Family and Education

b. c.1558, 1st s. of Henry Champernown of Modbury by Catherine, da. of Sir Richard Edgecombe^† of Mount Edgcumbe, Cornw. educ. M. Temple 1575. m. 1581, Elizabeth (d.1637), da. of John Popham, s.p. Kntd. 1599; suc. fa. 1570.

Offices Held

Capt. south division, Devon 1588, j.p. from c.1583, q. from 1601, sheriff 1592-3, dep. lt. 1596.

Biography

Champernown may have owed his return for West Looe to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, though Modbury was close to the county boundary, and Champernown had a number of Cornish relatives (including the Edgecombes) and friends (including William Carnsew I of Bokelly). He was Member of but one Parliament and is not mentioned in its known records.

Champernown kept a number of singing boys in his household, contemporaries accusing him of mutilating them to preserve their voices. He died intestate in 1622, being buried at Modbury 28 June. Letters of administration were granted to his widow 20 Sept.

Vivian, Vis. Devon, 163, 165; CSP Dom.1591-4, p. 127; 1598-1601, p. 588; APC, xxv. 425; Trans. Dev. Assoc. xi. 113; xxiv. 81; Carew’s Surv. Cornw. ed. Halliday, 18; HMC Hatfield, v. 155, 437; xiii. 539; PCC admon. act bk. 1622, f. 198.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: N.M.S.

Notes