Huckvale-14 Branch

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: huckvale

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The text below has been transferred to the profile. Millard-1402 15:57, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

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Spouse: Elinor Carricke

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Death and Afterlife 1.2 Family Background 1.3 Timeline 2 Sources

Biography

Robert was most likely born in the 1480s, but there is no direct evidence of his birthdate known.

Robert married Elinor Carricke, sister of Richard Carricke of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.^[1]

At the beginning of July 1531 Robert received a quitclaim from Thomas Knollys, President of Magdalene College, Oxford. The quitclaim describes Robert as being from Oxford, but completely fails to mention what exactly is being quit.^[2]

In April 1553, Robert was living in the parish of St. Mary Magdalene in Oxford as a gentleman. His residence was a house located in the hundred of Northfate Street without the North Gate, just outside the city walls of Oxford, leased from Magdalene College, and may be related in some way to the quitclaim of 1531. Robert says he has 'long dwelt' in the house. He also owned and received rent from property by Stroudwater in Gloucestershire. There are other unspecified lands and tenements in Gloucestershire in Robert's possession.

This was when Robert wrote his will, and he described himself as 'being whole of memory and also of body'.^[1] From the will, we also know that Robert had a servant named Margaret Dewe. He also had a debt of £11 6s 4d owed in unspecified rent to him by his brother-in-law Richard Carricke.

Death and Afterlife

William died sometimes between Mar 1555, when he added a codicil to his will, and the end of August 1556, when the will was proved.^[1]

He still lived in Oxford, and he was a coroner for Oxfordshire and steward of the manor of Walton, who was deeply involved in a 1555 riot between the manor tenants and the City of Oxford.^[3]

In his will, Robert specified his burial place as 'within the parish church of blessed Mary Magdalene outside the north gate of the City of Oxford before the choir door and in the body of rge same church and next to the grave where the body of Elynore my wife lies'.

The will describes 1553 as the 6th year of the reign of Edward VI, about two decades after the start of the English Reformation and shortly before the reign of Queen Mary returned Roman Catholicism, and the religious tensions of the time come through. Wills prior to the English Refomration, would describe, sometimes at length, various protocols for prayers and items, such as candles, for the aiding the soul of the deceased and those they cared about, and ths would have been the religious environment in which Robert would have been raised and lived his early adulthood.

For religious observance, Robert left 5d ot the Cathedral church of Oxford for any oversight with tithes, and 5d to five poor men 'five pence in the honour of the five wounds of Christ Jesus'. He also specifies services to be held on the day of his death and burial at St. Mary Magdalene 'as then shall be permitted by the laws of god and the king's ordinances ... with all other prayers, services and suffeages as then shall permitted', alluding to the rapid flux in religious practice and not knowing what might be allowed by the time he died, He also leaves various bequestes to the priest ancurate of the church to pray or sing for his soul, along with up to five other priests 'if they may then be had' to pray or sing in the choir alongside poor children for his soul. He also specifies that a single bell should be tolled before and after his death so that others should be aware and also pray for his soul. 6 dozen loaves of white bread, or 5s, were to be distributed to the poorest of the parish when Robert was buried, and those alms to be repeated, along with a service, every year thereafter for 15 years to the value of 13s 4d, again qualified 'if the laws of almighty god and the king's gracious laws and ordinances will and might the same to be had and done'. Robert also specifies that the remaining lease of his house should be sold to help pay for the cost of these alms, and any shortfall made up from the rent of his Stroudwater property.

As it happened Edward VI died the same year that Robert wrote his will and Mary, a staunch Roman Catholic, was on the throne in 1555, which meant that initially all of Robert's desires could have been implemented. This would only last for about three years as Mary died and was replaced by Elizabeth I, who, whilst comparatively tolerant, reverted the country back to its national established church, with a much more protestant dogma.

Robert left his other unspecified lands and tenements in Gloucestershire to his son, Christopher, and confirmed him as the recipient of some annuities in their joint names.

Robert left his moveable goods to his daughter, Dorothy, and her husband, William Bucknore. Dorothy and William were also jointly appointed as executors for the will.

He left his servant, Margaret Dewe, his best mattress, a coverlet, a bolster and a pair of sheets.

Robert remitted the debt of £11 6s 8d owed to him by his brother-in-law, Richard Carricke of Chipping Norton on condition thet Richard Carricke of Tewkesbury gave 40s (£2) to his nephew Thomas Carricke of Tewkesbury to set up his own house. It isn't clear whether the Richards are the same or different people, although it would seem odd to remit the debt of one person based on a payment by another.

A couple of years later Robert made what amounts to a Codicil to his will. In it he appointed his grandsons John Bucknore and John Huckvale as overseers to his will, which may indicate that they both had come of age in the intervening two years, and were probably named older first. Robert also gae some tables ot his executors and overseers.

The intervening two years also saw the death of Edward VI and the accession of his sister Mary. The addition to his will reinforces his previous religious observances, without any equivocation, with further gifts for the churchwardens of his parish church.

Family Background

Huckvale is, it turns out, an extremely isolated surname. It seems to have had a single point of origin, rather than being shared by many who shared an occupation or whose families derived from the same place. All Huckvales appear to be descended from Robert via his son Christopher, via two branches, a prosperous one long resident in Over Norton, Oxfordshire, and one less prosperous deriving from Brailles, Warwickshire.

Given the singularity of the surname, it seems very likely that Robert was related to John and William Hokkevale of the Stroud area in Gloucestershire who appear in records for 1381.^[4] This probable link is reinforced by Robert's will, in which he mentions 'my lande by Stroudewater in the Conntie of Gloucester'.^[1]

Timeline

• 1531 Jul 07 Quitclaim: de Oxon com[itatu] oxon٣; Thomas Knollys president of the College of Saint Marie Magdalene of the university of Oxford ... have remised, released & quitclaimed ... all & every kind of Action, whether real or personal, deeds, complaints, debts, dues & demands that we ever have had, have, or in any way in the future could have by reason of account or by whatever other reason^[2]

• 1553 Apr 22 Will: of Oxford, Oxfordshire; gentleman; of the Citie and Diocese of Oxforde, in the Countie of Oxford; various bequests; Children: Christophere Huckvale, Dorothie Bucknore^[1]

• 1555 Mar Will Codicil: exact date omitted; addition to original will regarding grandsons John Huckvale, son of Christopher, and John Bucknore, son of Dorothie^[1]

• 1556 Aug 26 Will Proved: of the parish of the blessed Marie Magdalene in the suburb of the County of Oxford while he lived, recently deceased^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} 181.37; Oxfordshire Wills Index 1516-1857; Oxfordshire Archives
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Quitclaim; P20/2D/1; Oxfordshire Archives
3. ↑ James McComish, "Frideswide Taylor and the Coroners of Oxford" in "Defining Boundaries: Law, Justice, and Community in Sixteenth-Century England" in Legalism: Community and Justice, Fernanda Pirie, Judith Scheele, eds., Oxford University Press, 2014.
4. ↑ Victoria County History - Gloucestershire: A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11, Bisley and Longtree Hundreds: Stroud: Economic history: Mills and the Cloth Industry