The Everys are an historic English family from the West Country, traceable to the late 12th century and maternal cousins to the Brice family. They were significant landowners in Devon, particularly in Chardstock and Shepton Beauchamp, and as Lords of the manor of Wootton Abbotts. The family seats were Wycroft Castle, Wootton Abbotts manor house, and Egginton Hall. On 26 May 1641 a branch of the family developed into the Every baronets, and the late 17th-century English pirateHenry Every is believed to have descended from an earlier line.
History
The progenitor of the Every line was John Avery, of Bodmin, born around the beginning of the 16th century. He had at least two sons, one of whom was Serjeant-at-arms to Queen Elizabeth 1st in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, ref Calendar of Patent Rolls 1575-1578, 3 April 1571 Elroy McKendree. , page 13. 1912, the other of whom would become a considerable landowner, siring the Everys of Wycroft Castle.
Everys of Wycroft Castle
The children of this other son, through commerce, became holders of significant estates. After the deaths of William and Alexander Every the estates, through inheritance, merged. The line continued as the Everys of Wycroft Castle, named for what was now the family seat of Wycroft Castle in Devon, previously the seat of the Creuse family. Since the 16th century the Everys of Wycroft Castle have been maternal ancestors of the Brice family, making the Brices cousins to the Everys.
Every baronets, of Egginton
The Every Baronetcy, of Egginton in the County of Derby, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 26 May 1641 for Simon Every, Member of Parliament for Leicester in 1640 and a supporter of the Royalist cause in the Civil War. Born into the Everys of Wycroft Castle, at Chardstock, Devon, he married Anne, daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Leigh, of Egginton, Derbyshire. After his marriage, Every settled at Egginton. The family seat of Egginton Hall burnt down in 1736, and was replaced by the eighth baronet with a new house, which was demolished in the 1950s.
Scholars have traced a possible descent from the West Country Everys for the late 17th-century English pirate Henry Every. He is thought to have been the son of John Evarie and his wife, Anne, cousins of the Everys of Wycroft Castle based in the Devon village of Newton Ferrers, southeast of Plymouth. Modern scholarship suggests that Henry was born on 23 August 1659; according to the deposition of William Phillips, a member of Every's crew who gave a "voluntary confession" after his capture, in August 1696 Every was "aged about 40 years," his mother lived "near Plymouth," and his wife was a periwig seller who lived "in Ratcliffe Highway." Every was married and records indicate that he may have wed one Dorothy Arther at St James Duke's Place in London on 11 September 1690, though there is no evidence that he had any children.
The recorded coat of arms for the Every family of Wycroft Castle is or, four chevronels gules; the crest being a demi-unicorn couped gules, maned, tired, hoofed or. The Baronets of Egginton add the Red Hand of Ulster as a blazon to denote their title, and have as a crest a unicorns head couped proper.
