Plymouth Armada Heroes

CHAPTER VII.

Descendants of Sir Richard Hawkins

JUDITH, eldest daughter of Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins, was baptized at Deptford, November 7th, 1592 - before her father was a prisoner in Spain - and was eleven years older than the five other children. She married Tristram Sture, of Marridge House, Ugborough.

ARMS OF STURE, IMPALING HAWKINS.

John, eldest son of Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins, was baptized March 16th, 1604, at St. Andrew's, Plymouth. In 1627, the year his mother died, he was at sea; at her death he inherited the manor of Poole, in Slapton, with the Plymouth estates. In 1637-8 he appears to have parted with his Plymouth property; for in the Receiver's Accounts for that year we find:

Itm for a present given Mr Risdon [Thomas Risdon, of Sandwell, who had married Mary Hawkins, his father's first cousin] to procure out of his hands such writings as concerned Vauter's Fee lately bought by the Town of Mr John Hawkyns and a man and two horses two journeys to fetch the said writings vli iiijs.

John Hawkins resided at Poole until he sold it, or the manor went, to the Luttrells. They sold the estates to Mr. Nicholas Paige, the daughter of whose son, William Paige, married Mr. Bastard.

ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING RICHARDS.

John Hawkins, of Slapton, married Hester Richards, of Dartmouth, in 1636, by whom he had-

Judith, baptized June 27th, 1639.

Hester ,, 1640; ob. 1644

Richard ,, January, 1641.

John ,, September 21st, 1643; ob. 1670.

William ,, November 6th, 1644

Hester ,, November 19th, 1647.

All baptized at Slapton as the children of John Hawkins, Esq., and Mrs. Hester his wife. Their other children were Robert, Mary, Thomas, and Nicholas.

Hester, the wife of John Hawkins, was buried at Slapton, July 23rd, 1660.

Richard, born in 1641, married Tomasine, daughter and heiress of John Sloley, Esq., of Fremington; ob. 1680, and left his property to Dorothy, daughter of his brother Nicholas.

John, born in 1643, died and was buried at Slapton, May 12th, 1670. He appears to have lived in his father's house. Administration granted, May 12th, 1671, to his sister Hester. The inventory of his things in his room was rather over £100; clothes, £20.

Robert married Jane . . . . and lived at Bideford; ob. 1680. In his will he names his wife Jane, his brothers Thomas and Nicholas, and his sister Mary.

Thomas Hawkins married Sarah, daughter of John Crocker, vicar of Stokefleming; ob. at Stokefleming, 1695. In his will he left everything to his daughter Judith,* who, in 1702, married Peter Creed.

The old Church Register at Stokefleming is very imperfect.

ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING CROCKER.

Nicholas married, at Fremington, Ann Manning, by whom he had an only daughter, Dorothy.

*The grandmother of Mary Creed, who married Richard Hawkins. (See page 170.)

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John Hawkins. the father, the eldest son of Sir Richard, died at Stokefleming, near Slapton, where he lived after he sold the estate of Poole; but he was buried at Slapton. Administration granted, December 20th, 1678, to his daughter Hester. The inventory is lost.

Richard, the second son of Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins, according to his father's will, inherited Pryvitt, in Alverstoke, Southampton; but lived at Slapton. He married Elizabeth . . . . by whom he had:

Elizabeth, baptized October 18th, 1635.

Nicholas ,, March 31st, 1639.

Jeremiah ,, June 12th, 1642.

All baptized at Slapton as the children of Richard Hawkins and Elizabeth his wife.

Elizabeth, the wife of Richard Hawkins, was buried at Slapton, January 27th, 1666.

Richard Hawkins was buried at Slapton, November 22nd, 1667.

Robert Hawkins was buried at Slapton, March 8th, ~

Joane Hawkins was buried at Slapton, April 1st, 1698.

The old Register at Slapton is much worm-eaten, and many pages are missing.

ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING

Nicholas, the eldest son of Richard Hawkins, left Slapton, and went to live at Kingsbridge, a few miles distant. He married . . . and had a son John.

The Kingsbridge Registers are very imperfect, and much cut out in places.

John, the eldest son of Nicholas Hawkins, lived at Kingsbridge. He was a Captain of the Militia, and died in 1700. There were many stories told of his quarrelling with Justice Beare about King James and King William.

Justice Beare lived at Bearscombe, Buckland-tout-Saints; he was the local Church champion of the day. "In 1684 a justice called John Beare keeps Friends out of their House." On the weathercock of Kingsbridge Church is "I. Beare."

John Hawkins married Elizabeth Lane,* by whom he had:

(*William Lane, B.D., Rector of Aveton Gifford and Ringmore, was educated at Oxford, and possessed the living of Ringmore before he obtained that of Aveton Gifford, to which he was admitted about the beginning of the Rebellion, and was unable to settle in it or remove his goods from Ringmore when Plymouth declared for the Parliament. At which time the garrison "came out with their boats and plundered those parts and took off the most valuable goods in the house and took [so says Mr. Lane's son] two of my brethren Richard and John to Awmar. They imprisoned them in Plymouth some time, where they suffered greatly. All which time my father was active with Sir - Champernoun and other gentlemen for raising succours for His Majesty. Then did the champions vaunt about the country and make deligent enquiry after Bishop Lane the Traytor, at which time he hid in the Church Tower 3 or 4 months. He was then disposest of both livings Riugmore being given to Ford, and Aveton Gifford to Francis Barnard.)

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ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING LANE.

Richard.

Honour. Married William Saunders, Esq. (of Quay House, West Alvington, in 1707), July 22nd, 1706, at Aveton Gifford, near Kingsbridge. Issue three daughters; The eldest married Wheatley, and left no children; the second married Grove, of Plymouth, issue a son, Thomas Grove, R.N., ob. 1822; the third daughter married Fountain, of London, issue a daughter, who married Rev. Charles Ed. de Coctlogon.

His 'temporal estate' at Aveton was also sequestered except a 'sett of mills' where Mrs. Lane with 5 children took up their abode. The eldest son Richard went to New England and Mr. Lane to France where he remained till he could 'buy his peace.' Afterwards Mr. Lane returned from France and removed with the second son John, third son William and daughter Elizabeth to a place in Torbay called Hope's Nose' where he employed himself in drawing Lyme Stones." That did not succeed; so he returned to his mills, and found the water supply cut off by Barnard, and his family in a miserable condition. He then determined to lay his case before "Cromwell's Council board," so in his sixty-third year walked to London. "It being discovered and proved, he had orders to dispossess Barnard and named another person (one John Martin) for Aveton Gifford." On his way home he caught cold, and died at the King's Head, in High Street, Exon, and "lieth interred under the Chancel Table in Alphington Church."

"Mr. Lane is certainly the first instance in all English History of a Bachelor of Divinity who was forced to turn miller and dig in a quarry for a livelihood." - WALKER'S Sufferings of the Clergy.

[The Hawkins Family. 167]

Richard Hawkins, of Kingsbridge, eldest son of John Hawkins, married Dorcas Knowling at Aveton Gifford, July 22nd, 1706, by whom he had: John, baptized November 9th, 1708. Of Norton.

Richard ,, June 9th, 1710; ob. October, 1712. Mary ,, March 3rd, 1712; married, in 1755, Barton Land, Esq., of Hayne.

Elizabeth. Married3 in 1736, Thomas Cornish,* of West Prawle, Portlemouth.

Richard bap. April 14th, 1717. Of Kingsbridge. Knowling bap. February 7th, 1719; married, in 1749, Mary Hemmings.

ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING KNOWLING.

John, the eldest son of 'Richard Hawkins and Dorcas Knowling, born 9th November, 1708, married first, Sarah, daughter of William Gilbert, of Long-

*A daughter of Thomas Cornish, by Elizabeth Hawkins his wife, married Richard Lake, Esq., of Scoble, South Poole, whose daughter and coheiress married Roger Ilbert Prideaux. She was the Mrs. Ilbert Prideaux mentioned by the Lysonses, the Devonshire historians, as having in her possession the gold chain given to Sir Richard Hawkins by the Spanish Lady. This gold chain, on the death of Mrs. Ilbert Prideaux, went to the Lightfoot family.

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brook, by whom he had a son (John) and six daughters. He married, secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham Gilbert, of Holwell, July 23rd, 1751, by whom he had a son, Abraham, and a daughter, Elizabeth. John Hawkins lived at Norton, parish of Malborough, near Kingsbridge. He commenced to build the Moult in 1764 but did not live to finish it, as he died a few months later. The Moult was sold to S. Strode, Esq., in 1785.

ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING GILBERT.

His eldest son, John Hawkins, married Judith Hayne, of Kingsbridge, by whom he had four sons, John Gilbert Hayne, born 1771; William, born 1772; Samuel Holditch, Captain Royal Marines; William Gilbert; and a daughter, Letitia.

Their eldest son, John Gilbert Hayne, married Jane Souter, by whom he had two sons, John Gilbert Hayne, Royal Navy; William Gilbert; and a daughter, Jane.

Second son, Samuel Holditch, married Letitia Isabella Hayne, of London. Issue, a daughter, Louisa Fountain Trafalgar Hawkins.

Third son, William Gilbert Courtenay Hawkins, married Sarah Ashe, of Langley, by whom he had one son, William Gilbert Courtenay, born 17th November, 1807; lived at Chippenham, Wilts.

[The Hawkins Family. 169]

Abraham, son of John Hawkins of Norton, by his second wife, married Harriet Hamilton, daughter of Petre, of Mawnan, Cornwall, by whom he had two daughters. Henrietta Hamilton Hawkins, the elder, who lived at Alston, unmarried, drove a four-in-hand, and had her pew painted to match her livery! Miss Elliot, of Tresillian, Kingsbridge, has a doll which belonged to this old lady. Stephana, the second daughter, married Captain E. M. Bray.

Abraham Hawkins, F.R.S., j.p., of Alston, near Kingsbridge, was the author of the History of Kingsbridge. He translated the works of Claudian, and helped Polwhele with his History of Devonshire. "Justice Hawkins" was the terror of Kingsbridge in those days; He was a Captain in the North Devon Militia, and a Deputy Lieutenant for Devon.

ARMS OF HAWKINS IMPALING PETRE

Richard, second son of Richard Hawkins and Dorcas Knowling, lived at Kingsbridge, and married Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Wills, of Kingsbridge, and Mary, his wife, daughter of Thomas Wyse, Esq. of Harburton, by whom he had two sons, Richard and John, and five daughters.

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ARMS OF HAWKINS. IMPALING WILLS

Richard, eldest son of Richard Hawkins and Elizabeth Wills, married Mary, daughter of William Creed, by whom he had two sons and two daughters. Mary Creed's grandmother was Judith Hawkins, daughter of Thomas Hawkins,* Esq., of Stokefleming (by his wife Sarah, daughter of John Crocker, rector of Stokefleming), who was a son of John Hawkins (by his wife Hester Richards), son of Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins. She was the wife of Peter Creed, who was the grandson of Francis Rous, Provost of Eton and Speaker of the House of Commons, and one of Oliver Cromwell's lords. He was Provost of Eton, and the founder of Pembroke College, Oxford. Joan Rous, daughter of the Provost, married the Rev. Wm. Bailey; rector of Stoke- fleming, in 1641, and their daughter, Joan Bailey, married Peter Creed, of Coombe, Stokefleming, in 1678.

John baptized April 19th, 1782.

Abraham Mills ,, August 13th, 1784

Charlotte ,, January 1st, 1786.

Harriet ,, February 11th, 1787.

*See page 163. By this marriage the lineal descendants of the two only sons of Admiral Sir Richard Hawkins were continued in one line.

[The Hawkins Family. 171]

Major John Hawkins, E.C.I. Engineers, elder son of Richard Hawkins and Mary Creed, married Frances Schutz, daughter of Richard Vere Drury, of Shotover House, Oxford, by his first wife, only child of Sir George Vandeput, Bart., by whom he had a son, Richard George, ob. 1832, unmarried, and two daughters - Caroline Charlotte, married General H. Blois Turner, Royal Engineers; and Stephana Mary, married Captain Conrad Owen, C.B., 1st Lancers (Bombay).

Charlotte, elder daughter of Richard Hawkins and Mary Creed, unmarried, lived at.the Knowle, Kingsbridge. Her sister, Harriet, married Thomas Harr

ARMS OF HAWKINS AND CREED

Admiral Abraham Mills Hawkins, born 13th August, 1784, of Butville, Kingsbridge, married, in 1819, Mary Wise, only daughter of Christopher

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ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING SAVERY.

Savery, Esq., of Shilston and South Efford, by Mary, daughter of John Wise, Esq., of Wonwell, by whom he had two sons. He died November, 1857, and was buried at Dodbrook, Kingsbridge.

"Rear-Admiral Abraham Mills Hawkins entered the Navy in March, 1798, and after serving as volunteer and midshipman in H.M. Ships Barfteu?; Prince, Lancaster, Rattlesnake, and Trident, under the late Admirals Dacres, Sir Roger Curtis, Capt. Roger Curtis, and Admiral Rainier - on the Channel, Cadiz, Cape of Good Hope, and East India Stations - was, in 1804, appointed acting-Lieut. of H.M.S. Sheerness; on her wreck, in 1805, of the Psyche; and in Jan., 1806, first-Lieut of H.M.S. Duncan, Capt. Lord George Stuart; but towards the end of that year ill-health, contracted from a service of seven years in hot climates, obliged him, by invaliding, to quit the East Indies for England; and it was only on his arrival that the Lords of the Admiralty were pleased to confirm him a Lieut., by commission dated 11th June, 1807, thus losing three years of acting-Lieut.'s time, the greater part of one having been served as first-Lieut. of a frigate. He was then appointed to H.M.S. Amiable, on the North Sea Station, commanded by his former Captain, Lord George Stuart, becoming about the end of the year her first Lieut.; and on his Lordship's removal to the Horatio, in 1810, first of that ship, and served in her till his wounds obliged

[The Hawkins Family. 173]

him to go to the hospital for cure, in Sept., 1812; and he was promoted for his services to the rank of Commander on the 11th Dec. of that year. During the period above mentioned he participated in all the services of his gallant Captain (and for which that officer received the Order of the Bath, on its extension in 1814); but was severely wounded, the following account showing how it occurred. In August, 1812, he was sent by Lord George Stuart, with the Horatio's barge and three six-oared cutters, to attack some enemy's vessels at Trompsen, on the coast of Norway, and succeeded in boarding and bringing out all that were in that port; viz., a schooner and cutter of His Danish Majesty's Navy, and a ship of 400 tons, their prize, after a most determined resistance. His right hand was shattered by a grape-shot as the boats he commanded were advancing to the attack, and he received a pistol-shot in his left arm when in the act of boarding the enemy's second vessel of war, after having carried the first, as is detailed in a letter from Lord George Stuart, published in the Gazette of Aug. 25th, 1812.

"In 1813, shortly after his promotion, he was informed at the Admiralty, by Admiral Domett, that he had been elected for the command of gunboats intended for a particular service on the North Sea Station; but circumstances arising from which this expedition was not carried into effect, Lord Melville was pleased to appoint him to H.M. Sloop Conflict, which vessel he commanded on the Home Stations till she was put out of commission, in Sept., 1815, at the conclusion of the war.

"Unsuccessful in his endeavours to procure employment during the earlier part of the peace, he, in 1819, accepted the appointment of Inspecting Commander of the Coast Guard, under a constitution from the Lords of the Treasury, and then considered permanent; but on transfer of these appointments to the Admiralty, they becoming triennial, he was superceded;* and without entering upon the particulars which called forth the approbation of Comptrollers-General Shortland and Bowles, the following letter was addressed to him by the heads of department:

"'I cannot allow you to quit the command you have so long held, and the duties of which you have discharged with so much credit to yourself, without expressing in the strongest terms the sense I entertain of the zeal, activity, and ability you have uniformly shown in the performance of a very arduous and harassing service, and I shall feel great pleasure in representing your merits to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty in any way which may tend to your advancement in His Majesty's Service. Dated 2nd July, 1824.

"'Signed Wm. BOWLES, Compt.-Gen.'

*The present arrangement for promotions from the Coast Guard did not then exist.

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"His appointment to H.M. Sloop Raleigh, in July, 1830, was given with a view to promotion, in consequence of his services, he has reason to know; for both Lord Melville and Sir George Cockburne did him the honour to tell him so previous to his sailing for the Mediterranean. The opinion of the late Sir Henry Hotham as to the efficient state of that sloop was well known throughout the Fleet, of which he was Commander-in-Chief. Sir Pulteney Malcolm, his successor, on Sir Henry's lamented sudden death, was pleased to express himself publickly on the Raleigh's quarter-deck in most gratifying terms, and did him the honour to state his intention of bringing before Sir James Graham the sense he entertained of his deserving promotion on his last inspection at Malta, and he has reason to believe that he did so. In May, 1834, he paid off the Raleigh, having commanded her nearly four years; and on the 6th Feb. following, then more than 22 years a Commander, was promoted to the rank of Captain, his several steps of promotion having been earned by service. He stands on the list of Captains within one of an officer on whom it (the good service pension) has been bestowed, and he further ventures to state that his Commander's commission is of previous date to that of 18 of the 21 now enjoying it

"Dated at Kingsbridge, Devon, March 10th, 1837."*

We also read in JAMES'S Naval History:

On August 1st (1812), as the British 38-gun frigate Horatio, "Capt. Lord George Stuart, was in latitude 70' 4O" north, running down the coast of Norway, a small sail was seen from the mast-head close in with the land; and which, just before she disappeared among the rocks, was discovered to be an armed cutter. Considering it an object of some importance to attempt the destruction of the enemy's cruisers in this quarter, Lord George Stuart despatched the barge and three cutters of the Horatio, with about 80 officers and men, commanded by Lieut. Abraham Mills Hawkins, assisted by Lieut. Thomas James Poole Masters, and Lieut. of Marines George Syder, to execute the service. Lieut. Hawkins, gaining information on shore that the cutter had gone to a village on an arm of the sea; about 35 miles distant over land, detached one of the cutters, under master's mate James Crisp, to disperse some small-armed men collected on the shore, and proceeded with the remaining three boats for the creek in which the Danish cutter lay. On the 2nd Aug., at 8 o'clock in the morning, Lieut. Hawkins discovered the vessel, which was the Danish

*Taken from the Memorandum of Capt. Abraham Mills Hawkins, submitting his name as a candidate for the good service pension (which he obtained).

[The Hawkins Family. 175]

King's Cutter No. 97, of four 6-pounders and 22 men, lying at anchor with the Danish King's Schooner No. 114, of six 6-pounders and 30 men, commanded by Lieut. Buderhorf, of the Danish Navy, the Commodore, and an American ship of 400 tons, their prize. On the approach of the British boats, the Danish vessels presented their broadsides, with springs on their cables, and were moored in capital defensive position. The British nevertheless advanced to the attack, and at 9 a.m. received the fire of the Danes, whom however Lieut Hawkins and his party, assisted towards the end by Mr Crisp's boat, completely subdued, after a most sanguinary combat. The British lost 9 killed, including Lieut George Syder, of the Marines, and 16 wounded, including Assistant Surgeon James Larans and one seaman mortally, Lieuts. Hawkins and Masters, the boatswain, and one midshipman, Thomas Fowler, severely. The loss on the Danish side was also very severe, amounting to 10 killed and 13 wounded, including the commanders of the schooner and the cutter severely, and some other officers. Both the British and the Danes fought in the bravest manner, and between them sustained a loss for which the prizes were a poor compensation. As a reward for his gallantry Lieut. Hawkins was made a commander in the ensuing December."

ARMS OF HAWKINS, IMPALING PONSFORD

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John Mills Hawkins, eldest son of Admiral Abraham Mills Hawkins, born July 22nd, 1821, lieutenant 52nd Light Infantry. Died, February 22nd, 1846, unmarried, from the effects of yellow fever.

Christopher Stuart Hawkins, second and only surviving son, born September 9th,1823. Member of Lincoln's Inn and a magistrate for Devon. Married, January 30th, 1857, Elizabeth Richardsdn, daughter of the late James Ponsford, of 24, Kensington Palace Gardens, and has one surviving son - John Servington; and three daughters - Mary Wise Savery, Florence Elizabeth, and Blanche Stephana.