HAYDON, George (c.1517-58), of London and Hornshay, Devon.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. c.1517, 3rd s. of Richard Haydon of Woodbury, Devon by 1st w. Joan, da. of Maurice Trent of Ottery St. Mary, Devon; bro. of John. educ. L. Inn, adm. 21 Dec. 1539. m. by 1541, Susan, da. of John Parke of London, 1s.1

Offices Held

Clerk of the council, duchy of Lancaster 28 Sept. 1545-d.; commr. chantries, Cornw., Devon and Exeter 1548.2

Biography

Unprovided for in his father’s will of 1533, George Haydon made a career in law and administration. His election to Henry VIII’s last Parliament, when still in his early years at Lincoln’s Inn, he owed to Sir Hugh Pollard, the recorder of to whom the town entrusted the nominations and who chose in Haydon and George Rolle two lawyers with local connexions: Haydon’s father had been both mayor of Barnstaple and deputy steward of the Devon lands of the duchy of Cornwall. Two months before taking his seat at the postponed opening of the Parliament Haydon became clerk of the council of the duchy of Lancaster; he is not known to have had any personal connexion with senior officers of the duchy, although the chancellor Sir John Gage was himself a Member of this Parliament, and Haydon’s appointment is probably to be explained by the fact that the office had previously been held by a kinsman. It may have been he or a namesake, perhaps his elder brother, who was the ‘Mr. Haydon’ found auditing the accounts of Queen Catherine Parr for the year 1546-7.3

Haydon was a substantial purchaser and lessee of monastic property, both in partnership with George Rolle and Sir Hugh Stukley, with whom he paid nearly £1,000 in two transactions in 1544, and on his own account: his acquisitions included leases of the manors of Beare and Whimple in 1550 and 1553, and at his death he owned parcels of land in various counties which he instructed his executors to sell so as to complete the payment for lands in Devon bought from Nicholas Soulemont in January 1556. When he made his will on 26 Aug. 1558 Haydon had only two days to live. His wish to be buried in Farway church was observed and a monument erected. He made a number of small bequests to servants and charities, and in providing for his wife and son Edward he expressed the hope that the boy would continue his ‘learning’ at Oxford and Lincoln’s Inn. The will was proved on 16 Dec. 1558.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: A. D.K. Hawkyard

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from that of his elder brother John, education and marriage. Vis. Devon, ed. Colby, 126; Vis. Devon (Harl. Soc. vi), 142; Vis. Devon, ed. Vivian, 458; C142/125/28.
  • 2. LP Hen. VIII, xx; CPR, 1548-9, p. 135; Somerville, Duchy, i. 413.
  • 3. PCC 9 Hogen; Black Bk. L. Inn, i. 271, 275, 289, 306; Trans. Dev. Assoc. lxxii. 252; information from G. Haslam; N. Devon Athenaeum, Barnstaple, 3972, f. 55(2); E101/424/12(1), f. 49.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, xix, xx; CPR, 1553-4, p. 250; 1555-7, p. 91; APC, iii. 8; DKR, ix. 221; PCC 17 Welles; C142/125/28; E150/196/1; B. Incledon, Mon. Inscriptions, Devon Churches, 12; Trans. Dev. Assoc. lxxiii. 192.