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Prideaux of Tavistock

Devon & Cornwall Notes and Queries vol.  VII, (1912-1913), Exeter: James G. Commin. 1913, pp. 109-110.

by

F. B. Prideaux

Prepared by Michael Steer

Prideaux is a surname generally believed to have arrived in England in the wave of migration from Normandy following the Norman Conquest. The Prideaux family initially resided in Cornwall, at Prideaux, from whence was derived their name. Some of the family, for example, those mentioned in the Note resided in nearby Devon.  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 79. PRIDEAUX OF TAVISTOCK. - Worth's Tavistock Parish Records make mention of four members of this family: - Richard Prideaux, living 1509 and 1525; William Prideaux, gent., churchwarden in 1567-68, and buried 1588 or 1589; John Prideaux, who attested deeds in 1593 and 1597; Edward Prideaux. weaver, born about 1716, who acquired the lease of a tenement "Mount-houngary" in 1742.

Vivian's Visitations of Devon show: - Page 359, that William Prideaux, of Langford, in South Tavistock, married Etheldred, daughter of John Fortescue, of Buckland Filley, who died in 1604; page 478, that Agnes, daughter of Walter Honeychurch, of Tavistock, married first Richard Hawkes (mentioned in a Tavistock record of 1525), and secondly Richard Prideaux; also that Anthony Honeychurch (died 1573), nephew of Agnes and Richard Prideaux, married Isabella, daughter of Thomas Fortescue, of Wimpstone (born about 1490, died about 1552), whose sister Joan married John Prideaux, of Orcharton; page 617 (which is based on page 29 of a memoir of the Prideaux and Brune families), that John Prideaux, son of John Prideaux, of Orcharton (died, young, before 1522) and John Fortescue (will proved 1548), married Agnes, daughter of William Honeychurch, of "Daystock" (Tavistock?). This John Prideaux and his sons, William and John, are said to be named in a Chancery Proceeding, Miscellaneous, Eliz. to Charles — Part 25: Prideaux vs. Prideaux, complaint dated 5th February, 1567 ; page 624, that Richard Prideaux, of Tavistock, who married first Joan (widow of William Webb, and mother of Margaret, Dorothy and Alice Webb), and secondly Agneta Arscott (who subsequently married John Servington and founded a charity named after her in Tavistock), by whom he left two daughters, Grace and Philippa, was the son of Thomas Prideaux, of Ashburton, and Elizabeth his wife, and brother of Alice, who married Adam Williams, of Stowford. This Richard Prideaux died on 13th October, 1529.

A comparison of the foregoing notes suggests strongly that Thomas Prideaux, of Ashburton, was closely connected to the first '"John Prideaux, of Orcharton," mentioned in the Visitations. Can any further information be given?

I would also be grateful for details of the Chancery Proceeding of 1567 mentioned above.

                    F. B. Prideaux.