Structure of the 14th-Century Parliament
the House of Lords (nobility and church leaders) the unelected Upper Chamber
the House of Commons, the elected lower Chamber (elected representatives from counties and towns)
Knights of the Shire: Landed gentry who represented county constituencies (two knights per county).
Burgesses and Citizens: Rich merchants or lawyers who represented towns and cities (two burgesses per borough).
The Commons: Formally separated into their own chamber around 1341 under King Edward III to deliberate separately from the King and the nobility.
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POMEROY, Sir John (c. 1347-1416), of Berry Pomeroy, Devon...." It seems unusual that a knight and landowner of the standing of Sir John Pomeroy would sit in Parliament and represent Totnes at Gloucester in 1407. However no other John Pomeroy has been found to fit ."
POMEROY, Sir Thomas (d.1426 son of Robert of Upottery & Smallridge belonged to a cadet branch of the Pomeroy family; from outlaw to Baron through dubious means Thomas emerged as a prominent member of the family
POMEROY, Edward (d.1446), of Sandridge, Devon and Tregony, Cornw. 1386-1421 The baron who had to wait.
POMEROY, Roger (1629-1708), of Sandridge, Devon. Head of the family at Brixham .
Sir John POMEROY (c.1347-1416), of Berry Pomeroy, Devon. Knighted bef. Dec. 1374. MP for TOTNES 1407
from Parliamentary site - Corrected
Born about 1347, son of Sir Henry Pomeroy by his wife Emmot ( family name unknown) (d.1367) of Berry Pomeroy.
He married by 1377 to Joan de Merton (d.1420), daughter and coheir. of Sir Richard Merton of Merton, Devon, widow of John Bampfield of Poltimore.
Offices Held Commissioner. of array, Devon May 1375, Apr., July, Aug. 1377, Feb. 1379, Mar. 1380, Apr. 1385, Mar. 1392; arrest Aug. 1378, Sept. 1381;
Commissioned to issue proclamations prohibiting unlawful assemblies June 1381;
Commissioner of oyer and terminer Oct. 1412.
JP. Cornwall . 4 Mar. 1377-8, Devon Dec. 1381-3. & Sheriff of Devon 30 Sept.-3 Nov. 1399.
Sir John Pomeroy was son of Baron Sir Henry Pomeroy, knight, the younger, by his wife Emmot, This Henry fought at Crécy in 1346 & his appointments to several royal commissions of array suggest military experience.
That a knight and landowner of the standing of Sir John Pomeroy would sit in Parliament for a mere borough is unusual.
From Powley we get - Thomas Pomeroy , with another, received £25. 12s for 64 days as knight of the shire of Devonshire at Westminster, Michaelmas, 1377;
The omission of Johns' designation as knight from the return might be thought to strengthen the doubt that it was in fact he and not some lesser man of the same name who represented Totnes at Gloucester in 1407. However there is no other John Pomeroy found in the record who fits the bill.
The evidence of Sir John’s undisputed influence in the borough as owner of Bridgetown Pomeroy in Totnes, coupled with the attendance of his steward, Robert French, at the elections to the Parliament in question, leads to the conclusion that he was, indeed, elected to the Commons as a burgess.
a BURGESS was a free inhabitant, merchant, craftsman, or high-ranking official of a medieval or early modern borough (a self-governing town &
AJP notes that Totnes was at that time a thriving wool town & the 2nd wealthiest town in Devon.
Sir John Pomeroy seems to have been a man of action, a military man who wasn’t particularly interested in politics. He served a short term in Parliament representing his borough of Totnes. England in 1407 under Henry IV, who faced ongoing domestic rebellions, Welsh resistance, and a major public health crisis. Parliament was held in Gloucester during the reign of Henry IV & that year opened on 24 October and dissolved on 2 December, having asserted the exclusive right of the House of Commons to originate all new taxes and money grants,
John Pomeroys' lack of political success may have been because he opposed a regular system of taxation. The taxes were billed as being for protection of England but the King was looking for money to fund direct aggression against France.
The 1407 assize was indicative of Sir John stepping up where it mattered. However his dismissal from the shrievalty of Devon barely a month after his appointment on the first day of Henry IV’s (April 1367 ) reign was almost certainly for political reasons, but, unfortunately, no information as to the circumstances has been found. Sir John’s undistinguished career in royal service may also have been because of his contacts with Sir Robert Tresilian who was executed for treason by the Merciless Parliament of 1388. John also materially assisted the judge’s clerk, John Blake by giving him the wardship of one of his tenants in Lesnewth . He suffered the same fate as his master
( Sir Robert Tresillian was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1381 to 1387),
In 1398 John acted as one of four mainpernor in 1398 with a bond for £200, & they undertook that Sir John Dynham of Hartland would keep the peace. They were released from their obligations six years later. John may have come to regret his friendship with Dynham because they were held responsible for two further offences by Dynham who was eventually to forfeit 700 marks to obtain further pardons for himself and his friends.Dynham died in 1428
In 1387 Pomeroy, chose not bound by an entail of the family estates, made in 1329, which favoured Edward, son of William & grandson of Thomas the 5th son of baron Henry & his Moels wife. The provisions made in 1404 and 1414 were ignored after his death in 1416. The Crown preferred the claims of Sir Thomas Pomeroy , son of Robert of Smallridge & Upottery & his wife Joanna Chudleigh & included his nephew, John Cole of Nethway, who had married Johns' sister Margaret Pomeroy Cole.
Thomas Pomeroy and John Cole pursued some dubious claims against Edward Pomeroy, & in 1428 imprisoned his wife Lady Margaret at Tregony Castle & the defenestration of Edward. Berry Pomeroy Castle was yet to be built at that time & Tregony was the seat of the 2nd sons & the cadet line of the family.
Sir John’s will, for which probate was granted in October 1416, has not survived. His widow was required to take an oath not to remarry without the King’s licence, and presumably never did so. She died four years later
Medieval Soldiers site http://www.medievalsoldier.org/database/maindbsearch.php
Sir John de la Pomeray ; Knight;; a man at arms , a soldier , in Naval Service (Keeping of the Sea) under Guy de Brian 1370 & 1371
In 1372 he was in France under, earl of Salisbury William Montaguin in the army of Edward III (1312 - 1377) Letters of Attorney
Noted as a Man At Arms, a soldier on board ship. Not a "mariner." with Edward III aboard one of the naval ships in 1372
Sir John de la Pomerai was active in the naval defence of Devonshire against a landing from France in 1375; Commissions of Array :1377.
POMEROY, Edward (d.1446), of Sandridge, Devon and Tregony, Cornwall. Corrected
Constituency DEVON 1419 son. of William son of Thomas Pomeroy (d. 1378), of Sandridge.
Married about 1404 to Margaret Beville (d. 10 Sept. 1461), daughter of John Beville of Killigarth & Woolston, Cornw., 2 sons
Offices Held Sheriff, Devon 26 Nov. 1431-5 Nov. 1432.
Commission of inquiry, Dorset, Devon, Cornw. June 1432 (piracy); to take musters May 1440; of oyer and terminer, Devon Sept. 1442
Pomeray, Edward of Sandrygge, in France with Hugh Courtenay, earl of Devon in 1419 Letters of Protection
Records of the Exchequer, and its related bodies, with those of the Office of First Fruits and Tenths, and the Court of Augmentations Records of the King's Remembrance-King's Remembrancer: Accounts Various (Army and Navy accounts)
Thomas POMEROY Esq (d.1426), of Combe Raleigh, Devon. - Troublesome Thomas - Knighted in 1400
Constituency DEVON Jan. 1404/DEVON 1406/ DEVON 1410 / DEVON May 1413
Parliamnetry Histories gives us-
Offices Held Sheriff, Devon 24 Nov. 1400-8 Nov. 1401, 29 Nov. 1410-10 Dec. 1411, 6 Nov. 1413-19 May 1414, Som. and Dorset 22 Nov. 1404-5.
Commr. of inquiry, Devon Aug. 1404 (prisoners taken at Black Pool), Devon, Cornw. June 1406 (concealments); array, Devon July 1405, Apr. 1418; to raise royal loans, Devon, Cornw. June 1406; of oyer and terminer, Devon Mar. 1417.
JP. Devon 1 Oct. 1415-Nov. 1418
NOTES His father Robert Pomeroy of Upottery & Bockerel in 1330 held Membury manor . Early in 1406 ,with Thomas & William and a chaplain of Membury, surrendered Membury to the prior of Goldclyve in Newport in Monmouth ( Patent Rolls 1405 & Close Rolls )
Parliamentry Histories comments :-
Although he belonged to a cadet branch of the Pomeroy family, Thomas emerged as the most prominent member of the family of his generation, a prominence due, it must be admitted, more to a convenient marriage and dubious financial dealings, coupled with strong Lancastrian sympathies, than to any high standing as a landowner or ability as a public servant.
Coming from the cadet line in east Devon , son of Robert Pomeroy of Smallridge & Upottery Devon & brother of William of Membury, Thomas seems to have been very much a soldier of fortune . His 1st marriage in 1388 to Joanna Chudleigh b 1387 daughter of Sir James Chudleigh by his 1st wife Joanna Pomeroy. She was widow of Sir John St Aubyn, by whom she had a son whose 2 daughters were her heirs; She was also widow of Sir Phillip de Bryan of Slapton who died in France in Feb. 1387 just a year after they married.
She was co- heiress to the Pomeroy Barony with her sister Margaret,wife of Adam Cole & coheir of their brother Sir John Pomeroy, & his wife Joanna de Merton who died childless when he died in 1416 - She would have brought a handsome dower from her exceedingly wealthy & influential de Bryan family had she not married 10 months later and forfeited that dower, unless the king of the time redressed that , which we have found no evidence of thus far, but then forfeited properties reverted to the crown.
In Nov 1388 Joanna Chudleigh made a 3rd hurried and illicit marriage without bans or a licence from the king. Thomas Pomeroy Esq, seems to have been in high favour with the new king Henry Bolinbroke and in 1400 was made a kings knight .
Sir Thomas, a kings Knight & Joanna had one child, a daughter Isabella. Joanna died 14 Dec. 1422, her daughter is mentioned her IPM but died before Thomas , her father. His wife Joanna at her death possessed Combe Ralegh, Avishayes in Sidmouth, and Wolston, in east Alvington; a half share in Beri, half share in Stoklegh, a half share in Tregony. and half shares in the moieties of Hurberton and Brixham.
After her death on 14 Dec 1422 & before the year was out in March, Thomas married again. His 2nd wife was also Joanna. She was the daughter of Sir John Raleigh of Nettlecombe, Somerset, widow of John Whalesborough of Whalesborough, Cornwall.
Thomas died in 1426 his widow lived until 1436 & was buried at Whitefriars , Newgate in London with her daughters & a granddaughter, Alice Fitz Rafe , wife of a Sir William Pomeroy possibly brother of Thomas the kings knight.
POMEROY, Roger (1629-1708), of Sandridge, Devon.
Constituency Dates DARTMOUTH 1685
Family and Education bap. 20 Sept. 1629, 1st surv. s. of Valentine Pomeroy of Sandridge, being 1st s. by 2nd w. Margaret, da. of Sir John Whiddon of Chagford. m. Joan, da. of Elias Wills of Saltash, Cornw., 2s. d.v.p. 2da. suc. fa. 1645, cos. Hugh Pomeroy in Tregony estate 1674.1
Offices Held Commr. for assessment, Devon 1673-80, j.p. 1678-89, 1703-d., Dartmouth 1680; alderman, Dartmouth 1684-Oct. 1688, freeman, Dartmouth 1684, Totnes 1688; mayor, Tiverton June-Oct. 1688.
The Devonshire Pomeroys played little part in the Civil Wa. Roger Pomeroy himself must have opposed exclusion, since he remained a J.P. throughout the crisis, and in 1685 he was returned as a Tory for Dartmouth, three miles from his residence.
He was appointed only to two committees in James II’s Parliament, to recommend expiring laws for revival and to consider the bill for this purpose. He seems to have been the only Devon Protestant to give unqualified affirmative answers to the lord lieutenant’s questions on the repeal of the Tests and the Penal Laws. But he was not popular among his constituents, who were reported in 1688 to be ready to elect any court candidate except Pomeroy and John Beare. A non-juror under William III, he is unlikely to have stood again, though he was restored to the commission of the peace in 1703. He was buried on 23 July 1708 at Stoke Gabriel, to which he gave a communion flagon.
The main branch of the family became extinct in 1719.
Biography in Parliamentary History website HERE