Hody

 The father of John Hody the chief justice was Thomas Hody, who was lord of the manor of Kington Magna, near Shaftesbury, in the adjoining county of Dorset, in 1419/20, and in the same year was king's escheator there.

He married Margaret Cole , daughter and heiress of John Cole, of Nitheway, near Torbay, in Devon, which thus became the birthplace of his children. Their elder son Alexander was a devoted partisan of the Lancastrian cause, and was attainted in the first year of Edward IV. for his adherence to Henry VI.

Sir John Hody, Chief Justice of the Kings Bench, MP  Kntd. bef. June 1440. died 1441 , of Stowell, Som. and Pilsdon, Dorset. son of Thomas Hody Esq (d.1442), of Kington Magna, Dorset;  
He was married by  1430, to Elizabeth Jewe (d.1415/16), of Whitfield in Wiveliscombe, Som. and Pilsdon, They had 5 son  & 3 daughters.
The family lived at Nethway until 1696.

Otterhampton near Bridport in North Devon - In 1651 the manor was held by Hugh Hody, who had purchased it from Gilbert Hody. In 1664 Hugh settled it on his son Gilbert. Hugh died c. 1670 and Gilbert by 1697 leaving as his heirs Anne, wife of Hugh Pomeroy, and Joan, both probably his daughters.

It was settled by Joan in 1713 and 1714 on her marriage to George Chudleigh. (fn. 25) Sir George Chudleigh, Bt., died in 1738 and the estate was held by his second wife Frances Davie (d. c. 1748). (fn. 26) Margaret Chudleigh, one of their four daughters, sold the manor to Robert Evered in 1755.

Alverdiscott, or Alscott in the hundred of Fremington, lies about six or seven miles from Barnstaple. The villages of Bullworthy and Stonecross are in this parish.

The church has a memorial to Gilbert Hody, Esq. of Nethway, 1686.

The pedigree of Huddy in the Visitation of 1573 begins with Sir Thomas (John), husband of Margaret Cole of Nitheway, who was father of Sir John, husband of Elizabeth Jewe.

Margaret 2nd daughter of Sir Henry Pomeroy and Elizabeth Carminow married a Cole and their son, John Cole , was heir to Sir John Pomeroy circa 1416.

If this family had parted with the manor they must have reserved the advowson, as Lucy Hody and John her son were patrons in 1709.)

John Cole, esquire (d. c . 1428). An important member of the political community in Devon, especially under Henry IV, Cole was a second-generation familiar of Earl Edward, his father, Sir Adam Cole, having been steward of the earl's household in 1381-2.

Edward's patronage extended to other members of the Cole family, for Henry Cole, John Cole and Nicholas Cole all received livings in the earl's gift.

John Cole, esquire, was the cousin of Sir Thomas Pomeroy, a retainer of Henry IV's. Together they pursued what were often quite dubious claims against another cousin, Edward Pomeroy, who was forcibly ejected by way of the windows from his house at Berry Pomeroy in 1428. Defenestration!

Cole was sheriff of Devon in 1405-6, and served abroad in 1415 under Richard Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III and in 1417 under Sir Thomas Carew.

His standing in county society--he was a grand juror in 1414 resulted from his connections with such as the earl and Pomeroy, and from his extensive possessions.

His first wife, Blanche (whose family origins remain obscure) brought with her estates in Cornwall; and a transaction dated 1391 indicates the extent of Cole's lands which included the Cornish manor of Resparva (in St. Enoder and Probus) along with many other properties in that county, and the Devon manors of Uptamar, Hittisleigh and Nethway as well as various other places there.

His 2nd marriage was to Alice, widow of John Sandeford and he was one of the co-heirs (along with Sir Thomas Pomeroy) of Sir John Pomeroy (d. 1416). His daughter and heiress, Margaret, married Thomas Hody to whose family Nethway (Cole's main seat) passed.

Hody took care to augment his lands and local influence by obtaining royal grants: in 1428 he was awarded a joint lease of lands lately belonging to Sir Thomas Pomeroy, during the minority of his heir.

A2A- 1 -Grant and counterpart  2203 A-2/PF 4 & 5  1651 Contents:

1.  John  Reeve the younger of Brixham, yeoman

2. Arthur  Upton, Gilbert Hody et al.
   Premises: one annuity of 10/4d issuing from two messuages and a garden and one eighth of one acre of land lying in Brixham between the lands of Nicholas Smith deceased and of Francis Fortescue on the south, the common highway from Brixham to Upton on the east, the churchyard of Brixham on the north, the lands of the heirs of William and Nicholas Smyth on the west
   Trusts: for the use of the poor of Brixham Consideration: £6 10/- being the legacies of Elizabeth Searle of Dartington widow, and the gift of Arthur Enscombe of Brixham yeoman
   
   A2A 2 Bargain and sale to create new feoffees  2203 A-2/PF 8  1664 Contents:

1. Hugh Hody of Nethway, esq., Elias Pomeroy son of Roger Pomeroy of Sundridg esq. and Humphrey Sheare of Churston Ferrers, gent.

2. John  Upton, Gilbert Hody et al. Premises: one mansion and dwelling house in Kingswear and one tenement and lands called Mouth in Brixham
   Trusts: as per the will of Richard Kelley of Kingswear, merchant: after the deathof John Langdon, 20/- to be given yearly to the poor of Kingswear,
   10/- to the poor of Brixham, 10/- to the poor of Churston Ferrers, 6/8d to the poor of Paignton, 6/8d to the poor of Marldon, 6/8d to the poor of Ipplepen.
   
   

also yearly payments of 20/- to the Almshouse lying by the way to the castle of Dartmouth, 20/- to the Almshouse built by Mr. Street, 20/- to the Lazar House in Totnes; from residue of the profits, for the next twenty years, £5 is to be given to Kingswear, £5 to Brixham, £5 to Churston Ferrers, for the apprenticing of the poor children of those parishes; the residue of the profits is, after the next twenty years, to be paid for the maintenance of a preaching minister in St. Saviour's, Dartmouth, to preach once a week on some working day in every week, if there is no such minister in Dartmouth, the money is to go to a similar minister in Kingswear

CHARLINCH deeds  DD\GB/45  1621 2 docts. Contents:

Manors of Pillesdon and Kington als. Kington Parva, co.Dorset; farm or tenement called Aysshe Bulleyne als. Ayshe in Martock; manors of Gothelney in Charlinch, Otterhampton, Newnham in Stogursey, all formerly of Hugh Hody of Gothelney, esq., brother of Rich. Hody;

bargain and sale of 1620/1 by John Hody of Nethway, Devon, esq., Anne widow of Rich. Hody of Revolshay, co.Dorset, and her daughters and coheirs Bridget and Frances Hody, to Wm. Penny of East Coker, esq., and Hugh Strode of Beaminster, co. Dorset, gent.

Capital messuage, farm, and demesne lands of Gothelney of 240a. in Charlinch, Spaxton, Wembdon, Bridgwater, Cannington and Durleigh, formerly occupied by Roger Bourne, decd., late by Florence Baber, widow; mortgage (by lease and release, lease missing) of 1721/2 by Thos. Bourne of Gothelney, esq., to Edw. Raymond of Bridgwater, gent.