Transcript

of

Hele Family

Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries vol. VII, (1912-1913), Exeter: James G. Commin. 1913, pp. 62-63. Notes 34 and 35.

by

F. Were and Percival Jackson

Prepared by Michael Steer

Both Notes relate and add to an earlier query by O.A. R. Murray in volume VII, p, 223.  Hele is an old family name in Devon where they held a manor in the parish of Bradninch from an early date. One of the first on record was Roger De la Heale who was lord of Heale, temp. Henry III. The family is conjecturally descended from Erchenbald, who held lands from the Count of Mortain, recorded in the Domesday Book (1086). The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Note 34. HELE FAMILY (VI, par. 209, p. 223 ; VII., par. 4, p. 21). - Many thanks to Mr. Murray for his very valuable reply to my query. I cannot find any reference to this Thomas Hooke, unless he is the Thomas of the last generation, in the 1623 Gloucestershire Visitation; but Rudder, p.453, says there was a Sir Heel (sic) Hook, which seems to point to a connection between the two families. The Malets were the owners of the Manor of Easton Gordano at that time, but George, grandfather of Sir John Yonge, owned the Manor previously, and the Hele coat appears amongst the latter's quarterings, but not directly. If the Dorothy, daughter and heir of Edward Stradling, who married Nicholas Hele, was really heiress or coheiress, then the impaling on the Sneed Park porch ought to have been a quarterly coat, 1 & 4, Hele 2 & 3, Stradling. Francis Stradling resided at St. George's, see Burke s Extinct Barts., p. 510, but his only son mentioned is the future Sir John ; still he might have had another. The blanks in Vivian, p. 462, third line from bottom, are filled in by the Gloucestershire Visitation of 1682 : 'Mathew Hele, of Southpool, co. Devon, Esq. = (2ndly), Martha, eldest d. of Walter Bourchier, of Berdesley, J. P., and Mary, d. of Richard Browne, of Singleton, Kent. There is a marriage also to be cleared up; both Vivian, p. 461, and Devon Vis., 1620, say Nicholas Hele married Alice, d. and coh. of Percehay, whilst the first says he had a second wife 'Florence . . . who survived her husband; now a communicated pedigree in Mr. Weaver's Visitation of Somerset, Part II., p. 95, says ' Nicholas Hele married Alice Flory, daughter of Alice Percehay and . . . Flory.' Might not this be the origin of the ' Florence?                     F. Were.

Note 35. Hele Family (VI., par. 209, p. 223 ; VII., par. 4, p. 21). — In King's Teignton Church there are stones recording part of a contemporary branch of the family. Were there two Sir Warwick Heles? 
Lewes Hele, d, Jan. 7, 1657.
Warwick, eldest of 3 sons of Ludovicus Hele, armiger, d. Dec. 19, 1643, aged 29.
Grace, wife of Warwicus Hele, and one of three daughters, coheiresses of Thomas Gilbert, of Babcombe, generosus, d. Jan. 27, 1668, aged 54.
Ann, dau. of Thomas Hele, d. April 19, 1676.
Thomas Hele, of Babcombe, Esq., d. March 23, 1673.
Elizabeth his wife, dau. of Matthew Hals, of Efford, Esq., d. Sept. 14, 1681.
They had two daughters, Rebekah and Ann. Rebekah married Bishop, (Sir Jonathan) Trelawny.
Babcombe is a pretty old Manor House on the outskirts of Ugbrooke Park.                                      Percival Jackson.