John Giffard (1602–1665)

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Effigy of John Giffard (1602–1665) of Brightley, shown here as a kneeling mourner aged 23. [nb 1]
Armorial of Giffard: Three fusils in fesse ermine, above which is a crescent to differentiate the Giffard family seated at Brightley.
1625 kneeling effigies of John Giffard at 23 years of age (1602-1665), (right) opposite his father, Arthur Giffard (d.1616), (left) who kneels at a prie dieu. [nb 2]

Colonel John Giffard (1602–1665), (pron. "Jiffard") of Brightley, Chittlehampton, was a Devonshire gentleman and a Royalist leader during the Civil War. He was ultimately descended from Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, one of the few proven Companions of William the Conqueror.

Giffard took part in the Battle of Lansdowne in which his cousin, Sir Bevil Grenville was killed. His loyalty to the throne led him to being proposed as one of the Knights of the Royal Oak in 1660. He was acquainted with the biographer John Prince who included him as one of his Worthies of Devon. He left two sons and six daughters, and is buried at Chittlehampton.

Early life and family origin

John Giffard was the eldest son and heir of Arthur Giffard (1580–1616) and Agnes Leigh (died 1625).[2][nb 3] Anne was the daughter of Thomas Leigh, Esquire of Burrough (anciently "Borow", "Borough", etc.)[1] in the parish of Northam, near Bideford. Arthur had predeceased his own father John Giffard (died 1622), of Brightley. Arthur's mother was Honor Earle (died 1638), daughter of Sir Walter Earle of Charborough, Dorset.[5]

Giffard's younger brother was Rev. Arthur Giffard (1605–1666), appointed in 1643 Rector of Bideford by his cousin Sir John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628–1701)[nb 4][5] but forcefully ejected by the Parliamentarians during the Civil War.[5]

According to Prince, he "had a virtuous and liberal education, became a very accomplished gentleman."[6]

Giffards of Brightley

The Giffards of Brightley were a junior branch of the Giffards of Halsbury (pron. "Haulsbury")[5] in the parish of Parkham, near Bideford. The Giffards of Parkham were a family of Norman origin said to have descended from Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, one of the few proven Companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. His son was Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham (d.1102).[nb 5] The Devon branch of the family were originally seated at Weare Giffard, near Great Torrington, Awliscombe, near Honiton and Halsbury.[7]

Career

Giffard served King Charles I during the Civil War and was made colonel.[6] He commanded the Devon pikemen at the Battle of Lansdowne, fought on 5 July 1643, near Bath, Somerset.[2] He served alongside his cousin Sir Bevil Grenville (1596–1643), lord of the manors of Bideford, Devon, and of Stowe in Cornwall. Grenville fell at the battle, having commanded the Cornish pikemen, and was commemorated by Sir Bevil Grenville's Monument on Lansdowne Hill.[citation needed]

Giffard remained loyal to the throne after the King's death and remained so to the subsequent king, Charles II during his restoration in 1660.[6] To reward his loyalty he was selected to be one of the fourteen Devonshire Knights of the Royal Oak. This award was proposed for the Englishmen who had actively supported the king during his exile in France, but was abandoned before being formally established out of concerns that it might perpetuate dissension.

Goldsmith's Hall was built by Gifford for ₤1136 or more.[6]

Marriage and children

In 1621 Giffard married Joan Wyndham, daughter of Sir John Wyndham (1558–1645), who was from the county of Somerset in Orchard Wyndham.[6] They lived in the house of Brightley and had six daughters and sons Roger and John.[6]

  • Grace Giffard (d.1667), whose reclining effigy exists in Chittlehampton Church.[8]
  • John Giffard (1639–1712) son and heir, who married twice, once to Susannah Bampfylde, with whom he had a son, John and daughter, Margaret. Next he married Frances Fane. The couple had two sons, Henry and Caesar.[nb 6]
  • Roger Giffard (1644/5–1724), 2nd son of Col. John Giffard, who inherited, by a lifetime settlement, the ancient Giffard estate of Halsbury from his distant cousin John Giffard (born 1611) of Halsbury, whose only male issue, Thomas Giffard (d.1658/9) had died without progeny in 1658/9.[9] Roger married thrice but failed to produce any male issue, leaving only a daughter Bridget Giffard (1684–1684) who died an infant. He bequeathed Halsbury in his will in tail-male, and his heir was Roger Giffard (1701/2-1763), who promptly sold Halsbury, the 2nd son of Henry Giffard (1675-1709/10), whose progeny had been excluded from the inheritance of Brightley by his own father John Giffard (died 1712) of Brightley.[citation needed]

Death

Giffard died in 1665 at his Brightley house and was buried among his ancestors at Chittlehampton parish church.[6] The Devon biographer John Prince[nb 7] included Giffard in his magnum opus The Worthies of Devon and wrote of him that:[6]

He was a gentleman of a very grave and comely aspect, of an obliging carriage, of a sober life, and a pious conversation. Such was his deportment towards men, in all his actions, as if he were conscious the eye of God was upon him; and such his behaviour towards God, in the instance of devotion and religion, as if he thought he was a spectacle to angels and to men. Insomuch, his sobriety and piety brought great reputation to the royal cause in those parts where he lived; and he was an excellent ornament to his profession, both as a subject and a Christian.
Among all the instances of the piety of this worthy gentleman, unto whom I had the honour of being personally known, that must not be forgotten which he did to the memory of his grandfather; for in the north isle of the parish church of Chittle-hampton aforesaid, he erected a monument to him of alabaster (sic) of great cost and curiosity;[nb 8] where his similitude in armor is lively represented, and the whole adorned with escutcheons of the family

Gallery

  • Arms of Giffard: "A cock's head erased in its beak an ear of wheat."[nb 1]

  • Stone heraldic escutcheon above porch, Brightley Barton, Chittlehampton, with coat of heraldry from Wyndham and Giffard families. [nb 2]

  • Arms of Wyndham: "Azure, a chevron between three lion's heads."


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Notes

  1. ↑ The monument was erected by Giffard in 1625 in the Giffard Chapel, Chittlehampton Church. It was made in the memory of his grandfather, John Gifford (died 1622) of Brightley.
  2. ↑ Above each is an heraldic escutcheon showing arms of Giffard impaling the arms of his respective wife. Above Arthur are shown the arms of Leigh of Burrough, Northam (Argent, a lion rampant gules on a sinister canton azure an escallop or[1] and above John are shown the arms of Wyndham (Azure, a chevron between three lion's heads erased or). Detail from base of monument in Chittlehampton Church, Devon, of John Giffard (d.1622) of Brightley, Arthur's father, erected 1625
  3. ↑ His mother was called Agnes by biographer John Prince, and called Anne in the Heralds' Visitations.[2]
  4. ↑ Framed list of Rectors of Bideford in Bideford Church.
  5. ↑ Prince, note by editor of 1810 edition.
  6. ↑
    • Firstly in 1666, to Susannah Bampfylde (died 1670), 4th daughter of Sir John Bampfield, MP, of Poltimore and North Molton. Their eldest son and only surviving male heir John Giffard (1667/8-1704) married Margaret Clotworthy, daughter of Roger Clotworthy of Rashleigh, Wembworthy. This marriage produced an only daughter and sole heiress Margaret Giffard (died 1743), who married her 3rd cousin John V Courtenay (died 1732), descended from Col. John Giffard's sister-in-law Margaret Wyndham, the last in the male line of Courtenay of Molland. The arms of Giffard are shown on the mural monument to John V Courtenay in Molland Church as an escutcheon of pretence within the Courtenay arms, denoting her status as an heraldic heiress. She was not however her father's heir to Brightley, which he bequeathed to his only surviving son and her half-brother Caesar Giffard (1682–1715)[3]
    Secondly in 1674 to Frances Fane, 2nd daughter of Rev. Hon. William Fane, canon of Wells and rector of Huntspill, Somerset, son of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by whom he had at least two sons, Henry and Caesar:[4]
    • Henry Giffard (1675–1709), the eldest, who predeceased his father and whose progeny were excluded from their grandfather's inheritance, an officer in the Royal Navy, who married Martha Hill, daughter of Edward Hill, Judge of the Admiralty and Treasurer of Virginia. Henry's 2nd son Roger Giffard (1701/2-1763) however inherited the ancient Giffard estate of Halsbury ( which he promptly sold) from his great-uncle Roger Giffard (1645/6-1724), second son of Col. John Giffard (died 1665), who had hiself inherited it from a distant cousin. Roger's descendants, deprived of their ancestral seat of Halsbury by its sale, were "a numerous and heedless family",[3] unlike the progeny of his elder brother John Giffard of Great Torrington (died 1746), Coroner for Devon, who was the ancestor of Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury (1823–1921).[citation needed]
    • Caesar Giffard (1682–1715), Henry's brother and John Giffard's 4th son and heir, married Mary Melhuish of Exeter but drowned in the River Torridge aged only 33. Caesar left two infant daughters and co-heiresses to Brightley: Rachel Giffard (born 1712) who married Rev. Thomas Colley (died 1762), Vicar of Chittlehampton, and Mary Giffard (born 1715). In 1737 the daughters of Caesar Giffard sold the estate of Brightley to Samuel Rolle (1704–1747), of Hudscott, within the parish of Chittlehampton, the son and heir of Samuel Rolle (1669–1735), MP. The property comprised 1,300 acres and was sold for £9,550.[4]
  7. ↑ The Rev. John Prince (1643–1723) served under Arthur Giffard at Bideford as a young curate and thus had personal knowledge of the family, including his brother.
  8. ↑ Curiosity, i.e. of careful workmanship, from Latin cura care, a word also much used by Tristram Risdon in his Survey of Devon.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895 p. 528.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895. p. 400.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 John Prince, Danmonii Orientales Illustres: Or, the Worthies of Devon, first published c.1701, 1810 edition. p. 415
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Knight, p.38
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Debrett's Peerage, 1968, Earl of Halsbury, p.527
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 John Prince, Danmonii Orientales Illustres: Or, the Worthies of Devon, first published c.1701, 1810 edition. p.412.
  7. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895 p. 396-404.
  8. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p.259, Chittlehampton
  9. ↑ Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitation of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895 p. 398.

Further reading

  • Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art (1902). Report & Transactions. pp. 694–6. 
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