reliquarum virtutum exemplar. Obiit 24.o Septemb Anno Salutis 1669. Maerens posuit Joannes Chichester, Armiger, defuncti filius natu maximus
Quarterings
At the top of the mural monument to Sir John III Chichester is an oval heraldic cartouche supported by two putti with the crest of Chichester above. The cartouche shows the following 20 quarters:1: Chequy or and gules a chief vair
2: Or, three torteaux a label of three points azure
3: Gules semé of crosses crosslet fitché, a lion rampant argent
4: Argent, a fess between two chevrons sable in base the Red Hand of Ulster
5: Gules, a chevron between three goat's heads erased ermine attired or
6: Barry of six vair and gules
7: Azure, a chevron argent between three pears or
8: Sable, two lions passant crowned or
9: Gules, a saltire vair
10: Azure, seven martlets or on a canton a turtle
11: Argent, on a chevron gules three fleurs-de-lis or
12: Sable, three lions rampant argent
13: Gules crusilly or, a bend vair
14: Argent, a chevron counter-ermine between three cinquefoils gules
15: Argent, two bars gules in chief three torteaux
16: Sable, three garbs or
17: Gules, a chevron between three mermaids each holding a mirror in her right hand and a comb in her left argent
18: Azure, a chevron ermine between three chaplets or
19: Argent, a fess gules between three mullets sable
20: Chequy or and gules a chief vair